Mystery Shopping in a Store: How to Prepare an Evaluation and Improve Customer Service

For a mystery shopping evaluation to help a store, the owner should decide in advance which staff actions to assess, prepare a routine shopping scenario, and agree on a report format. After the visit, the manager compares the observations with the circumstances, discusses them with staff, and sets specific changes to how the store operates.

A mystery shopper visits the store as a regular customer and describes the experience: how they found the product, received advice, and made a purchase. One visit shows a single situation. To draw conclusions about the store’s performance, evaluate different shifts and repeat relevant scenarios after making changes.

Decide what you want the evaluation to find out

Start with a specific problem. For example, customers complain that sales staff do not help them find the right size. In that case, evaluate the entire process: did the salesperson ask about the model and size, check stock, suggest an available option, and explain the next step?

Write the expected action so the evaluator can see or hear it. “The salesperson gives good advice” leaves too much room for personal judgment. “The salesperson asked what the customer planned to use the product for” has a clear answer.

Before starting, the store owner or manager prepares:

• the purpose of the evaluation and a list of actions to observe;
• service standards that sales staff already know;
• a visit scenario and a reporting questionnaire;
• a schedule of visits to different stores and shifts;
• a budget for the evaluator’s work, travel, and any approved purchases;
• a procedure for handling reports and personal data.

If the store does not yet have an agreed consultation process, document it and train the team first. Otherwise, staff will learn what the manager expects only after an unsuccessful evaluation.

Choose an evaluator and give them a clear assignment

For an in-house evaluation, choose someone who can carry out your customer scenario naturally. For a shoe store, this could be someone who genuinely knows what they need in terms of shoe size and use. Do not assign the visit to someone the sales staff know or to anyone with a personal conflict with the team.

Before the first visit, ask the candidate to describe a sample consultation. Check that they can distinguish an event from an impression. “After I asked, the salesperson did not explain the differences between the two models” is an observation. “The salesperson is incompetent” is a conclusion that this note alone does not support.

The manager walks through the scenario with the evaluator and gives them written instructions and a questionnaire. The instructions specify the store address, permitted visit dates and times, the customer’s questions, and the actions expected of the salesperson without prompting. The manager separately agrees whether a purchase is required, its budget, payment method, documents needed to verify expenses, the reimbursement process, and who will keep the purchased item. The instructions also state the report deadline, confidentiality rules, and a contact for questions during the visit. Together, they decide what to do if the product is unavailable or the evaluation has to be interrupted.

Agree on payment for completing the scenario and submitting a full report. Do not make the fee depend on the number of problems found. If a contractor conducts the evaluation, specify the assignment, expenses, confidentiality rules, and how results will be delivered in the contract.

Write a scenario for a routine purchase

The scenario should reflect situations sales staff encounter in their daily work. Do not create an artificial conflict, ask anyone to break store rules, or pressure an employee to do anything unlawful.

Sample scenario for a shoe store

1. Enter the store and look around the everyday shoe section.
2. When a salesperson approaches you, or when you ask for help, say: “Can you help me choose shoes?” If they ask what you need them for, explain that you are looking for shoes for everyday walking. If they ask about your size and budget, say size 39 and up to UAH 2,500. If the salesperson starts suggesting models without asking questions, state these requirements yourself and note what they asked and what you explained without being asked.
3. Ask them to explain the difference between two suggested models.
4. Ask whether the selected model is available in size 39. If it is not, ask what options are available.
5. If the product fits the assignment and the agreed budget, make the purchase. If not, politely end the consultation.
6. After leaving, complete the questionnaire and attach proof of purchase if you bought something.

The amount in this example is illustrative. The owner sets a budget that fits the store’s range and decides in advance whether a purchase is needed to evaluate checkout service. A consultation alone is enough to assess product selection, but it does not show how staff complete a sale.

Leave space in the questionnaire to note deviations from the scenario. If the store was closed, an air-raid alert occurred, or a technical failure interrupted the service, the evaluator should describe what happened. Steps left incomplete for these reasons should not automatically be marked as salesperson errors.

Build a questionnaire around specific actions

Each question should assess one action. Split “Did the salesperson greet you and help you choose a product?” into two questions: the greeting may have happened while the assistance did not. This follows Qualtrics’ guidance on avoiding double-barreled questions.

Use “yes,” “no,” “not applicable,” and “unable to verify” as answers. The manager should explain to the evaluator in advance when to select each one. If the scenario includes a consultation only, select “not applicable” for payment questions. If a purchase was planned but did not happen, select “unable to verify” for payment questions and explain why. Assess separately any salesperson actions the evaluator was able to see or hear.

Do not assess an employee’s attractiveness, age, build, or other personal traits. If you are evaluating how the sales floor is maintained, describe specific conditions: the aisle is clear, the price tag is readable, or the product is in its assigned place.

Before launching the evaluation, ask several people to fill out the questionnaire as a trial. Ask them to explain how they understood each question. Rewrite any wording that leads to different answers for the same observations.

Schedule visits across shifts and opening hours

Create a schedule listing the stores, shifts, time slots, and scenarios. Include visits during both busy and quieter periods. If you evaluate only during quiet hours, you will not see how the team handles a queue.

An illustrative starting schedule for two stores with two shifts is one visit to each shift at each store: 2 stores × 2 shifts = 4 visits. This is an example of how to distribute visits, not a sufficient sample for drawing general conclusions about service. If a problem recurs or circumstances were unusual, schedule additional visits.

When comparing stores, keep the key conditions the same: the complexity of the request, the budget, and the evaluation rules. Record the queue, the number of sales staff available, and other circumstances that may have affected service. A visit to an empty store and a consultation during a queue need different context.

