26 Sample Mystery Shopping Survey Questions for Retail Brands

The main goal of mystery shopping is to evaluate the quality of service . Customer service is a key element of customer experience development. There is no doubt that ensuring the quality of service is much more difficult than ensuring the quality of goods. At the same time, it strongly influences the customer perception of the company.

Brands utilize mystery shopping providers in order to ensure the highest possible customer experience.

Their final goal is to increase sales and, as a result, receive more profit. But unfortunately, many mystery shopping programs are ineffective on both counts.

The focus of most mystery shopping programs is to deliver highly valuable and accurate data. One aspect is to collect research data and the other is to identify key insights that will enable a company to achieve its goals. In order to receive full and valuable information from potential customers, you need to know what questions to ask and the best way to do it.

Today we want to draw your attention to the structure of the general mystery shopping investigation.

It allows a retail brand to receive general data on:

• the quality of service
• compliance of stores with service standards of the retail network
• key features of the particular sales process

Questionnaire clusters:

1. Store Information
2. Standards
3. Service & Interaction
4. Processing the Sale – Purchase
5. Overall Experience and comments

Be sure that your customers will notice every single detail, which may influence a purchase decision or not, may influence recommendation of your brand to friends or may cause the customer to leave your store and never return.

1. Store information

• Was the parking lot generally clean?
• When you walked up to and through the store entrance, was it clean and well maintained?
• Was the restroom clean, well stocked and working properly?
• Were the aisles clutter-free, with room for two or more trolleys to pass through?
• How many Sales Associates were in the Store?
• How many customers were in the Store?

1. Standards

• Were the entrance and window displays clean and tidy?
• Were pricing labels on either the product or the shelf?
• Was the register/counter area organized and free of clutter?

1. Service and interaction

• Did any Sales Associate greet you within 15 seconds of entering the Store?
• What were the Sales Associates doing as you entered the Store?
• After the initial greeting, did a Sales Associate return back to you and initiate conversation?
• Were you offered assistance and made to feel welcome?
• Were the sales associates knowledgeable about the products?
• Did the employee seem interested in understanding you and your needs?

1. Processing the sale

• When you approached the cash desk area, did the Sales Associate greet you?
• Were you offered an additional purchase item?
• Did the Sales Associate process the transaction efficiently and in a friendly manner?
• Was the register/counter area organized and free of clutter?

1. Purchase
   Responses to questions like these will shed some light on the customer experience.

• Are your products or procedures, or the pace of your operations, discouraging sales?
• Was every item you wanted to purchase available? If not, please list the unavailable item(s).
• Were you able to find the style and size you were looking for?
• How many tills were manned when you joined the queue?
• Were there less than three customers in the queue? If not, did anyone call for additional help (to manage the queue or open another till?)?
• Once you reached the counter, how long did it take to complete the transaction (get your receipt?)

Additional clusters include also Subjective evaluation and calculation of NPS.

Looking for more reasons to set up the Mystery shopping investigations for your brand? Click here to learn about the retail audit, one of the most popular types of MS investigations.