What is mystery shopping, and what is marketing research? Essentially, they are related, since they are both methods which businesses employ in order to improve their performance. They are both methods through which useful information is harvested for use by the businesses in an attempt to improve their performance, thus giving them a better chance at success.

However, while they are similar in nature, in terms of methodology and procedures, they are very much different. Neither one can be a replacement for the other - rather, successfully using them both in tandem can give a complete picture of the state of the business and its surroundings in brilliant clarity.

First, let’s take a closer look at mystery shopping. This is a long-standing technique which involves anonymously sending in specially trained shoppers to the retail outlets of the client company to observe and provide an evaluation on the customer service practices used there. These shoppers are trained extensively and provided with guidelines to observe details such as operations, merchandising, quality of products/services and the integrity of the employees as well as the customer service practices themselves. Since the shoppers blend in perfectly with the other customers, there is no way to pick them out, and they are treated by the front-line staff in exactly the same way as the other customers are treated.

On the other hand, marketing research allows the business owners to understand the thoughts, feelings and acts of people regarding their needs, wants and choices in relation with purchasing products/services of different brands. Through marketing research, marketing opportunities (as well as obstructions) can be easily identified and clearly defined. Based on marketing research, marketing actions can be planned, perfected, monitored and evaluated. It also helps to build an understanding of the entire process of marketing, and determine the perceptions of customers, prospects and specific demographic groups think about certain companies, brands, products, services and marketing-related communiqués.

Numerous marketing research firms also engage in mystery shopping, but mystery shopping is not a facet of marketing research per se. Although technically it is a form of research, it cannot be clearly categorized under marketing research, due to it being different in many vital ways. Also, certain special rules, such as ESOMAR-determined guidelines will come into play if data obtained through mystery shopping is used to perform marketing research.

But how exactly does marketing research vary from mystery shopping?

To begin with -mystery shopping agents need to follow a given set of specific instructions regarding what to do during the process of observation and evaluation. Also, they need to be sent out to shop at places they would not normally shop from, so that they can maintain a thoroughly neutral perspective. On the other hand, people engaging in marketing research are not given any preset guidelines.

It can be said that mystery shopping goes for a much more ‘hands-on’ approach when it comes to getting results than marketing research, and its uses lie mostly in the field of incentive provision, training of employees and controlling the quality of products and services. Marketing research has its uses in the determination of the opinions, requirements, demands and perceptions of real prospects and customers.

The recruitment of mystery shoppers takes place on the basis of their individual profiles, which are matched against the profiles of the real customers of a company. This is done in order to simulate realism as closely as possible. On the contrary, marketing research participants are chosen using a random sampling technique from a population of qualified candidates which in turn is representative of a greater population demographic.

Mystery shopping agents are trained to be objective when providing explanations on their observations. On the other hand, subjective opinions are freely demanded from marketing research participants.

The reports of mystery shopping are based on individual visits, and each distinct evaluation can be used as an independent basis for making improvements and planning training programs. It does not aim to predict the experience of each and every customer, but to pinpoint the exact observations from each visit and aggregate the data.

Using mystery shopping alone to measure customer satisfaction is rather inaccurate, and not at all advisable. It can, however, be used to complement the traditional method of researching customer satisfaction for increased accuracy. Due to the objective nature of mystery shopping, subjective matters like customer satisfaction cannot be determined accurately through it. Mystery shopping agents are not even true customers per se, since they already know what parameters they need to evaluate, and they shop based on the instructions they receive rather than of their own accord.

Various types of techniques are used for mystery shopping. Some of them have been listed below:

- Personal visits

- Telephone calls

- Online service encounters

- Hidden recordings (audio/video)

- Checklists

- Discriminatory testing

In order to design a successful mystery shopping questionnaire, clear objectives and methods for recording observational feedback should be provided. It should encompass a standard list of parameters, such as courtesy, cleanliness, speed, product quality and the knowledge of the employees regarding the products.

A unique feature of mystery shopping evaluation forms is that they mostly employ binary-type (yes/no) questions for recording observations rather than extensive narratives. Additional notes or comments are recorded in a dedicated section of the form. Many of the questions have a specific number of points allocated to them in order to establish a system of priority-based hierarchy. The evaluations themselves may be subject to appeals or questioning after the personnel of the organization are notified of the mystery shopping.

Let’s take a look at the various advantages of mystery shopping.

1. It gives a clear measure of customer service performance

2. It improves relations between the customers and the front-line staff

3. It makes employees realize the important factors which are instrumental in case of providing customer service

4. It uses an incentive system to praise the positive actions of employees

5. It helps to identify the weaknesses of the customer service department and allows for training programs to be developed accordingly

With the aid of a proper mystery shopping campaign, an organization can establish and enforce strict customer service rules, and also make sure that those rules are maintained. This is the greatest strength of mystery shopping - it takes a business closer to perfection.