What are the most frequently asked questions surrounding mystery shopping?

Here at Proinsight, we proudly offer a wide range of mystery shopping services, working with our clients to transform their customer experience. So we thought we’d give you a summary of our most frequently asked questions to clear up any queries you may have about the ins and outs of mystery shopping.

What is mystery shopping?

By impersonating a real life customer, our certified mystery shoppers are experts in knowing what an epic customer experience looks like. The Proinsight mystery shoppers embed themselves into your business to observe and measure the level of customer service, the environment, the product quality, and various other factors specific to your organisation, enabling them to provide honest and impartial feedback in a comprehensive report.

How do you find your mystery shoppers?

Our Operations Team are super hands on when it comes to recruiting the right mystery shopper for you. They use popular social media platforms and community groups to seek out potential candidates across the UK to continue the growth of our 28,000 mystery shopper database. This means we are always sending a fresh pair of eyes into your business to give you a variety of perspectives.

What age are your mystery shoppers?

Mystery shoppers can independently complete assignments from the age of 18. However, we work with some incredible brands who offer fantastic family days out, so you and the kids can spend the day trampolining or bowling in return for your honest feedback!

How do you ensure the mystery shoppers understand our brand and expectations?

 As a specialist mystery shopping company, we take great pride in ensuring that each of our mystery shoppers has a complete understanding of the organisation’s brand and their expectations of their customer journey. Before beginning a mystery shopping assignment, our mystery shoppers are given a detailed brief which outlines their mission, scenario, and expectations of the mystery shop. They then have to complete a pre-assignment test which measures whether they have fully understood all the information we have given them about the brand they are mystery shopping.

How do you find the right shoppers to mystery shop each brand?

 We complete extensive profiling on our mystery shoppers to enable us to be specific about the type of person we recruit to complete your mystery shop. For example, if you want a mystery shopper to complete a gym visit, we make sure we only use shoppers who have an interest in exercise and therefore can be fully committed to the experience.

 What do you need to build a mystery shopping programme?

We need 3 things to get you started:

– Your customer journey – we help you turn this into a mystery shopping survey which is completed by our mystery shoppers

– Your locations – in order to find local mystery shops and send them in at the right time

– Frequency – how often you want us to deliver insights over a 12 month period

Once we have these, our team take care of the rest.

How long does it take to start a mystery shopping programme?

 At Proinsight, one of our core values is speed! As soon as we have all the information we require from yourselves we can create your mystery shopping programme within 3 days. All mystery shops start on the 1st of every month and are completed within the month.

What impacts the price of a mystery shop?

There are various factors that affect the overall price of mystery shopping services and each project is priced according to the level of detail required. We always aim to pay our shoppers well for the time they put into completing their mystery shops; this includes the time they spend on the customer journey and writing up their final report. We also need to pay our quality control team for the work they do on ensuring you only receive the highest quality report. Our team of programme coordinators also spend a lot of time scheduling your mystery shops to be confident that they have recruited the right mystery shopper for the job. As you can see, so much goes into ensuring we can produce real measurable results for our clients, allowing them to improve their customer experience.

 What types of mystery shops do you offer?

A wide variety! From digital to telephone, right through to face to face mystery shops. Mystery shoppers are not just limited to measuring an experience, they can also measure a process. We will happily work with you to establish the best approach for you, so the most important aspects of your customer experience are reported on in the level of detail you desire. Head over to our Sectors and Expertise page to see who and what we mystery shop.

Can you mystery shop our competitors?

 Of course! We cannot record or film your competitors like we can with your own teams, however, our shoppers will give a detailed account of their experience which is an excellent way to benchmark yourselves against any industry competition.

Are there any sectors that you don’t cover?

Nope! Any business that has a form of customer journey can receive a mystery shop. We have become experts in all sectors, including leisure centres, health clubs, car dealerships, retail brands, restaurants, hospitality – just to name a few. No matter what industry sector you fall under, it is highly likely that we have experience within that sector. If you are unsure if we are the right provider for you, it is always worth a conversation with our team and we can highlight exactly what benefits we can bring to your customer journey.

Do your mystery shopping services cover the UK and Europe?

Absolutely, we are Elite Members of the Mystery Shopping Professionals Association EMEA, which means we have fantastic partners overseas who can support us in delivering any mystery shops outside of the UK.

Do you have an online portal where my results are stored?

We certainly do – this is the best way to collate and summarise your mystery shop reports to highlight key trends within your business to drive improvement. The online portal is fully branded to your organisation and you’re more than welcome to to create and run reports on any of the data you require, so it feels like an extension of your business. If you would like to take a look at our online portal, a member of our team would be happy to show you in more detail.

How will I know when a mystery shop has been completed?

Our complete end-to-end process is proven to deliver results quickly and efficiently. You will receive an email with your completed mystery shop attached within 72 hours of the mystery shop taking place. This will also be live on your online portal.

 What ongoing support do I get with my mystery shopping programme?

 At Proinsight, as one of the industry leading mystery shopping agencies, we are committed to providing our customers with a completely bespoke solution with as much ongoing support as they require. You will always have a dedicated account manager who will always be on hand to ensure you get the best value for your mystery shop programme,

What makes you different to any other mystery shopping company?

You just need to check out our core values to see what makes Proinsight stand out. We are a young, dynamic team who are breaking boundaries within the world of mystery shopping. We work alongside a vast range of businesses throughout the UK to provide them with mystery shopping services that are suitable for both their individual needs and desired outcomes. We take huge pride in the work we do, ensuring you always have high quality insights, delivered on time that help you make a difference within your business.

If you still have any questions about mystery shopping or would like to learn more about how we can help you improve your customer experience then please complete the form below.