The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

No, mystery shopper rotation does not refer to when you find yourself running around in circles. Some clients do not want the same shoppers performing their secret shops each time. They require that a period of time elapse before the shopper evaluates the same location again, or sometimes before the shopper can shop any of the client’s other locations.

There are several reasons for rotation requirements, including:

The client wants new eyes and ears evaluating them. Even though mystery shops are objective, shoppers notice different things. Sending several different shoppers to a location will usually provide a more comprehensive picture than using the same secret shopper again and again.

The shopper may be recognized. When the same shopper does the shop each time, the employees may be able to determine who the mystery shopper is, especially if the scenario does not change.

It serves as a verification of each shopper. Although each experience is unique, some things rarely or never change. For example, if one month the report suddenly says that there is no public rest room at the location, after another shopper has reported for the last six months that the rest room was always spotless, there is a problem. One of the shoppers is mistaken or may simply be going through the motions of filling out the report form without actually checking the rest room.

The mystery shopping company and/or the client may want to share the wealth and assign sought-after shops to several different mystery shoppers, instead of always giving them to the same shoppers.

The rotation period will depend on the client and the nature of the shops. In some cases the rotation might be 60 to 90 days. Others may be 12 to 18 months.

Apartment complexes often have long rotation periods because the mystery shopper not only spends a lot of time with the rental agent, they make an appointment and must present valid identification (such as a driver’s license). It may be easy for the agent to determine who the shopper was. Even if the agent did not know who the shopper was, their spidey-senses might start to tingle if the same person who came in about an apartment last month shows up again this month.

Rotation requirements are just another way that mystery shopping companies and clients protect the integrity of their mystery shopping programs and obtain the best possible data.