What do Orange Leaf, Pinkberry, sweetFrog, Yogurtland, and Yogurtology have in common? The obvious answer is that they are all frozen yogurt chains. What’s not as well known is that each uses mystery shoppers to better understand the customer experience. Mystery shopping services are relatively affordable, even for single location restaurants.
The Mystery Shopping Process for Restaurants
Market research companies handle the hiring, training, and compensation of mystery shoppers. The client specifies the frequency of the visits and what to look for, with the guidance of the client manager.
Next, a mystery shopper receives an assignment to visit the client business, posing as a typical customer. The shopper already knows what to look for before visiting the shop. Immediately after the visit, the mystery shopper fills out a detailed questionnaire or report.
The feedback the mystery shopper provides is much more detailed, structured, and timely than the typical online review. For restaurants, mystery shoppers typically evaluate cleanliness, customer service, freshness/food quality, and signage/marketing materials. The shopper can include photographs, if desired by the client.
For example, a mystery shopper can evaluate the following for a frozen yogurt shop:
- Amount of time it takes before the customer is greeted upon entering the shop
- Friendliness and professionalism of employees
- Whether sample cups are offered
- Toppings bar cleanliness
- Freshness of fruit toppings
- Frozen yogurt taste and texture
- Does the employee ask the guest whether he/she is a member of the reward program?
- Bathroom cleanliness
Yogurtology’s Vice President, Ean Mendelsohn, had this to say about Goodwin Hospitality’s Mystery Shopping Program, “We’ve been using your Mystery Shopper program for many months and are thrilled with the qualitative results and details given in the Mystery Shopper Reports,” Mendelsohn explained. “We rely on your service so much that our manager bonus structure is based on the results of your Mystery Shopping reports.”
Some Tips for Using Mystery Shopping
- Frequency: One visit a month is probably the minimum, but the ideal frequency is once a week or every other week. If the visits are too infrequent, it’s difficult to spot important trends.
- Cost: Expect to pay $40-$60 per mystery shopper visit for a basic visit, plus compensation for the frozen yogurt purchase
- Finding a provider: You can find certified mystery shopping companies across the world on the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MPSA) website: http://www.mspa-americas.org/what-is-mspa/search.
We also recommend reading Inc’s article, How to Set Up a Mystery Shopping Program. A good provider will help you set up your custom program and have a large database of shoppers in your area and your target market.
If you want to do it yourself, find people who will provide honest feedback (typically, not your friends and family), provide them with evaluation forms, have them visit during different times of the day, and try to find people who get frozen yogurt from time to time.
