Program and Questionnaire Design
Once a company has made the decision to have mystery shoppers come onto the premises, the next step is to prepare a questionnaire for them to work with. The questionnaire must be written in such a way as to provide objective feedback the client company can use.
If the client company is a retail store, the mystery shopper may be given instructions to observe and report on the following:
- Was the mystery shopper greeted when he or she entered the store?
- If yes, how long did it take for an employee to acknowledge the mystery shopper’s presence?
- What was the general condition of the premises like?
- Were the employees knowledgeable about the products they are selling?
- Was the mystery shopper’s purchase rung through promptly?
- Did the employee thank the mystery shopper for their business and invite them to come back again?
Most mystery shopping questionnaires include questions that can be answered “Yes” or “No.” For the sake of clarity and to provide more information, if the mystery shopper answers a question in the negative, he or she is asked to write in more details. Some multiple choice questions will also be included as well. This is to allow the mystery shopper to have the opportunity to check off the specific features and benefits that employees point out about the products they are selling during the shop.
A general comments section is included so that shoppers can include additional information about anything that they found interesting or that stood out about that particular visit to the business.
Planning the questionnaire for mystery shoppers also includes designating certain questions as being more important than others. A point system is established so that the most important parts of the visit are emphasized. Not all questions need to have a certain number of points assigned to them; these may be included on the list to provide background information for the mystery shopping report.