Mystery Shopping Quick Facts

Many Industries Use Mystery Shoppers

Any business that wants to measure the satisfaction around a product, service, facility or operation can employ the use of mystery shoppers. This means that mystery shoppers aren’t always “shopping” but also experiencing a service or attending an event. In any venue where it might be helpful for a business to hear how their service is viewed from a customer standpoint is an area where mystery shopping can be a beneficial tool. For example: banks, theatres, car dealerships, hospitals, concerts, shopping malls, retail stores, call centers, hotels, restaurants, parks, gyms, spas, franchising operations, government organizations, churches and airlines. The list is seemingly endless as it becomes obvious there are many more instances where mystery shopping is used in market research.

Mystery Shoppers Offer Businesses Valuable Information

Statistics have shown that as much as 90% of customers who are unhappy will not say anything directly to the service but default immediately to competition. Repeat business is perhaps one of the most important aspects to a thriving company and therefore mystery shopping helps to examine this.

Additionally after price the greatest factor between competitors is customer service. Mystery shopping helps monitor that service. Statistically speaking 69% of customers will leave a business due to poor customer service. Therefore, customer service is an incredibly important factor for businesses to measure.

Aside from customer retention businesses turn to mystery shoppers to: measure employee integrity, to monitor the condition of a facility, to improve customer service areas, ensure high product quality, to compliment other market research data and to improve areas of a business that can be monitored via customer service.

There are Many Mystery Shopping Providers and Jobs

Many companies provide mystery shoppers. Mystery shopping can be provided to a business through market research companies, independent shoppers, mystery shopping providers, private investigators, training companies and advertising agencies. All of these venues represent areas of possible employment for someone interested in becoming a mystery shopper.

Mystery Shopping is a Growing Industry

Since its presence on the Internet, mystery shopping has grown significantly in the last few years. It now represents a billion dollar industry worldwide and is used in countless countries. The MSPA (Mystery Shopping Providers Association) conducted one of the first tests to quantify how many businesses were using mystery shopping. Over 8.1 million mystery shops were conducted and the businesses who employed mystery shopping as a market research technique saw on average growth of over 10%.