Mystery Research is the newest method to get deeper insight into your customers' behavior. This information can be used in multiple ways to yield the best decisions for your business.

This in depth study can be used as a stand alone program or coupled with a mystery shopping, customer feedback/satisfaction program, or with SafetyNet, our social media monitoring program.

Businesses typically use Mystery Research for information on the following:

* Locations that of concern to the company: Mystery Research will provide detailed information on a location that is experiencing sluggish sales

* Competitive intelligence: how do customers behave differently in your place of business versus the competitor?

* Breaking into a new market: study customer traffic patterns and behaviors in similar business within markets you are considering expanding into - get a head start into intimately knowing customers in this new market

* Improve training procedures and best practices: use Mystery Research to evaluate your highest performing locations to determine why it is more successful than the others. Or, conduct mystery research on your top and bottom performing locations for a side by side view to learn more about what makes certain locations successful and how you can help other locations mirror the success of your top performers.


How does it work?
A trained Mystery Researcher will visit your place of business and spend approximately one to three hours posing as a typical customer, recording observations with regard to customers and employees, including, but not limited to:

* What do customers do as they enter? Do they look at signage, walk right up to the counter, study the menu? What behaviors are most typical of single customers versus groups of customers, or that of customers with children?

* How long is the typical interaction between a customer and employee?

* Do customers gravitate toward one area of the restaurant/store? What items are most viewed by your customers? Which areas of the store are not high traffic areas?

Strict observations will be made during this study, and you will receive a detailed written report outlining all observations made. For further analysis, mystery researchers can also interview customers and/or employees during their evaluation to gain further insight.


What types of businesses can benefit from Mystery Research?
Typically, most businesses can use mystery research. Those that will allow the longest period of covert research due to the nature of their business will yield the best results, including:

* Coffee shops
* Quick serve restaurants
* Casual dining restaurants
* Banks and other financial institutions
* Park Districts or other community based programming facilities
* Retail businesses

How do I most effectively use Mystery Research?

Mystery Research is not meant to be used as a regular, consistent program similar to mystery shopping or customer feedback services. Instead, mystery research is used on an as-needed basis when questions arise or you would like deeper insight into a particular location, market, or competitor, or if you'd like to do a side by side comparison of a high traffic, successful location compared to a location that is not as successful.

If you are using a mystery shopping program, you can employ Mystery Research if you find a location traditionally performs below company standards, or a once high performing location is experiencing declining scores. If you are utilizing customer feedback surveys and find that there are some locations that are receiving more negative feedback than the others, this program can be quickly employed to help you determine why. If social media monitoring results yield information that is concerning to you, employing mystery research can give you the answers you need to make improvements.

You don't have to have one of these programs to utilize Mystery Research - if you have concerns, or are curious about customer behavior in your business, we can help! Contact us via email to get more information and learn how Mystery Researchers can provide you with the information you need to be successful!