Stealth Shoppers: Mystery customers help businesses with self-evaluation

Owner Rick Hughlett commissioned advertising firm ACR Nally Communications to send mystery shoppers to his mechanic shop early this year. Reports were favorable, with friendliness, cleanliness and automotive knowledge ranking high.

“We get so involved with what’s going on in our normal business that we don’t look around sometimes,” Hughlett said. “I did it for a couple reasons. I wanted to see how my business was perceived by customers, and then I wanted to see how other shops … were treating customers (compared to us).”

Hughlett found so much value in mystery shopping that he plans to do it every year.

ACR Nally has offered mystery shopping for a few years, during which time about 15 companies have used it.

“You always have to look at your business – from a good, bad and ugly standpoint,” said ACR Nally Vice President Cindy Howell. “Every once in a while, you may find something that’s not so pretty about your business. But certainly you have to be circumspect about it to be able to take control of it and correct it.”

Howell said mystery shopping gives business owners valuable, unbiased feedback.

The process

The first step in mystery shopping is finding a company that offers the service. ACR Nally and ADSmith Communications are the only two local advertising agencies out of 15 contacted that said they provide mystery shoppers.

The next step is forming a game plan.

ACR Nally meets with clients to determine what information they’re seeking. A restaurant might want to see how they fare on friendliness, service, cleanliness and food variety and quality, Howell said.

ADSmith Communications draws its shoppers from a focus-group database of 100 people. Database members consists of every demographic, from business professionals to college students to retirees.

ADSmith Market Research Specialist Rachael Morrow said the firm only uses a person for mystery shopping once or twice, paying them between $25 and $75 per assignment.

“We want the experience to be as real as possible,” Morrow said. “We don’t want to create expert shoppers.”

At Rick’s Automotive, ACR Nally sent two women and one man to gain diverse opinions.

Both firms perform mystery shopping via telephone and in person. ACR Nally usually conducts its research within a five-day period. It also shops competitors to give clients a comparative perspective.

“It’s very customized to the client and what they’re looking for,” Howell said.

Finally, the verdict is delivered, and companies go to work on their deficiencies.

The cost varies, but businesses that use ACR Nally spend between $1,300 and $2,800 for the firm’s mystery-shopping services.

Shadow giant

Mystery shopping originated around the 1940s as a way for private investigators to prevent employee theft at banks and retail stores, according to Mystery Shopping Providers Association, a Dallas-based trade group.

Today, firms in all industries and of all sizes use mystery shopping to monitor customer-service practices. According to MSPA, poor service is why businesses lose customers 69 percent of the time.

Gaining new customers costs 10-times more than keeping old ones, the group says, so businesses worldwide spend $1.5 billion on mystery shopping to keep customers happy.