The 4 Myths of Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping programs are an excellent way to measure frontline staff performance, recognize those who are providing stellar customer service and uncover potential services issues that need improvement before they become big headaches. However, a mystery shopping program can be sunk before it even starts due to misaligned expectations.

There are 4 Myths in Mystery Shopping:

#1 Scores are ALWAYS Going Up

When a mystery shopping program is introduced, scores do tend to shoot up rapidly. However, over time, they tend to flatten out. Upper management may then assume the program is no longer working properly. The opposite is actually the truth, and here’s why. Looking back and recognizing the progress that has been made is more important than looking forward. Understanding that mystery shopping serves as a guideline for your store associates to understand and to reinforce the behaviors they should be using every day is essential. When a store no longer emphasizes these behaviors, positive reinforcement for the new behaviors ceases. Associates usually return to previous behaviors, since this is human nature.

We’ve had cases where the mystery shopping program was stopped and we went back one, two, or three months later to measure scores, only to find they had gone down. It is important to remember that the program emphasizes behaviors congruent with what is important to the business. Just because the numbers aren’t going up as dramatically as in the beginning of the program, does not mean the program is failing.

Rather than pointing the finger at the program, this is the perfect time to freshen up the surveys and focus on other areas that drive revenue and the brand.

#2 Shops are Perfect

We wish they were! With any market tool including mystery shopping, there’s always some degree of error. Even the Gallup polls state in the fine print that the results of their surveys are + or – 5%. As a mystery shopping company, we shoot for less than a 1% error margin, so essentially less than 1% of the shops we perform are challenged. If those numbers rise to 2 -3%, the program will meet with credibility issues from the client.

Perhaps the problem is not the question itself, but that the question is not being asked correctly. Perhaps the shoppers don’t understand the question, or the stores don’t understand the expected behaviors.

Shops will never be perfect. There’s always a margin of error, but what is important is to focus on the potential for improvement.

#3 All Employees Love Getting Mystery Shopped

The ones getting good scores sure do! But there is a perception that mystery shoppers are there to find all of the hidden flaws, and this is far from the truth. The best mystery shopping programs find and reward the good behaviors that lead to positive outcomes for the client.

Still, America seems overly focused on the negative. A 2005 Department of Labor survey revealed that only 40% of American workers say they were recognized during one year of working for their employer, and only once! That means fully 60% of American employees work all year and never receive even one commendation from their employer. A good mystery shopping program can help to uncover weak areas that need improvement, but the real purpose is to find what’s right and build on that.

We firmly believe positive recognition breeds change. Our mystery shopping program finds associates doing something right and suggests ways to reward them for their positive behaviors. And this is a win-win for the client too. As other associates see the effects of recognition, they’ll want to model the behaviors that lead to accolades, and the client is rewarded with stores across their entire network that perform brilliantly.

#4 The “Ronco Rotisserie” Effect: ….The program runs itself

Did you ever see the commercial for this roasting oven with the tag line, “Set it and forget it!”? Unfortunately, mystery shopping programs are not like that product. You can’t put your program on autopilot and expect it to run itself, and then expect a great outcome. TLC is required from both the provider and the end user. It’s important to understand up front that mystery shopping is as much about proactive activity as it is about collecting data. For mystery shopping to be successful, it takes teamwork, cooperation, and a willingness to see reality as well as potential for improvement. The best mystery shopping programs are living and breathing, changing and maturing as the stores change and grow.