Top tips for developing a successful Mystery Shopping Programme

Make sure that it works for the frontline

• A tool to record colleagues doing the right things.
• A mechanism of reward and recognition.

Open door policy

• Share the assessment criteria and welcome questions or concerns through an email hotline.
• Provide a human face to the Mystery Shopper programme.

Regular drumbeat of information to a set schedule

• Focus management activity around results days
• The more visits, the better the picture generated of that unit/team’s performance.

Set some core objectives to govern the programme by

• Review all requested programme changes against the core objectives to keep your programme on track with established, long term business needs.

Build in flexibility to meet developing business needs

• Flexible questions that can be switched on and off – possibly reported outside of the main results
• Protect the value of historic comparisons.

Involvement and buy in across the business

• Regular communication of results.
• Sharing goals and objectives.

Provide context for results against competitors

• Visited same time frame, same mystery shoppers, same mission (excluding of course brand specific elements)

Maintain the mystery: realistic ‘customers’ behaving typically

• Often programmes are corrupted through the introduction of mission driven behaviour requests, which makes the Mystery Shopper stand out.

Understand the power offered through Mystery Shopping

• Driver of desired behaviour and operational compliance – make sure what you measure is what is most important to customers.