Face to face solicitation

Mystery shopping is really not something your charitable organisation can ignore or decide to not action. Non-profit organisations must mystery shop.

Mystery shopping defined

Mystery shopping (or secret shopping) is the act by a nonprofit organisation to measure quality of service, compliance with a procedure, practice, or regulation, and/or to gather specific information about products and services. The secret shoppers’ identify and purpose are generally not known by the nonprofit organisation being evaluated – certainly not to the line staff under evaluation.

Mystery shoppers perform specific tasks such as making a donation, registering for community event fundraising, enquiring about leaving a bequest, asking questions, registering complaints, or behaving in a certain way. The shopper then provides detailed reports or feedback about their experiences to nonprofit management.

Examples of areas shopped

FundraisingForce have conducted mystery shopping studies for numerous nonprofit organisations across Asia-Pacific. These studies have helped organisations look at areas such as:

• Bequests
• Community fundraising
• Donations
• Face to face solicitation
• Lottery
• Supporter services
• Telephone enquiries

Your organisation has two choices to action mystery shopping – you may choose a do it yourself approach or hire a consultant like FundraisingForce to secret shop your charitable organisation. Choosing to do it yourself will mean you need to identify the shopping areas to be studied and hire independent shoppers who will shop the scenarios identified. Hiring an independent firm further masks the identify of shoppers and also takes the work off of your shoulders.

Secret shoppers help you to praise and reinforce good behaviours. They also help you identify issues or gaps and to action plans to resolve the problems. Mystery shopping ought to be a routine evaluation tool used in your overall fundraising program and across your nonprofit organisation. Seeking more information on mystery shopping? Contact us for more details and to start mystery shopping.