The main target of mystery research is to gather facts. There are numerous facts relevant to benchmark companies, products and services. Contrary to what may be asserted, mystery research help us to understand what really is.
Mystery research uses mystery shoppers, who act as normal shoppers. Often, they are normal shoppers, just using the occasion to generate results for a freelance job. Mystery shoppers visit stores, buy online, call hotlines, send enquiry e-mails, buy products, return products and complain about predefined issues.
Mystery research is focussed on issue which are not readily available. Often, it is about human performance. But it is also used to collect prices and other pieces of information which are sensitive and which would be hard to collect (correctly) through other means.
Great Insights through Mystery Shopping
There is no difference to a real customer, except, that mystery shoppers are trained to observe, to remember and to report their experience much more detailed than a normal shopper. Mystery shoppes have a plan to follow. Contrary to respondants in a customer survey, mystery shoppers know beforehand what to pay attention to. Their reports are much more reliable and much more detailed.
Our mystery shoppers are well trained, open-minded consumers and freelancers
In standard mystery shopping the shoppers need to follow certain guidelines to keep results comparable. If customer advice is examined, for example, then mystery shoppers need to get advice on the same things and give the exact same piece of information to make results of different visits fully comparable.
Results of single mystery shops can be aggregated to results of companies. These companies can be ranked based on the mystery shopping results.
We use mystery research especially for the following purpose:
- Investigate service performance
- Investigate customer advice
- Collect offers and pricing information
- Investigate the product and service range and availability
Well Positioned to Execute Mystery Research
Consumer Guidance Group is well positioned to execute mystery research studies. We have access to our own pool of 100.000 mystery shoppers across Europe. Shoppers can be selected based on location and socio-economic data.
Our own software helps us to manage studies effectively and achieve the best results.