„Mystery Shopping“ means the method of covert participant observation in consulting
and sale situations. It serves to verify the service quality in customer contact.
„Mystery Shopping“ , respectively test consulting, has seen a strong growth in
previous years. The reasons are many. „Mystery Shopping“ stands for a high level of
objectivity of the measurement. Unlike satisfaction surveys, in which real customer
contacts are evaluated subsequently, test consulting is carried out virtually
experimental. The scenario, the time of testing, the standards to be assessed and
the conversation guidelines are established in advance. The test situation is
standardized, which enables the comparability of each individual contact in the
first place.
Depending on the task, the testers can be recruited alternatively from a pool of
experts or from a pool of real customers. In any case testers will be prepared in
details for each test, so they know exactly what they should be aware of. At the
same time the testers must ensure equal test conditions . The test itself takes
place without the knowledge of the employees. Determined is only, that the
employees are generally informed about the implementation of test consulting.
Which customer contact is a test is not known to them. After the test, the testers
must write down the results as fast as possible. In most cases standardized
questionnaires are used.
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The training of the testers in advance, the standardized test situation and the
short time between test and the survey - each of the three characteristics is of
fundamental importance to the objectivity of the measurement.
The results of Test consulting are significantly
more detailed, than the results of satisfaction surveys. Test consulting is
furthermore not limited to the measurement of objective facts. Especially when the
testers are recruited from a pool of real customers, are additional subjective
reviews and qualitative statements very important. Furthermore, test consultings
are contemporary and flexible deployed, while satisfaction surveys measure more or
less distant events and reflect more long-term changes. If You want, for example,
to quickly check the effects of training, test consulting is significantly better
suitable than satisfaction surveys. In summary, the main advantages of
„Mystery Shopping“ lie therein, that they allow the objective measurement of
servcie quality, that they enable comparability by controlling the general
conditions and that the results are relatively rich in detail and up-to-date.
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