Frequently asked questions (FAQ's)

What should I do with my results?

The most successful mystery shopping campaigns are the ones where the results are used as tools to actively improve the clients business.

The first thing we'd recommend you do is that you share your results with your team and discuss what you all think they show. The simple act of doing this can often generate improvement on its own as staff become more aware of what you are looking to achieve as a business, why this is important and what they can do to help the business achieve your goals. You might then also discuss what changes could be made to improve on the past performance or to ensure that good performance continues in the future.

Discussing the results with all of your staff is a big part of gaining their buy-in and belief in the mystery shopping process and understanding that it's there as a tool to improve the business which helps all the staff, and is not simply a big brother approach to the management spying on the workers.

Some businesses start the discussions with their staff even earlier, asking them to get involved in designing the questionnaire before any mystery shopping starts. This can be a good approach if you feel you have staff that might otherwise see you implementing mystery shopping as a sign that you don't trust them. If this is the case you might also want to consider a 'carrot' rather than a 'stick' approach, by introducing a scheme where staff who receive good mystery shopping feedback are rewarded for their good work.