Reporting Back to the Mystery Shopping Client
Since the information gathered by mystery shopping companies on behalf of their clients is time sensitive, it needs to be analyzed and forwarded on quickly. Companies need this information within 30 days if at all possible.
In the case of a large company that orders a large number of mystery shops, they might need information categorized by regional area, location, and department. Not only does the information gathered need to be set out accurately, it must be put in a format that management can understand.
A strategy used by mystery shopping companies to make the reports easier to understand is to summarize the information gleaned from the shoppers’ reports is to separate it into different category summaries.
These summaries contain scores based on the points each question on the shoppers’ instruction sheet is given.
To provide information to the reader quickly, a summary page listing the scores given in each category should be included with the report given to the client. The date and time that each mystery shop visit took place should also be included, along with details about the location where the shop occurred.
Once the report is in the client’s hands, this valuable information can be shared with managers and those staff members responsible for training others. The best way to approach sharing the information is to express it a positive step for the business. Those staff members who are doing their jobs well should be acknowledged first, and then areas where improvements can be made in the customer service arena can be addressed.
Visits from mystery shoppers are not events that should only happen once. A better approach is for businesses to have an ongoing program so that they can be vigilant about offering their customers the highest quality of customer care. Employees who score well on the mystery shopping reports can be rewarded, while those who need to make changes can be coached as necessary.