Methodology Based on Research

Mystery shopping should not be simply sending in a shopper with a list of questions to answer. There's a lot more science behind it than that!

Each Shadow Shopper questionnaire is created to capture the information needed by the client, and is designed according to rigorous standards supported by research.

The Magical Number Seven

People have limits on what information they can process. For most people it's 7 items (+/-2). See Wikipedia for more information

Why is this relevant to mystery shopping?

Because if a questionnaire has not been designed correctly you will get around 7 accurate answers. Usually there's more than seven questions - so which answers can you rely on?

But I Need More than Seven!

Luckily, there are ways to bypass this limitation, and trick your brain into remembering more than 7 items. If not, Memory Champions could not memorise a random deck of cards in 25 seconds!

There are techniques to enable shoppers to remember a lot more information.

At Shadow Shopper we have the skills and knowledge to design questionnaires to enable the shopper to remember the maximum amount of information.

Without this expertise you can't rely on the information in your reports.

Questionnaire Design

Good questionnaire design is essential for accurate data. Our questionnaires are created by people skilled in questionnaire design and a knowledge of cognitive psychology.

Questionnaire Building Blocks

We don't simply have 'Yes / No' or 'tick the box' questions. We have every question format you can think of. See our Free Report 'How to Set Up a Mystery Shopping Program'.

Objective Vs Subjective

Objective (what actually happened) and subjective (what the customer thought about what happened) questions are important. Objective (factual) information tells you how your standards are being kept up; subjective (opinion) information tells you if your customers think your standards are the right standards.

Delayed Questions

Delayed questions (where the shopper does not see the question until they have completed all the factual questions) are standard in all Shadow questionnaires and get accurate subjective responses. Delayed questions are also great to find out if customers notice promotions without being prompted.

Statistics not ' Damned Lies'

Mystery shopping success depends on good research design and interpretation. Statistical validity is the basis of all our questionnaires and reports. We are not going to give you long reports full of numbers to 2 decimal places!

If that is what you're current reports look like then you need to see what Shadow can offer. Watch a video of a live demo.

Real Customers

The most valuable feedback you can get is from real customers, not 'career shoppers'. Shadow Shopper individually assigns each shop to a shopper matching your customer profile.

With our 25,000+ shoppers we don't have to rely on a small pool of 'ex-retail professionals'.

Customer Loyalty

Customer satisfaction was the goal of the eighties, but recent research shows that 80% of satisfied customers don't return. Customer Loyalty is what is important. So how to find out if and why customers will return?

Questions such as the NetPromoter ' Would you recommend this business to a friend?' are highly correlated with returning customers.

Shadow Shopper questionnaires all have hidden 'experience', 'perceived value' and 'intention' questions to find out what makes customers return - and what doesn't.

Customer Expectations

Shadow Surveys can quickly and inexpensively survey our database of shoppers to find out what customers expect of your business, and how you compare with your competitors.

We can survey shoppers that meet your customer profile or are even actual customers. You get your results in days, not months.