Staff morale can be hugely impacted from ‘Check Box/ limited comment’ style Mystery Shopper reports. When a team member receives a poor score for any check point on the report, the first thing they want to know is what happened, only to find there is no detailed commentary to support the score they’ve been given. Team members need to know the mystery shopper report was completed by a professional and not just anyone making judgement calls and being placed in the privileged position of not having to explain themselves as to why. Team members need to read explanations of what triggered a particular score in the context of the whole interaction with the shopper; they need to see the detail to have confidence in the report. Team members only take ownership of the scores allotted when the interaction between the shopper and themselves is documented in detail.
The reason you want a Mystery Shopper program in place is to ensure the team are on their toes and making the most out of every customer opportunity. It defeats the purpose if the team feel disenfranchised and lack confidence in the measurement process. Lack of detail combined with a poor score leads to feelings of victimisation as in all likelihood management may well be exerting undue pressure on the very people who care about the business.
The reason ‘Check Box/limited comment’ style Mystery Shopper reports are popular amongst high profile Mystery Shopper providers is simply because they are easier and more cost effective for them to do so. They can pay the shopper less because its ‘easy’ to do, however in reality you, the client, run the real risk of being served up inaccurate Mystery Shopper reports that are short on detail and hard to sell to your team. Shoppers who are paid a low rate to complete ‘Check Box/ imited comment’ style reports still have to make the time available to visit the location, pay the petrol or public transport costs to get there only to receive a payment that hardly covers their expenses. Does anyone truly believe that those shoppers are motivated to produce accurate accounts of their experience, unlikely at best (On average Mystery Shopper service providers pay shoppers $8-$15 for a shop.) On average we pay shoppers $30 per report whilst keeping the same final cost to client same as the majority of our competitors.
What sets us aside from the majority of our competitors is the level of detail we put into the visit commentary for each report. Typically, our visit commentaries are 600+ words detailing every facet of the interaction between the shopper and the team members during the visit. The extraordinary feedback resulting from these detailed commentaries, along with a customised set of check point outcomes from which the visit is scored, makes our Mystery Shopper report unique in the market for its superior feedback.
The quality and accuracy of our Mystery Shopper reports is the other significant edge we have over competitors. In dollar terms, this claim is based on the fact that we pay our shoppers on average 50% of the fee charged to clients. In dollar terms this is double the rate of most of our competitors. We do this whilst still keeping the overall cost to client the same as our competitors. This business model delivers the quality and accuracy we demand from our valued and highly motivated shoppers. In short, our clients receive superior Mystery Shopper reports at budget rates. Our clients attest to us being the best in the market in accuracy, detail and value for money.