Information for test shopping

What is mystery research?

Mystery research is a means of testing a company anonymously. Through real customer situations and points of contact, mystery research enables us to identify the weaker points of customer interaction.

The two most widely used testing formats are the anonymous shop-test (mystery shopping) and the anonymous consulting-test (where the customer is looking for advice). Mystery research can be conducted personally, by telephone (mystery calls), in writing and electronically.

Businesses carry out anonymous testing in order to:

• monitor and measure company standards
• experience their own business practice from a client’s perspective
• gauge their performance in relation to their competitors
• assess the sales-orientation of their sales department(s)

Mystery research allows a company to see itself through the eyes of the customer. In finding a weakness there is also a path towards active improvement in the customer orientation of a business.

What is a test shopper/ tester?

A test shopper sees a tested company with the eyes of an objective customer. concertare briefs the shopper to explain which standards and criteria are being tested. This includes behaviour guidelines for the shopper and the nature of the sales or advice. To avoid variation between testers, each of these guidelines must be followed in the test itself so that the standard of our research can be upheld. Because of this, the mystery research is regularly monitored by concertare and its clients.