The Strategy
Now we know what you’re thinking, aren’t there enough mobile mystery shopping apps on the market already? The answer is yes, there are currently numerous mystery shopping or survey distribution apps already on the market, but they all have one serious problem.
The mystery shopper paradox is a very common problem with a majority of the Presto Insta-Shop competition. The paradox revolves around the concept that shoppers won’t use an app that doesn’t have jobs, and many businesses won’t put their jobs in an app that doesn’t have shoppers to gather the required information. This paradox similar to that of the chicken and the egg has been a major problem for our competition, however due to our 17 years of industry experience, we have found a way to break this paradox.
Between SASSIE and Presto, our access to over 3 million shoppers has given us the ability to complete over 3.5 million jobs a year. This is over the course 50,000 cities and 140 countries, which is over 7 times the global reach of one of our largest competitors.
Now we know what you’re thinking, aren’t there enough mobile mystery shopping apps on the market already? The answer is yes, there are currently numerous mystery shopping or survey distribution apps already on the market, but they all have one serious problem.
The mystery shopper paradox is a very common problem with a majority of the Presto Insta-Shop competition. The paradox revolves around the concept that shoppers won’t use an app that doesn’t have jobs, and many businesses won’t put their jobs in an app that doesn’t have shoppers to gather the required information. This paradox similar to that of the chicken and the egg has been a major problem for our competition, however due to our 17 years of industry experience, we have found a way to break this paradox.
Between SASSIE and Presto, our access to over 3 million shoppers has given us the ability to complete over 3.5 million jobs a year. This is over the course 50,000 cities and 140 countries, which is over 7 times the global reach of one of our largest competitors.
Breaking The Paradox With Knowledge & Innovation
We believe that our industry knowledge and spirit of innovation is one of the biggest reasons that we have overcome the paradox. Over the years, we noticed the shift towards mobile-friendly technology, so we created Presto to leverage mobile devices to satisfy our shopper and client pain points.
Our strategy involves streamlining the mystery shopping process through shorter more targeted surveys which yield faster more accurate results. Demonstrated by the graphic on the left, you can see how Presto was able to eliminate scheduling from the mystery shopping process through our self-assign system resulting in faster deployment and ultimately a lower cost. As we developed Presto, we kept the needs of our clients and our shoppers in mind every step of the way. This resulted in a faster easier to use product designed for our industry.
In essence, our advantage over other crowdsourcing mobile apps is that they spend their time gathering shoppers and shops in order to enter the market while we spend our time transforming that market itself. In 2014, we wanted to put Presto to the test in order to gauge the effectiveness of the app and how well our new process was perceived.
We believe that our industry knowledge and spirit of innovation is one of the biggest reasons that we have become so successful. Over the years, we noticed the shift towards mobile-friendly technology, so we created Presto to leverage mobile devices to satisfy our shopper and client pain points.
Our strategy involves streamlining the mystery shopping process through shorter more targeted surveys which yielded faster more accurate results. Demonstrated by the graphic above, you can see how Presto was able to eliminate scheduling from the mystery shopping process through our self-assign system yielding a faster deployment and ultimately a lower cost. As we developed Presto, we kept the needs of our clients and our shoppers in mind every step of the way. This resulted in a faster easier to use product designed for our industry.
In essence, our advantage over other crowdsourcing mobile apps is that they spend their time gathering shoppers and shops in order to enter the market while we spend our time transforming that market itself. In 2014, we wanted to put Presto to the test in order to gauge the effectiveness of the app and how well our new process was perceived.
Putting Presto to The Test
In September 2014, mystery shoppers from our SASSIE platform were invited to register for a Presto shopper account and to view available nearby assignments on Prestomap.com. Their mission was to find the best cup of coffee in America by filling out a short survey at one of six coffee chains. In order for this project to be successful, we needed shoppers to register and complete 1000 mystery shops in different states across the country within the 2-week time frame we set.
We also had other restrictions for the shoppers including:
- A 60 minute completion time after the shop was accepted.
- Encouraged that the 10 question survey is completed on an IOS or Android device instead of a computer, due to the time constraint.
- Integrated Presto’s Must be Nearby feature which uses a phone GPS to confirm the location.
- Required a picture of the receipt.
- Shoppers were only paid a reimbursement fee.
In September 2014, mystery shoppers from our SASSIE platform were invited to register for a Presto shopper account and to view available nearby assignments on Prestomap.com. Their mission was to find the best cup of coffee in America by filling out a short survey at one of six coffee chains. In order for this project to be successful, we needed shoppers to register and complete 1000 mystery shops in different states across the country within the 2-week time frame we set.
We also had other restrictions for the shoppers including:
- A 60 minute completion time after the shop was accepted.
- Encouraged that the 10 question survey is completed on an IOS or Android device instead of a computer, due to the time constraint.
- Integrated Presto’s Must be Nearby feature which uses a phone GPS to confirm the location.
- Required a picture of the receipt.
- Shoppers were only paid a reimbursement fee.
Did We Meet Our Expectations?
- Completed all 1000 shops in only 2 1/2 days
- Registered 3644 New Shoppers within that time
- There were 1019 Accepted Shops
- Only 10 Shops Were Rejected
- 0 Schedulers Were Used and only 2 Editors
Overall, the project was an overwhelming success and Presto received a very positive response from the mystery shopper community. This case study proved that we can create an app that mystery shoppers love, reach a significant amount of shoppers quickly, and transform the mystery shopping market in terms of data collection.
For more information on this project, you can click on the infographic or white papers below.
- Completed all 1000 shops in only 2 1/2 days
- Registered 3644 New Shoppers within that time
- There were 1019 Accepted Shops
- Only 10 Shops Were Rejected
- 0 Schedulers Were Used and only 2 Editors
Overall, the project was an overwhelming success and Presto received a very positive response from the mystery shopper community. This case study proved that we can create an app that mystery shoppers love, reach a significant amount of shoppers quickly, and transform the mystery shopping market in terms of data collection.
For more information on this project, you can click on the infographic or white papers below.
Additional Resources
Who We Are
Based in Boston, SurfMerchants has been the leading provider of mystery shopping technology since 1998 with our SASSIE mystery shopping system, used by over 150 mystery shopping and market research companies and over 3 million mystery shoppers.
Our mobile mystery shopping system Presto Insta-Shops debuted in 2014, focused on rapid data gathering and instantaneous project deployment. SurfMerchants also publishes JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus (mystery shop job board), DemoZilla (in-store demonstration scheduling) and Rover (mobile audits performed offline).
Based in Boston, SurfMerchants has been the leading provider of mystery shopping technology since 1998 with our SASSIE mystery shopping system, used by over 150 mystery shopping and market research companies and over 3 million mystery shoppers.
Our mobile mystery shopping system Presto Insta-Shops debuted in 2014, focused on rapid data gathering and instantaneous project deployment. SurfMerchants also publishes JobSlinger and JobSlinger Plus (mystery shop job board), DemoZilla (in-store demonstration scheduling) and Rover (mobile audits performed offline).