Record facts and protect staff data

Ask the evaluator to complete the report as soon as they leave the store. At a minimum, record the date, time, location, scenario completed, questionnaire answers, and descriptions of important events. Mark approximate waiting times as estimates. If the evaluator does not remember a salesperson’s exact words, they should summarize the substance without quotation marks.

For this evaluation, use written observations and proof of any agreed purchase. Do not include covert audio or video recordings. Under Article 307 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, a person’s consent is required for photographing or filming them. The article also provides that consent is presumed for openly photographing or filming people on the street and at public events such as gatherings, conferences, and rallies. Photographing or filming without consent, including covertly, is allowed only in cases established by law. Simply visiting a store does not give the evaluator permission to record in this way.

A report may contain personal data even without a surname: the store, time, and description of an incident may sometimes identify an employee. Before collecting such data, the owner must establish a lawful purpose and legal basis for processing it. They should collect only information needed for that purpose, specify who may access it, and set a retention period. Data that can identify an employee must not be kept longer than needed for the lawful purpose, subject to legal requirements for archival records and document management. Consent is one of the legal grounds listed in Article 11 of the Law “On Personal Data Protection.” Other grounds must be justified; in particular, legitimate interests do not automatically override an employee’s rights.

The store owner should explain to the team in advance that these evaluations take place, what information is collected, why it is used, and to whom it is disclosed. The notice should identify the personal data controller—the company or individual entrepreneur—and explain employees’ rights. If the controller collects data directly from an employee, they must notify the employee when collecting it. If the data is obtained by another means, they must notify the employee within 30 working days of collection, except in cases established by law.

The store owner decides which employees may read reports and what information each person needs for their work. Employees with access must give a written undertaking not to disclose personal data. Do not post individual evaluation results in a general chat.

Explain whom an employee can contact to access their own data or request that inaccuracies be corrected. Once you establish that information is inaccurate, correct it without delay. If a contractor processes data on your behalf, sign a written agreement specifying the purposes and types of data they will process.

The owner determines how to protect reports and delete personal data where grounds provided by law apply. They also arrange a record of data operations: collection, modification, viewing, transfer or copying, deletion, or destruction. If an automated system processes the data, it must automatically record the information specified in clause 3.11 of the Standard Procedure. The owner sets retention periods for reports and the operations log separately. Unless legislation provides otherwise, records of operations must be kept for one year after the end of the year in which they took place.

How to check answers about product availability in Torgsoft

If the scenario concerns an unavailable size, the salesperson can use Torgsoft’s “Product availability across retail chain warehouses” mode. It shows product quantities and sizes at different stores and warehouses. The manager can include a questionnaire question asking whether the salesperson checked stock before answering the customer. A description of the feature is available on the Torgsoft inventory management page.

Before the visit, the manager checks that the salesperson has access to the required accounting centers. The salesperson then selects the stores, product, and date, enables size display, and refreshes the data. The mode’s help page explains that applying a text filter using F5 or Enter may use previously retrieved data; a full refresh this way happens the first time or 15 minutes after the previous full refresh. To refresh the full data set sooner, the salesperson clicks the separate “Refresh” button listed in the help. If the customer wants to buy a specific pair, the salesperson should also confirm that it is physically in stock.

After the visit, the manager compares the salesperson’s answer with the inventory records for the evaluation date. If stock has changed, they review documents for the product, period, and accounting centers in “Product Movement” mode. To establish availability at the time of the consultation, the manager also checks the transaction times and when they were entered into the software. The current stock balance or daily total alone does not prove that the salesperson gave an incorrect answer. The manager reviews the questionnaire and evaluation findings separately: these inventory modes do not automatically assess the mystery shopper’s work or the quality of the consultation.

Turn the report into specific changes

First check that the report is complete and follows the scenario. Then discuss the facts with the employee and shift manager. Find out what prevented the expected action: the salesperson did not know the procedure, lacked access to the data, saw incorrect stock figures, or was serving several people at once.

For each confirmed issue, record an action, an owner, a deadline, and a way to check again. For example: “By Friday, the store manager will train sales staff on both shifts to check sizes across the retail network. During the next visit, the mystery shopper will ask about an unavailable size and record whether the salesperson checked stock at other stores.”

If the manager needs an overall score, they should define the calculation rules before the evaluations begin. For this questionnaire, divide the number of “yes” answers by the sum of “yes” and “no” answers, then multiply by 100%. Exclude “not applicable” and “unable to verify” answers from the calculation; report their count and reasons separately. If there are no verified items, do not calculate a percentage. Illustrative example: of 10 items, 2 were not applicable and all 8 remaining items could be checked. The salesperson completed 6 of them: 6 ÷ 8 × 100% = 75%. Alongside the score, the manager notes the number of items checked and lists the actions not completed. When comparing results, the manager takes the scenarios and list of evaluated actions into account.

Do not make a disciplinary decision based on a single visit. Hear the employee’s explanation, check the circumstances, and repeat the observation. After training or a process change, evaluate the specific action that was addressed. This approach helps the owner see the outcome: sales staff check availability, explain the options, and complete consultations according to the agreed standards.

Official sources on personal data and filming

• Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection” dated 01.06.2010 No. 2297-VI: Articles 2, 4, 6, 8, 10–12, 15, 20, and 24—definitions, work with contractors, grounds for processing, notices, employee rights, correction, and protection.
• Civil Code of Ukraine dated 16.01.2003 No. 435-IV: Article 307—protection of a person’s interests during photo and video recording.
• Standard Procedure for Processing Personal Data, published by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Order No. 1/02-14 of 08.01.2014): clauses 2.1–2.11 and 3.4–3.11—processing rules, notices, retention periods, access, and records of data operations.