Some of your friends and family members may have jobs that seem far more important than mystery shopping. Some may be law enforcement professionals, lawyers, accountants and more. The contribution that those working in these and other professions make to society are evident, but the contributions that a mystery shopper makes may be less evident. While your contributions to society as a mystery shopper may be less evident, they are indeed real and can be far-reaching.
The Immediate Effects of Mystery Shopping Assignments
Most mystery shopping reports request information from you about everything from the cleanliness of the store to the friendliness of the sales staff and the quality of food at a restaurant. When you submit your report, it will be approved by your scheduler. Then, it often goes straight into the hands of the company that ordered it. This often is a corporate office with administrative or executive managers who are tasked with ensuring that their customers enjoying the best experience possible. However, there often is a disconnect between that the administrators and executives want their customers to experience and what the customers actually experience. The comments that you make in your report tell administrators and executives how closely their objectives and goals are being carried out by first-line employees like waiters, sales staff and others. Depending on your comments in the report, the administrative and executive team may take a number of different actions. In some cases, an employee may be reprimanded for providing poor service or for failing to follow job requirements. In many cases, the responses may indicate the need for various types of training, improvements to the customer experience through revisions to different processes and more.
The Long-Term Effects of Mystery Shopping Assignments
Without mystery shopping assignments, administrative and executive professionals would have a difficult time learning about the true experience that their customers have in their store, restaurant or other type of venue. Companies that don’t use mystery shoppers’ services may be unaware of issues such as poor or slow service, poor food quality and more. These are issues that can cause customers to avoid patronizing the establishment in the future. When this happens on a large-scale, ultimately, the bottom line of the company will suffer. Some companies may simply not be as successful and profitable as they could be. Others may wind up failing because of these issues. When a company is aware of the issues and takes steps to correct those issues, however, it can ensure that the customer experience is amazing. The company can develop a reputation for providing great service, a clean atmosphere and more. Ultimately, your responses can help companies to thrive, and this can help them to retain jobs or even to increase their need for employment. In this way, your efforts can promote a healthy economy.
As you can see, your efforts as a mystery shopping can have both immediate and long-term effects, and these effects can be highly advantageous for the workers in the company, for the company as a whole and for the economy.