We’re often asked why we recommend our clients allow us to use an outsourced scheduling service for our mystery/secret shopping program. We’re occasionally asked by clients if we can complete a shop “in house,” meaning we locate the mystery or secret shopper for them.
- Image via Wikipedia
We can absolutely do that, but we hesitate to do it. And once we tell our clients about the benefits of a using an outsourced mystery shopper scheduling service, they are all enthusiastically onboard.
1. A Mystery Shopper Scheduling Service is Focused
We like using a scheduling service, because that’s all they do. They only schedule shoppers for a number of different mystery/secret shopping programs. The scheduling company we use schedules for about 75 companies, which means they may already have 30 possible mystery shoppers in or near the town of a particular client.
So, instead of us trying to find one person for one company in small-town Kentucky, we use the resources already provided by a scheduling service. The bottom line is that outsourcing with a scheduling service saves our staff time and energy with shopper recruitment and retention. Ultimately, this saves our clients money by keeping our own costs lower.
2. A Mystery Shopper Scheduling Service Finds the Best Shoppers
Another benefit to using an outsourced scheduling service is that a new shopper may not have a rating with us, but they may likely have one with many other shopping companies. With the information the scheduling service provides, our client can essentially hand select the shoppers to complete their shop. They can look at the rating and know that of the five shoppers who applied, mystery shopper #3 is going to be more likely to complete the shop. The scheduling service provides a glimpse of how shoppers perform across different companies, making it easier to identify those with a good track record and to weed out the ones who don’t.
3. A Mystery Shopper Scheduling Service Prevents Fraud
Scheduling services can also help prevent shoppers from signing up with multiple aliases with processes already built into their system. Clients sometimes have a 90-day rotation where the shopper can’t go back to repeat a shop for 90 days, so to get around the limitation, some less-than-scrupulous shoppers will create aliases — i.e. sign up as a spouse, a twin, or in one case, a shopper’s 7-month old child, so that it appears they’re all following the rotation, while in reality one person is doing all the work.
4. A Mystery Shopper Scheduling Service Improves Shopper Completion Rates
Finally, if someone shops exclusively for us and not with a scheduling service, there is a greater tendency for incomplete shops. Shoppers take greater care with their shops if they know they have a chance to get hired for many more shops.
While it may seem like a money saver to mystery/secret shopping clients, having your mystery shopping company schedule in-house, you’re better off using a service that outsources their scheduling. You can get better shoppers, better shops, and are less likely to have fraud.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Top 10 Reputable Work From Home Jobs (brighthub.com)
- FTC Warns that New College Grads Should Be Wary of Mystery Shopping Offers (ftc.gov)
