SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Mystery shopping is a vital part of the customer relationship management program for any business that places service and hospitality as key components of the value proposition. Mystery shopping can be one of the most cost-effective and flexible customer relationship management tools available. It can be deployed quickly and inexpensively. Moreover, it is a program that can be modified and tweaked on the fly, giving the client access to very current market research information without expensive set-up costs.
Mystery shopping allows business managers to quickly gather reliable and quality feedback from a customer’s perspective. It is an invaluable tool for businesses seeking to evaluate a team’s customer care performance levels, training budgets and the delivery of company mission statements to its core consumer sector. Five of the most common uses of mystery shopping are: review of customer brand perceptions; analysis of competitors; review of internal procedures and processes; evaluating staff performance; and evaluating point-of-purchase materials and the retail store.
Here is a list of some of the top firms that provide mystery shopping and store audit services.
Ann Michaels & Associates Ltd.
Founded 1998 | 11 employees
Kathy Doering, CEO
Customer experience management firm specializing in mystery shopping, C-sat surveys, employee surveys, exit interviews and social media management. Today’s consumers have higher expectations, a larger reach and louder voices. Keeping up with it all can be challenging even for the most customer-centric company. That’s where we come in. Our customer experience measurement programs allow us to listen, engage and monitor the customer experience across all channels. Social media research, customer feedback and mystery shopping. Blending all the data together can give you a clearer picture of what your customer experiences when they come in contact with your brand.
Phone 866-703-8238
Anonymous Insights Inc.
Founded 1996
Patti Lengel and Suzy Baker, Co-founders
Since 1996, Anonymous Insights Inc. has converted over 3.5 million pieces of feedback into information that our clients have used to monitor and improve customer satisfaction. We offer industry-related experience, a nationwide network of shoppers, state-of-the-art technology and proven success in increasing customer satisfaction levels. We provide comprehensive, actionable data that allows you to see your business as your customers see it. This information provides you with the tools to develop employee behavior through reward/ recognition and coaching/training programs. The result is increased customer loyalty and revenues. Methodologies include mystery shopping, satisfaction surveys, customer intercepts, telephone evaluations, compliance and price audits. Over 80,000 independent contractors throughout the world.
Phone 614-761-0939
AQ Services International
Founded 2001 | 85 employees
Jeroen (Jay) de Koning, Partner/Account Director
AQ Services International is a global business intelligence partner for your measurement work outside of the United States. We manage our own worldwide pool of fieldworkers through our local offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. AQ specializes in mystery shopping and audits designed to deliver actionable and reliable insights that drive your frontline performance and sales. We are active in over 80 countries around the world with a dedicated team that speaks the language and knows local customs and culture. What drives us? Our passion and vision: to let people experience great service.
Phone 786-441-5268
BestMark
Founded 1986 | 180 employees
Ann Jennings, CEO
BestMark is a leading market research, mystery shop and auditing company serving the world’s largest and most respected, customer-focused brands across all industries for over 30 years. BestMark has performed over 8 million field service evaluations throughout North America and offers a strong and vast field force of over 500,000 evaluators who provide feedback using the most sophisticated mobile and Web surveying systems available. Since our inception, we’ve helped good companies become great companies with our comprehensive arsenal of proven surveying, auditing and management systems. Services include: mystery shopping, customer experience management, competitive intelligence, auditing, customer satisfaction research, mobile surveys, customer intercept/exit interviews and more.
Phone 952-922-2205
Canadian Viewpoint, Inc.
Founded 1980 | 55 employees
Carol Udel, CEO
Canadian Viewpoint is a multimode, quantitative field firm with over 35 years in the market research industry. We’ve been helping clients evaluate employee performance and customer service quality on-site as well as telephone mystery shopping for over 25 years. We conduct national mystery shops in English and French across Canada and the U.S. Our network of experienced and discreet mystery shoppers has worked in various industries and locations including banks, restaurants, grocery, electronics, clothing and telecommunication stores.
Phone 905-770-1770 ext. 226
Confero, Inc.
Founded 1986 | 43 employees
Elaine Buxton, CEO
Confero’s customized solutions measure, monitor and report on employee performance, brand presentation, customer experience, user experience and compliance. The firm has 30 years of experience in mystery shopping, with deep experience with complex omnichannel fielding, data integration, brand representation at retail and on-the-spot rewards incentives programs. Confero was recognized with a Stevie Award for Customer Service Consulting Practice of the Year and is WBENC-certified. Our CEO, Elaine Buxton, has served as president of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. Confero offers mystery shopping services on-site, on the Web, on mobile devices and using recorded telephone calls.
