Our Mystery Shopping Expertise

Our expertise has been developed through years of experience conducting ongoing mystery shopping studies for numerous clients selling services as well as tangible products.  Redhill Group’s first-hand knowledge of mystery shopping research provides insight for designing meaningful and effective programs while avoiding the pitfalls that less experienced firms may not be able to navigate.  This in turn has ensured Redhill Group implements the most effective programs in order to improve customer satisfaction and generate increased sales and market share.

Some of these pitfalls leading to suboptimal or even misleading results include:

  1. The program measures the wrong performance factors.
  2. The right factors can be measured, but performance goals may be too low or too high.
  3. Mystery shoppers may be poorly trained, therefore providing subjective results.
  4. Mystery shopping reports may be completely fabricated.
  5. Results may not be provided in a format that makes it easy to take effective corrective action.
  6. Using the knowledge and experience we’ve gained performing hundreds of mystery shopping projects, Redhill Group has arrived at a six-step process to avoid these and other potential pitfalls, guaranteeing your mystery shopping program’s success.
  7. Redhill Group works closely with you to develop a clear understanding of your organization’s goals and keys to success in your competitive environment.
  8. We subsequently develop a customer-driven, optimal shopping experience including identification of the performance factors that produce a positive experience.
  9. Appropriate performance levels are established for each key performance factor to ensure customer expectations are being met, and that undue expense is not incurred.
  10. Quantitative and objective measures of performance are established to ensure that results are actionable and facilitate corrective management action.
  11. Redhill Group thoroughly trains mystery shoppers to provide objective assessments of the service provided and conditions encountered, and support any negative findings with actionable specifics.
  12. We also conduct a comprehensive quality control program with our mystery shoppers to ensure that all data is valid, accurate and actionable.

Redhill Group remains cognizant that even when asked, people rarely report poor service directly to management. The consensus among customers is that management really doesn’t want to hear about.  Beyond that, in many cases the customers themselves don’t want to be bothered with the additional work of dealing with management also leading to inadequate feedback.

This lack of feedback prevents management to quickly and effectively addressing any shortcomings in service delivery.  An effective mystery shopping program can provide that feedback in a timely and actionable format to provide positive motivation for employees, and quick identification of areas that need improvement.