Video Mystery Shopping
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Mystery shopping is seeing some changes in the recent times. Nowadays, the agents appointed by firms to visit retail outlets and other car storage , boat storage , apartments or business venues are carrying electronic aids with them for more accurate observations. Voice recording aids were introduced a few years ago and now video recording is also being used. The agent carries a hidden video camera that records the events that take place in the business venues.
Usage of visual aids speeds up the work of the agent and helps him producing accurate reports. Earlier the agent would have to depend on his memory to recall the events that were observed by him in the business venues and pass his comments and form an opinion based on that. With the video recording facility he can observe the events once again at his convenience and form opinions after a more careful study. This helps in producing more reliable results. The reports are a vital source of information for the management of the organization to understand the front office performance of its staff and hence take appropriate measures for its improvement. Hence it is necessary that the agent make accurate observations.
The agent who carries the video equipment should be conversant with the laws of his land regarding the usage of such equipment under surreptitious conditions. Usually only some authorized staff are given the permission to record the activity of people without their permission. The person who does such recordings needs to possess a license for doing so. The agent should take the permission of his organization for video recording the activities at the assigned business venue.
An agent has to maintain the secrecy of his identity as well as the equipment that he is carrying at the place he is assigned to visit. This requires a lot of tact and skillful usage of the equipment by him. He needs to be experienced too, because if he gets caught in the activity of recording he will have to face a lot of embarrassment on account of that. For this reason, many of the agents are not very comfortable with the idea of using any equipment while on their secret mission. But there are advantages too. Those who use such equipment successfully are paid more for the job than those who do not. This is because the management of the organization itself can view a video recording. They do not have to depend solely on the narration of the mystery shopping agent, which may be distorted due to human bias errors. The amount of detailing in the reports is drastically cut as the concerned reporting authorities can view the recording itself for judging events. As a result, the agent can do more work in a given amount of time.
Many organizations make it known to their employees that they can be video or audio recorded by authorized personnel in their tenure of employment. It is specified in their employment contract. The firm uses these recordings for many other purposes. They are used for training purposes and also for the performance appraisals of the employees.
The disadvantage is that the video recording stands as a proof to whatever the mystery shopping agent does during his assignment. He is supposed to follow the guidelines provided to him strictly, but in case he differs from them, the video will show that and there will be no way in which he can defend himself.
Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.
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