When it comes to improving digital CX for ecommerce, online mystery shopping is a critical component that businesses can’t afford to overlook.
Just like with in-person mystery shopping, consumers expect a quality, high-performance experience on par with every major retailer. To achieve this, the virtual storefront has to deliver at every touchpoint. And online mystery shopping is a powerful—yet surprisingly underutilized—tool to help businesses optimize their digital customer experience (CX).
With this in mind, let’s explore the value, benefits, and potential return on investment (ROI) of online mystery shopping. Then, we’ll delve into five distinct applications and how this practice yields specific, data-driven, and actionable insights for improving digital CX.
The Digital First Impression Matters
As stated, ecommerce is quite similar to traditional shopping. Prospects may not physically enter an online store—but they do have a distinct encounter when visiting a business’s website, going through the checkout process, and receiving customer service. And their first experience with the business’s internet storefront will shape the outcome of the interaction. Thus, it’s important that companies with any element of an online shopping experience ensure their digital CX is up to their standards.
That’s where online mystery shopping comes in. Online mystery shoppers simulate real buyer experiences to evaluate the CX journey from every angle—from browsing to purchasing and everything in between. Once they finish their virtual shop, these evaluators then generate a report for their client detailing what it’s like. They’ll identify issues as well as highlight shining moments that make the business stand out from competitors.
Shoppers can assess a wide variety of scenarios and digital touchpoints, depending on the client’s objectives:
- Searchability and search engine optimization (SEO)
- Intuitiveness of website design
- Brand presentation, cohesion, and accuracy of details
- Overall shopping experience
- Ease of browsing and purchasing
- Security for personal information
- Appearance and appeal
- Customer service and returns
- Connectivity with in-store experience (if applicable)
For example, if a specific product is listed at one price on the home page and another once it hits the virtual shopping cart—that presents a problem to the customer. When an online mystery shopper uncovers issues like this, their value to online businesses is clear: by helping them continually monitor, refine, and optimize their digital CX, they can boost their customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately their bottom line.
Top 5 Applications & Benefits of Online Mystery Shopping
Now that we’ve seen an overview of the benefits of mystery shopping, let’s dig a little deeper and examine a few key scenarios where businesses often see huge gains thanks to this practice.
1 – Online Mystery Shopping Spotlights Website Friction
Online mystery shoppers are experts at identifying website friction. They know what potential users expect, how they typically engage with sites, and how businesses can set up their interface so that things run smoothly… at least, as often as possible.
Specifically, online mystery shopping can point out serious issues like the following:
Confusing Navigation
Even if a business has a super-minimalist or high-tech aesthetic, it doesn’t do them any service if a hopeful customer can’t figure out how to complete a purchase. Mystery shoppers can identify issues and suggest improvements to streamline typical operations like these.
Broken Links
Digital storefronts have so many links—more links than many business executives realize. And even with the best tech support, things fall through the cracks. Regular mystery shopping can help businesses stay on top of any outdated or broken links. With qualitative feedback like “I couldn’t find the size filter” or “These images don’t reflect the latest product updates”, mystery shoppers can pinpoint every small detail that needs addressing.
Bugs on Mobile
The majority of digital shopping takes place on mobile phones, not computers—so much so that it’s now referred to as m-commerce. Therefore, mobile optimization is mission critical. Obviously, mystery shoppers can test and compare a business’s digital storefront on desktop, mobile, and more to verify consistency and quality.
Slow Load Times
This one’s a conversion killer. If an online shop looks amazing but takes too long to load, potential customers will leave in droves. Mystery shoppers test and support businesses as they refine their websites for a speedy customer experience.
Cart Abandonment Triggers
A standard practice for ecommerce, the cart abandonment trigger is a way to recapture potential customers before they leave the website without making a purchase. It usually takes the form of a popup combined with an automated email. When tasked with testing this aspect of a business’s digital CX, mystery shoppers can specifically simulate these scenarios and check that everything’s working smoothly—and effectively.
Unlike heat maps or analytics alone, these evaluations come from real people with experience and narrative context. Thus, online mystery shopping is an indispensable asset for CX maintenance and optimization.
2 – Evaluate Customer Support in Real Time
One key area that online mystery shoppers can evaluate is customer support. Nowadays, most customer support interactions involve some kind of computerized aspect—whether it’s an automated phone system, a series of emails, a website chatbot, or all of the above. With online mystery shopping, businesses can check on the state of each facet of their customer support in real time and verify that things are running smoothly.
Businesses will get detailed insights into response speed, tone, helpfulness, and accuracy of answers. Mystery shoppers will also identify areas where customer support representatives outshine the competition—so they can get recognized for the great work they do. Additionally, with the help of mystery shoppers, companies can identify gaps or lapses in service that may be pushing customers away, and then verify that recently-implemented solutions are doing the trick.
3 – Gain a Competitive Advantage with Better CX
In crowded markets, product and price aren’t always enough—especially online. Often, the digital customer experience is the differentiator. Countless consumers will choose the easiest way to get what they want, forsaking radically-cheaper prices and higher-quality options. They want a shopping experience that makes sense to them.
Besides what we’ve already explored, online mystery shopping can provide businesses with a distinct advantage that other strategies can’t: comparisons with competitors. By deploying online mystery shoppers to direct competition, businesses can gain insight into how their digital CX stands up to other options—even outside their niche.
With this valuable information, businesses can even find out what makes their customers choose them over others—and capitalize on it even further. Ultimately, this will not only improve overall CX but also optimize daily operations to the target audience’s preferences, cultivating a bigger (and better) differentiation.
4 – Support Long-Term Reputation Management with Online Mystery Shopping
There is no way to overstate how important a first impression is on ecommerce. That’s why having an ongoing online mystery shopping program is so vital. Mystery shoppers can identify issues before they show up in negative reviews—and this is just one way they support long-term reputation management.
The key point here is consistency and frequency. With strategic and regular mystery shops, businesses can monitor progress, flag issues as they arise, and test new initiatives before they hit the web. Their mystery shoppers’ insights can be used to proactively fix things and even turn frustrated customers into repeat buyers. Over time, this practice allows businesses to build a stronger brand reputation.
5 – Produce Significant Overall ROI
It surprises many business executives to learn that online mystery shops are even more cost effective than they first thought. In-person mystery shopping requires a larger investment, since it involves travel and physical visits. Online evaluations, on the other hand, are affordable—and scalable.
Plus, a quality online mystery shopping company like IntelliShop allows businesses to customize assignments based on the business’s specific goals. For example, if a company wants to implement a new type of mobile checkout, they can deploy a team of online mystery shoppers to test it out before it goes live. Or if there’s a concern about a certain return policy, they can make adjustments and take a closer look.
With all these advantages, it’s obvious that mystery shopping helps streamline, refine, and optimize any number of a business’s daily customer-facing operations. And with the low maintenance cost required, it presents an undeniably valuable return on investment.
Improve Your Digital CX with an Online Mystery Shopping Program
As shown in these examples, online mystery shopping gives ecommerce businesses a real-world look into how customers experience their brand. It’s not just about catching mistakes—although this presents significant value. It’s also about building an exceptional digital customer journey that increases trust, loyalty, and conversions. Thus, to stay competitive, investing in online mystery shopping is more than a good option… It’s a strategic advantage.
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level with a CX partner, consider IntelliShop. Our network of over one million skilled mystery shoppers can get right to work helping you optimize your operations—and we’ll be there to guide you with strategic, data-driven initiatives. Learn more and start elevating your digital CX with the help of mystery shoppers.
For a deep dive into setting up a mystery shopping program, check out our Ultimate Guide to Mystery Shopping.
