There can be no good mystery shopping without good mystery shoppers. And what about the person who is spotted as soon as he arrives in the store?
Or the one who doesn't know his script and gets lost in the questions to ask? Taking part in a mystery tour can be a lot of fun, but it also requires rigor and seriousness.
Here we explain everything we expect from a good mystery shopper.
Profile of the ideal mystery shopper
The mystery shopper is the typical customer for our brands. We don't necessarily ask them to be experts on a brand or type of product, but to be informed consumers.
It's you, it's me, but with a twist. And it's that little something extra that makes the Smice difference.
Personal qualities first and foremost
The human qualities most sought in a future mystery shopper will be honesty and reliability. These qualities are all the more important as they are already part of Smice's DNA, but not the only one.
Reliability means that we must be able to assure our customer that the visits will take place on time, and the mystery shopper commits to a visit.
Honesty is the key to quality feedback. His answers must be honest, objective and factual. Admittedly, we need more subjective feedback in customer experience visits, but honest feedback.
Honesty also takes on its full meaning when the mystery shopper assures us that a point is compliant or non-compliant. We rely on his sincerity and frankness.
Undeniable writing skills
Our visit reports are differentiated by the richness of their verbatims. Our customers tell us so, and we're proud of it.
This is only possible thanks to the editorial quality of our mystery shoppers. Our customer experience visits are enriched only by the comments of our mystery shoppers.
We absolutely can't ignore the richness of these comments. They need to add real value to reports that consist solely of verbatims.
Our mystery shopper needs to be able to tell the story of his or her customer experience and add value to it, for example through suggestions for improvement, which means that having a nice pen is an asset in our selection process.
Mystery shopper status
Mystery shoppers may have professional status or remain occasional customers. This difference has no impact on the quality of the mission and the reports delivered, but essentially depends on the constraints of the mission entrusted.
Occasional mystery shoppers may be employed by choice, as they do not wish to make a living from this activity, or by obligation, as they cannot be salaried due to their professional status (e.g. civil service).
Some prefer to do it as a complement, often for the richness of the experience. The curiosity to see the "off" side of consumer society is a pleasure to be experienced as a complement to an existing professional activity. The occasional mystery shopper doesn't earn a salary, but receives compensation in the form of gift vouchers.
Conversely, some mystery shoppers choose to make a living from their work. In this case, the mystery shopper is bound by an employment contract with the mystery shopping company that employs him/her, and receives a salary commensurate with the mission carried out.
It is important to note that some missions cannot be carried out without an employment contract. Indeed, some of them impose constraints that create a subordinate relationship between Smice and the mystery shopper. This means that the mystery shopper must be given salaried status for the duration of the assignment, validated by an employment contract.
How do you select a good mystery shopper?
Mystery shoppers are not selected on the basis of their perfect knowledge of a sector or brand, but rather according to their typical customer profile. However, during recommendation mystery visits, we may need to look for profiles with a particular appetite for a product family, in order to ask the right questions of sales staff.
Generally speaking, we look for our customers' customers. If our customers are mainly women aged 35 to 55, we're not going to send an 18-year-old man on a mystery visit.
What's more, during our selection process, we ask candidates lots of questions to get to know them. We then put them through a series of writing tests to ensure that they are capable of writing quality reports. Finally, we carry out a 1st test visit to see them in action.
We take great care in selecting our future mystery shoppers. If you think you have what it takes to join the Smice team, apply here.
