How To Build A Mystery Shopping Program

Does your company currently use a mystery shopper program? If not your company specifically, then most likely, someone in your industry uses a quality assurance tool like this in order to gain the customers perspective and an unbiased insight into their companys customer service or sales skills.

Think about it this way, if your answer was, No, you do not currently use a mystery shopper program, then maybe your competitor is the one who is using this valuable tool.

There are all sorts of ways to use such a program. Some of the basic ideas or rules behind a mystery shopper program are based on the ways the shop scores affect the employees who are being shopped. For example, some businesses may have an incentive or bonus structure around their program. The goal of an incentive program is to encourage cooperation and reward excellent work.

Another way that some corporations choose to use a secret customer program is to establish consequences for unsatisfactory performance. For example, company may have a Three Strikes and You Are Out Rule. So if an employee scored three consecutive failing scores, then he or she would be demoted, reprimanded or terminated.

Some business owners may consider termination a bit extreme based on a shopping score. On the other hand, you could look at it this way. In most any industry or market, people skills and customer service are necessary and vital aspects of the business. If an employee scores consistently low on a shopping score, then he or she is most likely also offering consistently low service to customers or clientele. A mystery shopper program can help business owners gain a fair and accurate assessment of how employees treat customers.

One thing that is often asked about how to build a good mystery shopper program is what the right amount of mystery checking is. Do you conduct them monthly? Quarterly? Less or more than that?

The answer is that there is no magical answer. However, there is some strong evidence to indicate that monthly testing offers the most consistent and accurate information.

Consider that you only have your employees shopped once per quarter. If Associate A is sick or having a bad day, you may see a poor score on that shopping review. Now, you are thinking that Associate A is not as good at his or her job as you thought. However, if you are shopping Associate A monthly, then you will have an accurate scoring record and be able to spot fluke mistakes or address areas where the employee may need some coaching or training.

The best way to use a mystery testing program is to implement it as a training tool. By letting your employees know what you expect of them and what is a satisfactory performance, then you are setting a goal for them. Once you begin the training and testing program, you can use the goals you have set at the next step for your employees to get to. Once they reach that step, it is time for a new goal.

There should be a healthy balance of reward and consequence. So if Associate A scores very well, he or she should be rewarded. But if Associate A does poorly during a secret customers visit, then he or she might receive a verbal or written warning. The healthy combination of both will allow employees to strive for a prize, as well as keep them aware of the seriousness of the program.

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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