Mystery Shopper – What Is The Impact of a Mystery Shopper?
A mystery shopper is an individual that goes to restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores, and anywhere else a service or product is provided. He/she then acts as regular customer to see how the employees react to certain situations that is presented to them i.e. asking where they can find a certain product which is a part of customer service, which all businesses provide.The mystery shopper will then report their feedback to that business. The report may detail certain employee names and how they were treated by said employee(s). It may be that he/she was asked to go to a movie theater and relate back how fast lines moved when purchasing a ticket and/or food. It may be found that the workers are spending more time chatting amongst themselves versus serving the customers who want to make sure they see the beginning of their movie.These reports, done by the mystery shopper allow businesses to see their company and its employees through the eyes of a customer, which has a great impact on how they further do business. For example, if the company is told that their workers were nowhere to be found when the professional had a question as it relates to its product, this can help a company to insure that in the future their workers are more readily available to their customers.Not only does the mystery shopper have an influence with retail, but it has an impact on the food service industry. The mystery shopper may go to a restaurant and the service is great, the food arrives quickly, but in the end, the food is sub par. A restaurant owner may believe they have great tasting food and their chef may think he serves a great cuisine, but if he/she writes a scathing review, it can let that restaurant know that something needs to change.The job of the mystery shopper is to be honest as possible, because the impact on their report not only affects the way these businesses operate in the future, but also the customer experience. If a company can use these reports to improve their product and their services, consumers will be much happier. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved when a mystery shopper take their jobs seriously and write honest reports as their opinions impact everyone involved.
