Mystery shopping
A trained person poses as a customer to experience a service and evaluate it against defined criteria, without the staff knowing they are being observed.
What it’s for
It shows how the service is delivered in reality, which often doesn’t match what the processes say.
Key elements
Clear criteria
What is evaluated at each step, decided before the visit.
Real situation
A journey any customer would make.
Ethically
The organization knows, and specific individuals are not judged.
How it’s done
Define. The journey and the evaluation criteria.
Visit. Experience the service as a customer and write it down right after.
Compare. Contrast visits, locations and channels.
Applications in design
When to use it
To check whether the service is delivered as designed, across different locations and channels.
Avoid
Using it to monitor or punish specific employees.
Don’t fall for it
One visit is an anecdote: do several, at different times.
Connections
Authors and works
- 2001
Alan M. Wilson
Analyzed its use for measuring service quality, and the ethical issues of the deception it involves.
Sources
Original sources
- Wilson, A. M. (2001). Mystery shopping: Using deception to measure service performance. Psychology & Marketing, 18(7), 721–734. View source: Wilson, A. M. (2001)
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