Mystery Shopping India: The Saviour for Every Business

Communication is defined as the process through which the sender sends a message to the receiver through a medium and the receiver shall decode the message and then send the valuable feedback back to the sender. This is how the communication process shall be deemed to be finished. You must be wondering as to why I am sharing the definition of communication with you. The answer is pretty simple! Everything is connected and the process of communication can also be directly linked to the present day business scenario where the marketer is looking to build long term customer relationships with the customers and they do that by understanding what is needed and wanted by the customers and then developing the perfect product which shall be able to satisfy those needs and wants. The process of marketing shall be treated as incomplete till the time when the marketer gets to know about what the customers think about the product or service which is being offered by the business and whether the needs and wants are being satisfied in the right way or not by the business. There are a lot ways in which the business can do that but all of these methods only result in high costs and high amount of time being consumed by the businesses where the result still hangs in the balance.

In comes the newly evolved marketing method of "Mystery Shopping" which means that the business hires a specialized agency that shall hire more people in the chain who’s main goal shall be to visit the business without having any prior knowledge of the operations of the business and do a critical evaluation of the functions of the business and share their observation through a questionnaire prepared with the questions about the topics about which the business wants to gather the valuable customer feedback. Mystery shopping is a form of marketing technique that makes use of an external source for the marketing of the product or service.

In the times when the Indian economy is opening doors to the foreign competition to enter the economy and boost the performance of the home companies and on the other hand there are initiatives which are launched by the honorable Prime Minister of the country such as start up India and Stand up India that have influenced the home people to start businesses and earn a living for themselves and their families. All of this has directly resulted in the increase in the competition amongst the enterprises be it foreign or domestic enterprises and it is only a matter of time that the businesses extend their reach in order to search for a unique marketing alternative that shall result in getting higher customer loyalty, market standing and a higher market share in the extremely competitive market.

The hunt for a unique marketing method ends with Mystery shopping which allows the businesses to enter in the good books of the customers by adapting themselves as per the needs and wants of the customers. Mystery shopping will for sure help the businesses in gathering valuable customer feedback that shall enable the business to change its way and adapt well as per the needs and wants of the customers.

Mystery Shopping : Meaning

Just as the name suggests, Mystery shopping is the process where people who are called mystery shoppers enter the business and observe the business carefully from the operational efficiency to the quality of customer service to the way the goods are arranged and presented to the customers. These mystery shoppers are completely unaware about the business and have no pre conceived notions about the business and the business is also unaware about the identity of these mystery shoppers this shall help both the sides to present a pure view about the business. This feedback is then collected in valuable questionnaires which have questions about the various parameters which are to be tested by the business. Mystery shopping companies in India offer the chance for common people to be hired as mystery shoppers. The business can avail the special benefits of mystery shopping by being reaching out to a specialized marketing agency that shall plan out the entire mystery shopping exercise in behalf of the business in an efficient and effective manner. Sometimes it is better to outsource an operation which can be performed internally at high cost to an outside agency that shall perform the task in a cost effective manner because of their already established network connections and well qualified and well versed team of professionals who perform the entire task and achieve the goals that are set. The best mystery shopping example can be seen at departmental stores that look forward to hear valuable customer feedback on the way the store is managed and the quality of customer service provided.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of mystery shopping?

Mystery shopping as a newly evolved form of marketing has its own set of merits and demerits just like any other marketing method. We shall discuss this as under.

Advantages:

First and foremost, mystery shopping gives the business to garner pure reviews and feedback that is actually helpful in creating a product or service or adapt the operations in order to suit the needs and wans of the customers. With other methods, there is a huge possibility of having pre conceived assumptions that can hamper the feedback that is collected from the customers.

Advanced advertising agencies hire people who have no existing knowledge of the business to be the mystery shoppers in the entire mystery shopping exercise. This is also a source of income for such people and a possible means of employment. Mystery shopping helps both the sides of the equation. Mystery shopping jobs are becoming popular by every passing day.

Disadvantages:

The idea of mystery shopping might invite major costs for the business firms. They not only have the to bear the cost of doing the feedback exercise which can be performed in a cheaper way by using some other means of marketing.

There is no method of marketing which guarantees that there is no pre conceived notion about the business in the minds of the mystery shopper. There is still a possibility that there can be something in the minds of the people who are selected to be the mystery shoppers.

Top Hawks: The one stop destination for all the marketing needs

When it comes to providing perfect marketing services which can achieve the goals in the set time frame and at the best possible cost, there is no firm better than Top Hawks. They have a team of well versed and highly qualified professionals who are fully devoted towards achieving the goals of the business. They provide services on e-commerce, visual merchandising and help businesses by performing the sales function. Their efficiency and effectiveness is what makes them stand out from the rest.