Can I Mystery Shop On My Competitors?
Mystery Shopping: The Basics
To tell you the truth, mystery shopping is not as mysterious as it sounds. In reality, it is one of the most practical ways of evaluating the quality of customer experience being delivered by a brand. Mystery shopping is not just limited to departmental stores, but various organizations across industries and sectors indulge in it.
Now mystery shopping is not just about gathering data about your staff, but it has also turned out as a proven method to gauge how their competition is carrying out business. Now, many of you might wonder why you are concerned about your competition when you already know what they are doing. Right?
But the fact is, it is crucial to gauge how your competition is doing its business. More often, it is not regarding their actual operation, but about the claims regarding their business. In this highly competitive market, it is necessary to stay informed of the strategies that your competition has devised. This also allows your marketing team to innovate and devise a more effective strategy to increase the returns. Thus, it is imperative to learn and understand what your competition is saying and put yourself a step ahead of them.
Is mystery shopping legal?
Mystery shoppers are “undercover customers” employed by a third- party who observe, interact, and gather data. Let me make this clear that it is not about spying to uncover the business secrets of your competitors. The important thing to note is that in its original form, mystery shopping is entirely legal and is carried out in a majority of businesses. It is just a new twist to the old-fashioned concept of market research and it is not unlawful industrial espionage. The ground rule is, any publicly available information is not a secret.
Consumers today benchmark businesses and companies not only against their competitors but also across industries. While this has made the scenario more challenging, it also empowers a business to get innovative and think out of the box. Hence, it has become extremely important to gain insights into your competition, to offer better services, and be a step ahead of them at the same time.
How Mystery Shopping Can Help You?
The fact is, mystery shopping companies are not seeking their competitor’s internal or sensitive information. The information procured is similar to what any random customer would come across. The difference lies in the actions the company takes on the information obtained, to improvise their businesses. For instance, a new burger company might choose to mystery shop at KFC, not to identify their secret recipe, but to gain an insight into the customer experience being provided by them.
Mystery shopping helps you to benchmark your business against your competition, in terms of the relative experience being offered to consumers. This can assist you to broaden the gap between your organization and your competition. Additionally, it assists a company to motivate its team to perform better based on the findings and set a target for the future.
However, there can be an exception in case a mystery shopper is asked to sign any form of a document or a confidentiality agreement in exchange for some information. Such cases can involve the trade secrets of a brand and if a mystery shopper divulges the information after signing, he or she can face legal issues of breach of contract. For any brand, before emulating a new system of a technique that is used by a competitor, it is necessary to ensure that they are not secured by patent laws.
The Apt Way of Mystery Shopping
Today, scanning through the website, your competitor is not enough. What you should fish for is how they treat their prospects and how their sales force handles the process. Chances are, you will come across several models and procedures you will want to incorporate in your operations, and other methods that you might think are redundant. At the same time, organizations should respect the time of their competitors while mystery shopping.
There is a clear distinction between being disrespectful and seeking information regarding aspects that help you measure your sales performance. The approach employed has to be within the content and time boundaries of the conventional information collecting process. As a rule of thumb, mystery shoppers should not perform any activity that a normal shopper would not do. At the end of the day, your quest for information should not lead you towards breaking a rule or a law.
While the idea of using an electronic recording device can sound interesting, it is best to avoid them while mystery shopping. In most cases, the recording of actual interaction with customer service should not be illegal. However, depending on how the recording is used in the future, there can be legal complications. To be on the safe side, it is always best to consult an expert on the privacy laws while using a recording device as a mystery shopper.
Getting the Most Out of Mystery Shopping
Before you set out for mystery shopping, it is crucial to know your competitor’s primary strengths. The right bit of homework will assist you in asking the most critical questions and squeeze vital information out. Here are a few tips to help you to go about shopping for your competition.
- Set up a well thought out and believable scenario, similar to the ones your potential customers approach you with. Have ample information ready to answer any questions the company you are mystery shopping has.
- Always be prepared to offer information that can aid in follow-up calls. You will also need to set up a non-work address to make your profile believable.
- It is advised to mystery shop on multiple factors that can aid your business and operations. These include prices, guarantees, customer service, turnaround time, and sales process, among others.
- With today’s caller ID technology, you can be tracked easily. Hence, it is advisable to call from a location away from your office and have a trusted associate handle the call. If your budget permits, you can even opt to hire a professional. This can help you squeeze out more information.
- You should consider making a list of questions and answering them yourself before you ask them to your competitors. This will help you get a perspective on the difference between your and your competitor’s approach.
Before you start to mystery shop with your competitors, keep in mind that you can also be subjected to the same by them. In such a case, it is best to pretend to be oblivious to this fact and have fun with the process. But, irrespective of whether the caller is a prospect or not, you should never give out proprietary information.
Conclusion
If you are honest and transparent with your business, mystery shopping is an effective tool in your marketing strategy. In case you are in doubt, visit a legal advisor specializing in media and privacy laws before you get going.
