Mystery shopping was first devised many decades ago, but its use has not diminished even in the 21st century - quite the contrary, in fact. The use of mystery shopping in order to evaluate customer service performance has grown manifold due to its simple yet highly effective nature that not only yields facts but also results. Mystery shopping has now become an even greater force to be reckoned with, thanks to the advent of the internet and all the pieces of ultramodern technologies that link to it directly or indirectly.

Email is now considered the chief medium for submission of mystery shopping reports. Phone calls can be recorded digitally for evaluation, and mystery shoppers can carry hidden video cameras on their persona to fish out information in ways which only superspies in pulp novels once could. Photographs and video clips taken using these cameras are often embedded directly into the electronic versions of these reports. PDAs and laptop computers are now merely commonplace. In fact, the sheer speed which is now very much affordable by way of modern technology makes it possible for rewards to be awarded on the spot to deserving employees as soon as they do anything worthy. Reports can now be presented on the same day the shopping was performed, along with instantaneously generated summaries in a host of different formats. And that is just the technological aspect of the matter. The art of mystery shopping has become even more professional than before, with the number of professionally certified mystery shopping firms growing at a steady rate.

Mystery shopping involves presenting factual information with the help of a trained crew of ‘shopping agents’ who are specially trained to observe and make note of the finer details of customer service performance in a store. Technology has progressed in huge leaps and bounds over the last decade or so, and it seems now that a piece of technology is now virtually obsolete as soon as it is released to the public. In the past, reports were printed on paper and sent by postal service or faxed; weeks after the actual shopping visit took place. Many of these reports were not even typed, and featured handwritten comments from the shoppers themselves. Low-quality audio recordings of any phone calls made during the mystery shopping program were made available on cassette tapes, which also took weeks to arrive. Additional documents had to be obtained by querying the IT departments of the service provider, which was another procedural nightmare and wasted absurd amounts of time.

The advancements in technology have not only turned mystery shopping into a more environmental-friendly process by saving tons of paper by not having reports printed on paper, but they have also made it much more efficient by providing the time to put a greater amount of focus on the needs of the customers. The turnaround times of the reporting process has decreased substantially, and is currently only a small fraction of what it used to be. Reports can now be validated and verified with much greater ease and accuracy, and a large part of it can also be automated.

Among the great number of advancements which have been made in this department, the ability to record telephone calls digitally is perhaps one of the most significant ones. The telephone is still one of the most widely used means by any company in the field of sales and service, and providing a pleasant and informative conversational experience to a first-time customer over the phone is considered the quickest way for the company to make a good first impression in his/her eyes. Mystery shopping ‘agents’ can get a substantial amount of information regarding the sales procedures, ordering methods and efficiency of the client organization through a phone call very easily.

Digital recordings of phone calls allow the delivery time of the recordings to the clients to be cut down by a great deal, since no analog tapes need to be delivered by mail, and embedding audio clips in the body of the electronic copy of the report is a matter of mere seconds. In the past, much time was wasted during the delivery process, and many new disgruntled customers could have easily appeared during that period. The digital delivery of these important sound clips ensures that remedial measures can be taken as early as possible. Many clients prefer to transfer the audio files to CD-R for easy future reference. Also, the fact that compact discs do not suffer from problems like audio quality degradation means that the clarity of the conversations will never be lost, and the managers will be able to clearly hear every little inflection of the voices which occurred during the call. These CDs can later be used for reviews, training sessions etc… Sometimes, the call recordings and relevant reports can be presented in an online format viewable over the World Wide Web, which reduces the time requirements even further by eliminating the need for downloading the entire report or waiting for it to be delivered on CD. Any calls which need to be required or reviewed can be handled right away.

Digital photography brings yet another dimension to the world of mystery shopping. They can be used to verify the proper display of point-of-purchase products and associated materials on the floor where sales take place. They can also act as a form of ‘long-distance eye’ for the managers by providing a line-of-sight view within the store from a first-person perspective, giving them an idea about where changes can be made to make things appear in a better light from the customer’s point of view. These photos, like the audio clips can also be embedded on the digital copy of the report.

Technological developments have had highly positive effects on the world of mystery shopping, allowing for reports to be sent by email automatically to more than one recipient (e.g. the different managerial branches of the company). The readers have a great degree of control over the data they receive, and they can even compare current records with past records with a few clicks of the mouse to see the improvements clearly - something which could not even be imagined years ago. Mystery shopping systems have evolved into highly sophisticated tools for doing business over time, and they will continue to make life better for customers and hardworking employees alike.