Phone 800-326-3880
DSG Associates
Founded 1981 | 50 employees
Butch Nievera; Michele Jowdy, Main Client Contact
DSG is a leader in mystery shopping and field services for a broad range of businesses. If you need information about what happens between your company and your customer, DSG can help design and execute a program to collect it. DSG offers the capability and capacity to work as a partner in creating and managing programs for clients who demand integrity, reliability and responsiveness. The higher the standards clients have for programs, the more they appreciate our unique perspective and commitment.
Phone 818-574-5434
IntelliShop
Founded 1999 | 186 employees
Ron Welty, CEO
IntelliShop partners with clients and research firms to deliver customer experience research solutions for every touchpoint. For research firms, whitelisting our services and Web portal (InSite™) allows you to maintain your brand presence with your clients. Our panel of more than 1 million shoppers can reach any geographic location quickly and efficiently for a variety of projects. We combine the most innovative Web-based intelligence and analytics platform with our team of exceptional people to provide you with a level of expertise and extreme service that is unmatched.
Phone 419-872-5103
Just The Facts, Inc.
Founded 1994
Bruce Tincknell, CEO
Our strategic mystery shopping begins with our 24 years of knowledge, quality and dedication to providing clients with actionable findings. JTF Shopping Group is your optimal choice for innovative solutions. Every client partnership begins with a thorough strategic analysis and assessment of the clients’ baseline status, needs, objectives and end goals. JTF’s proprietary four-step strategic process consists of client: a) understanding, b) learning, c) analysis and d) execution. Through this process, JTF Research measures employee effectiveness, strengths/weaknesses and opportunities. Key data points are gathered on employee and business assessment that leads to tangible actions that drive customer satisfaction. Our mystery solutions are much more than just gathering data. We monitor, analyze and develop best practices so our clients’ business can achieve greater revenues, profits and ROI. Over 250,000 experienced shoppers nationwide.
Phone 847-506-0033
MaritzCX
Founded 1973 | 900 employees
Carine Clark, CEO
MaritzCX helps organizations see, sense and act on the experiences and desires of every customer to increase retention, conversion and lifetime value. With an unmatched combination of customer experience software, research science, vertical market expertise and managed program services, MaritzCX delivers the world’s broadest CX software platform and services business. MaritzCX mystery shopping teams understand your industry, including specific customer triggers, performance benchmarks and other channel nuances. As a result, MaritzCX knows how to collect the deep, meaningful insights that enable you to make concrete, measurable CX improvements.
Phone 385-695-2800
mysteryshopping.maritzcx.com/#/SignUp/CreateAccount/Intro
Market Analytics International, Inc.
Founded 2002 | 50 employees
Michele McKenna, CEO
Market Analytics’ mystery shopping capabilities include B2C and B2B across a wide range of industries globally. Our programs include in-person, phone and online shopping and inquiries. Market Analytics’ shoppers cover a wide range of demographics, diverse multicultural backgrounds and native speakers of foreign languages. Our programs focus on measuring customer experiences and service levels, benchmarking and analyzing competitors, evaluating staff performance and ensuring compliance to standards and regulations. Our clients gain actionable insights that drive positive change within their organizations.
Phone 201-556-1188
Premier Service, Inc.
Founded 1991 | 31 employees
Keren Dolan, President
Shopping since 1991, we are Canada’s premier fieldwork and mystery shopping provider. Our diverse field team has their “feet on the street” across the continent and around the globe. We are your eyes and ears, capturing the data you need when you need it. We specialize in mystery shopping, exit surveys, site inspections, merchandising and engagement programs the human way. 2016 marks our 25th year in business! We got here by offering “bend over backwards” service, top-notch survey design and completely customized solutions. Give us a call and let us do a free visit for you!
Phone 800-452-5150
Second To None, Inc.
Founded 1989 | 65 employees
Jeff Hall, CEO
Second To None is a leading customer experience research agency. We help brands deliver consistent, intentional and authentic customer experiences. We are experts in customer touchpoint mystery shopping and voice of the customer surveys. Solutions are end-to-end from design through analytics and actionable insights, grounded in solid statistical science, strategic relevance and integrity. Brand leaders leverage our assessments of operational standards through mystery shopping integrated with actual voice of the customer feedback surveys for competitive advantage. Through fusing complementary data streams transformative insights and priorities emerge, allowing clients to take action, affect positive change and drive improved business performance throughout their organization.
