Introduction to GfK Mystery Shopping and Cybershop™
| What is Mystery Shopping? | ||
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How do our clients use the data we provide? | |
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Your role as a Mystery Shopper | |
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Key Mystery Shopper qualities | |
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How CyberShop works | |
GfK Mystery Shopping was launched in 2002 as RoperNOP Mystery Shopping. In 2005 NOP World merged with GfK, a global Market Research company. The division was launched in 2002 in order to coordinate all of NOP World's North American mystery shopping activities, to develop further this area of research and to highlight the distinctive features of mystery shopping.
We are dedicated solely to designing and implementing programs to measure and improve an organization's customer service levels and therefore, its customer satisfaction. Our unique approach to collecting, interpreting and presenting data provides readily actionable information that enables a client's management to track the organizations performance against pre-defined customer service standards.
We draw on dedicated planning, data processing, field and administrative resources, and our experience and expertise to provide clients with a proven methodology.
What is Mystery Shopping?
Mystery Shopping is all about finding out what customers really think of a particular service. It is recognized by our clients as a valid way of evaluating the performance of their staff and the service their customers receive. Shoppers who work on our behalf as 'normal customers' evaluate in an objective manner a particular service, or service process against a number of predetermined service standards. Shoppers document their findings by way of a questionnaire and then report via the Internet. As well as answering specific objective questions on the service they receive, shoppers may be asked for their personal subjective viewpoint. This can help to capture the whole experience and give a rounded picture of the treatment a typical customer is likely to receive.
How do our clients use the data we provide?
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For large numbers of companies the quality of service they provide their customers is vital to their success. Many have rigorous training programs for their staff which detail exactly how they should behave with customers. Mystery Shopping observations are a vital tool that clients use to understand how their staff interact with their customers on a day-to-day basis. They may want to know if staff are following the guidelines they have been given on what to say and how to act. They may also be interested in finding out if staff following the guidelines they set leads to increased customer satisfaction.
The data helps our clients to analyze their strengths and weaknesses in the area of customer service. Interpretation of the results enables client to monitor the effectiveness of their staff training and take remedial action where necessary. Assessment programs will normally last for a year or longer, allowing for continuous monitoring of the content of client training courses.
Your role as a Mystery Shopper
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As a Mystery Shopper you will visit, make phone calls or Internet enquiries to various establishments, posing as a prospective customer or purchaser of some product or service. You will be asked to report on various details of your 'shop'. This will be done via a questionnaire, which will ask you to report on many things, such as the quality of the service you received, the interior appearance of a shop, etc. All the details that you will need for your role as a Mystery Shopper will be available on this web site.
Key Mystery Shopper Qualities
Honesty - never guess at anything -
go back and check (99% is not good enough for our clients.)
Objectivity - for the main part we want you to be objective and report on facts, not opinions. We will in some cases ask for your personal viewpoint on what your feelings were as a ‘real’ customer. When this is the case it will be clearly stated in the questionnaire.
Be observant - know what you should be aware of and look for it.
Reliability - do what you have agreed to do - unreliable Mystery Shoppers jeopardize projects.
Self-motivation - You are working from your home base and only you can make your visits.
The identity of Mystery Shoppers is always a mystery to individual client branches, it is almost never revealed. The only occasion where it may happen is if you are asked to reward good service with an on the spot voucher. Some inquiries may ask you to give your real details, but the branch you are dealing with will still not know that these are the details of a Mystery Shopper. We profile our Mystery Shoppers in line with our client requirements, which will sometimes mean we have to send families instead of single people, younger people rather than older, males rather than females etc. To this end it is important that we maintain a broad base of Mystery Shoppers.
Our team of dedicated specialists has experience across both consumer and business-to-business market sectors. We also have the resources of GfK at our disposal. This provides our clients with a uniquely powerful resource for improving their service delivery and increasing customer satisfaction.
We undertake the full range of mystery shopping and performance measurement research - in the US, throughout North America, and Worldwide.
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CyberShop™ is an online service for Mystery Shoppers who have access to the Internet and E-mail. Having logged into the service, shoppers are able to view and accept available visits in their area, download Questionnaires and Shop Guidelines, report visits and claim fees.
In depth guidelines are available to registered Shoppers by selecting the 'Help' option once you have logged in.