The primary goal of mystery research is to gather factual information. There are numerous facts relevant to benchmark companies, products, and services. Contrary to some claims, mystery research helps us uncover the reality behind customer experiences.
Mystery research involves the use of mystery shoppers, who act as regular customers. Often, they are everyday shoppers who use the opportunity to contribute to research as part of a freelance assignment. Mystery shoppers visit stores, purchase online, call customer service hotlines, send inquiry emails, buy products, return them, and file complaints based on predefined scenarios.
Mystery research is particularly valuable for investigating issues that are not easily observable. Often, it centers around evaluating human performance, but it is also used to collect sensitive information such as pricing and other competitive details that are difficult to obtain reliably through other methods.
Great Insights through Mystery Shopping
Mystery shoppers are indistinguishable from regular customers, with one important difference: they are trained to observe, remember, and report their experiences in much greater detail. Unlike respondents in customer surveys, mystery shoppers know exactly what to focus on during their interactions. As a result, their reports are significantly more reliable and detailed.
Our mystery shoppers are well trained, open-minded consumers and freelancers
In standard mystery shopping assignments, shoppers follow specific guidelines to ensure results are consistent and comparable. For example, when evaluating customer advice, all mystery shoppers seek information about the same topics and provide identical background information, enabling meaningful comparisons across different visits.
Individual mystery shopping results are aggregated to evaluate and rank companies based on their performance.
We primarily use mystery research to:
- Evaluate product and service range and availability
- Investigate service performance
- Assess the quality of customer advice
- Collect offers and pricing information
Well Positioned to Execute Mystery Research
Consumer Guidance Group is uniquely positioned to conduct mystery research studies. We have access to our own pool of 100,000 mystery shoppers across Europe. Shoppers are selected based on location and socio-economic criteria to match study requirements.
Additionally, our proprietary software allows us to manage studies efficiently and deliver high-quality, actionable results.