Phone 734-302-8400
Secret Shopper
Founded 1990 | 50 employees
Paul F. Ryan, CEO
Secret Shopper is a full-service mystery shopping company focused on evaluating our clients’ customer engagements online, over the phone and in-person. Our digital audit evaluates the user’s Web site experience and manages your search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) strategies. A phone audit program coaches your employees to ensure they provide a positive experience that drives consumers to the store. Our on-site secret shopping program trains your frontline employees to close the sale. Come visit our Web site to learn more.
Phone 763-525-1460
SeeLevel HX
Founded 1991 | 65 employees
Lisa van Kesteren, CEO
Our name says it all: we develop programs that help our clients see at the level of their customers. By utilizing solutions such as mystery shop, competitive intelligence, customer intercepts, consumer and employee feedback, social media platforming, in addition to many others, SeeLevel HX executes customer solutions that make organizations stronger and more effective at delivering the greatest possible brand experience. With the largest number of shoppers in the industry, we have our clients covered. We apply a consultative approach to the development of a variety of programs led by category experts with a wealth of experience.
Phone 917-755-8849
Sentry Marketing Group
Founded 2005 | 13 employees
David Agius, CEO
Sentry is a national customer analytics company based in Plano, Texas. We specialize in the design and management of mystery shopping and survey programs for businesses ranging from local chains to national brands. Sentry’s reputation for delivering industry-best reports is the result of our commitment to base each program on clients’ specific needs, operating guidelines and organizational philosophy. Our integrated platform allows for mystery shopping and survey results to be delivered on the same platform. The result is a powerful business intelligence tool that allows our clients to improve customer loyalty and increase profits.
Phone 972-987-1696
Service Evaluation Concepts, Inc. (SEC)
Founded 1987 | 22 employees
Arcadio Roselli, CEO
With over 27 years of experience, we at Service Evaluation Concepts, Inc. (SEC) have built a unique research concept that has worldwide reach. We uniquely help to translate strategy into action using a global panel of over 650,000 brand agents (certified research participants) and our proprietary Enterprise Feedback Management System (EFMS). Our brand agents operate as undercover CEOs (mystery shoppers) empowering brands to measure the human dimension of the designed customer experience (employees and customers) to maximize conversion and maximize advertising. SEC validates return on investment by using cause and effect linkage that clearly and positively impacts the corresponding financial key performance indicators.
Phone 516-576-1188 ext. 3530
Shoppers’ View
Founded 1993 | 30 employees
Jake Stroburg, CEO
Shoppers’ View has been helping businesses define and achieve their best for over 20 years. We’re one of the top mystery shopping providers in the country, boasting a variety of services that help our customers deliver the best customer service and competitive positioning in their industry. Our employees are each dedicated to a specific client so that they become experts in your industry as well as our own. Our consistency allows us to help you compare data over time and identify trends, improvements and areas that need additional training. Call us today to see what we can do to help you!
Phone 800-264-5677
SIS International Research, Inc.
Founded 1984 | 75 employees
Ruth Stanat, CEO
SIS International Research is a global market research and strategic market intelligence company providing mystery shopping, market intelligence, sensory research, big data solutions, qualitative fieldwork and quantitative data collection. Our mystery shopping services include product research, customer service experience research, retail research/ audits and competitive pricing shops. Our headquarters is located in New York and our other key regional offices include London, Frankfurt, Shanghai, Seoul and Manila. SISSQREEM, our new big data methodology, applies sophisticated algorithms to extract insights from multiple layers of data collection. SIS also owns a focus group facility in the heart of Manhattan’s Flatiron District in N.Y.
Phone 212-505-6805
TrendSource
Founded 1989 | 86 employees
Jim Caltrider, CEO
Working with Fortune 500 companies for over 25 years, TrendSource is in the business of providing results that yield clear economic benefits. TrendSource’s clients don’t just expect design and execution of its market research projects: they expect a partner that can drive strategies forward. The keys to TrendSource’s success include its ability to provide high-quality data; its use of research approaches that incorporate both quantitative and qualitative techniques; and its ability to support clients with organizational implementation.
Phone 619-718-7467
http://trustedinsight.trendsource.com
Visit Mystery Shopping for a complete list of companies offering these services.