Assessing a store's service through trained evaluators who pose as ordinary customers and report against set criteria.
ESOMAR, the market research association, describes mystery shoppers as trained or briefed to measure a customer service process by acting as prospective customers, carrying out set tasks and reporting consistently. A visit may check signage, cleanliness, waiting time and adherence to the house’s standards, or extend to a purchase or an inquiry, or be made by telephone, email or website. Studies can cover a house’s own stores, its retailers and its competitors.
ESOMAR separates anonymous mystery shopping research from projects whose results may identify staff and feed training, sales efforts or bonuses. When a house assesses its own stores, the guideline requires staff to be told beforehand that visits will take place, and findings must not be used to discipline individuals. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission notes that shoppers usually pay and are reimbursed, and that an upfront fee to become one is always a scam.
In job listings
Mystery shopping appears in store and boutique manager listings, which ask managers to act on the results through coaching and action plans, and in retail trainer roles that use them to measure training. Some client advisor listings count it among their measures, beside Net Promoter Score. See current mystery shopping roles.
