Mystery Shopper Focus Groups

Mystery shopper focus groups specialize in mystery shopping. They improve a shopper’s ability to purchase. Mystery shopper focus groups are useful tools for collecting qualitative data from group discussions. They work to make sure that customer service is good, stores are clean, and the customers satisfied. Mystery shopper focus groups cover restaurants, banks, supermarkets, drug stores, theaters, video stores and fast food outlets. Most of these focus groups are hired by big companies or corporations to assist their retail shops.

Mystery shopper focus groups differ from surveys. A survey is normally a page of questions. But focus groups generally have longer forms; they might ask you a series of questions, receive your response and then ask you another set of questions. Thus they give more appropriate results. Most focus groups act like consumers and tabulate the services they receive. They then evaluate these findings with other consumers in a central location, with the proceedings being taped for further reference.

There are many mystery shopper focus groups online. Mystery shopping companies use these groups as tools for education and growth. They recruit mystery shoppers and train them for each assignment. Online mystery shopper focus groups are far more advanced than others. They watch the shop proceedings online with hidden cameras, or receive services by phone or online quotes and e-mail a client’s brochure for mystery shoppers. They use the microphone and speaker on their computers to interact verbally with the focus group coordinator. Online mystery shopper focus groups work very fast, save time and reduce costs.

Mystery shopper focus groups not only give insights on what consumers think, but also why they think so. They can reveal consensus and diversity of participants’ needs, experiences, preferences and assumptions, provide unpredicted comments and new perspectives, and encourage participants to express their feelings fully and honestly. Mystery shopper focus groups provide in-depth information that is not always possible to collect within the structure of a quantitative study.

The drawbacks of mystery shopper focus groups include the generation of large amount of data that is difficult to analyze, small samples and outspoken individuals dominating the discussions. The quality of information depends on the skills of the moderator of the group.

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