Demystifying Mystery Shopping

Read about the unique advantages of Mystery Shopping in assessing employee behaviours and internal processes, and how it complements Voice of the Customer research as part of a comprehensive Customer Experience measurement strategy.

Demystifying Mystery Shopping: Why organisations use Mystery Shopping, and its role within Customer Experience Measurement researchMystery Shopping provides objective, detailed feedback on employee performance and channel effectiveness during typical customer interactions, while Voice of the Customer (VoC) focuses on the customer's perceptions and feelings about their experience. Over time, Mystery Shopping has evolved into a highly sophisticated tool that delivers clear commercial benefits, such as improved compliance, product recommendation, and sales conversion.

In this paper, we outline four main types of Mystery Shopping programs, each with specific business applications: Customer Service, Compliance, Product Recommendation, and Sales Conversion. When aligned with VoC insights, Customer Service Mystery Shopping enables organizations to identify and improve the employee behaviors that drive customer experience metrics. Compliance Mystery Shopping is crucial for preventing consumer harm and avoiding penalties in regulated industries, while Product Recommendation Mystery Shopping reveals if a manufacturer's products are being recommended by third-party sellers and why. Sales Conversion Mystery Shopping, when combined with sales data, allows retailers to optimize their sales processes and employee behaviors to maximize conversion rates.

The most customer-centric organizations leverage both Mystery Shopping and VoC in a holistic approach to drive continuous improvement. By understanding the unique roles and advantages of each methodology, businesses can create a powerful, integrated Customer Experience measurement system that delivers actionable insights and measurable business impact.

Ipsos is the largest provider of both Mystery Shopping and Customer Experience research in the world, with experts in over 90 countries.  Contact us today!

Customer Experience