Mystery shoppers report their experience in an unbiased way. The information they provide can be used to improve future company activities, for training purposes and for staff recognition and retention. No matter what type of business, a mystery shopping program is useful for any industry involving humans!

Improving the customer experience necessarily involves listening to what customers have to say. In today’s economy and online shopping, the customer experience is increasingly important. It’s no longer possible to succeed without paying close attention to how customers are treated, the information they receive and how they perceive a business. A well-structured and executed mystery shopping program will increase a company’s performance and profitability by providing a better understanding of all the factors influencing its activities.

There are many variables to determine the cost of a mystery shopping program. You can control the cost of your program by adjusting key factors, such as, the length and complexity of the survey, the specifics of the scenario that mystery shoppers will have to follow, the length of the reports and especially any constraints regarding the mystery shopper’s selection. The number of sites to be evaluated, the region, as well as any restrictions of days or time, will also influence the cost, especially with tight deadlines.

Reputation

Look for a firm who has years of experience and success in building mystery shopping programs for companies in your industry and in both languages, since proper communication at all levels is obviously essential! Suppliers whose main service is not mystery shopping, will not have the means to carry out the program successfully, they will, most likely, have to rely on external sources, resulting in unnecessary costs, a poor program and the loss of control over the dissemination of your data.

Reliability

A firm that specializes in mystery shopping services will have enough agents in every area to send a different mystery shopper for each shop if necessary. If your business has locations in remote areas, it makes recruiting mystery shoppers more challenging, you should choose a provider with a huge data base to ensure those harder-to-fill shops are completed.

Speed

Look for a provider that has reviewing team in both languages. Reviewing teams will make sure all the information provided by shoppers is accurate and complete before it gets delivered to you. The usual delay to receive a mystery shopping report is 48 hours.

Data processing platform

Look for a mystery shopping firm that has its secure data analytics platform on an internal server. Mystery shopping providers that rely on external sources for data processing can mean higher costs, delays when making any changes to the program or questionnaires and slower navigation since one server might host several mystery shopping firms at the same time. The platform is the main tool for management, it should provide real-time metrics, on an easy to navigate portal and be quick at generating statistics. Because the data collected can be sensitive, an in-house platform also ensures that your data will be secured at all times.

Price

Behind every mystery shopping program, there’s a whole team at work: analysts to develop the appropriate questionnaire in order to collect the data accurately, project managers to recruit, train and guide the team of shoppers, revisers to ensure quality control by correcting any inconsistencies or lack of detail in the reports and an in-house IT team to ensure the secure processing of data. Before choosing your firm, it is important to ask what percentage of the budget will go to mystery shoppers; since they are the front-line in data collection, should they not be paid at their fair value?

C3 offers audits relating to retail businesses and the food industry. We check merchandising, prices, security measures as well as the implementation strategies for loss prevention.

Yes, audits may be conducted by either one or several of your field representatives.

The cost of an audit depends on 4 major factors: if audits are done internally or by outside representatives, the geographic locations, the time required per location and whether or not the audits are time-sensitive.

C3 brand marketing teams consists of brand ambassadors promoting your products or services in a way that highlights your identity, values, and personality. c3 specializes in executing customized marketing strategies using a personalized approach to brand recognition. It involves direct interaction with customers through sales and sampling.

C3 brand ambassadors are experienced and energetic people who know how to connect with the public. Choosing the right types of ambassadors is the key factor for the credibility of a product or service.

The cost per ambassador depends on the type of profile needed, the number of ambassadors and locations and the number of days required.

Follow planograms to a T to put right merchandise, in the right place, perfectly aligned, in the right quantities, at the right price.

At C3, we hire experienced detailed-oriented people from your area, which lower costs considerably. By doing so, you also encourage workforce in your community.

The cost per merchandiser depends on the location, the number of merchandisers needed and the number of days required. Generally, the price is approximately $3 to $5 more than minimum wage.

Customer interviews are conducted one-on-one while customers are shopping, or at cash-out. They can also be done by phone or by email as a customer service follow-up.

Interviews are a great way to go deep into the needs of your customers. You get to ask specific questions that’ll generate information you need to make decisions about your product or service. They also can be very helpful for customer recovery, turning an upset customer into a happy and satisfied one.

The cost of an interview depends if it is done on location, by phone or email and the time required to collect data depending on the number of customers to contact or customer traffic.

C3 investigators are hired to monitor and strengthen loss prevention policies and procedures, legal measures or any other regulation issues.

By choosing C3 investigators, you will benefit from a diversified team for any mandate requiring the recruitment of specific and diversified agents across Canada, even in the most remote locations.

The cost per investigators depends on the type of profile needed, the number of investigators and locations and the number of days required.