Mystery shopping services
Mystery Shopping in the UK
For over 30 years, insight6 has led the way in mystery shopping services across the UK. As the first Customer Experience (CX) company with local experts, we work closely with businesses to design, deliver and manage programmes that drive results and transform businesses.
The gap
You can’t improve what you can’t see
Is your customer experience consistent every time?
Does your customer experience match your brand standards?
Are you really hearing what your customers tell you?
The basics
What is mystery shopping?
Mystery shopping, sometimes called secret shopping, is a research method used to evaluate the quality of customer service and overall customer experience. It involves trained Researchers, our nationwide team of mystery shoppers, visiting or interacting with your business just like a regular customer, then reporting back on everything from service quality to staff performance and product presentation. Every report a Researcher submits is reviewed and receives expert feedback from your local CX Specialist.
insight6 is a UK mystery shopping company with 25+ regional CX Specialists. Your programme is shaped around your sector and your sites, carried out by trained UK shoppers, and reported back to you within 48 hours of every visit.
- Trained Researchers, not random reviewers
- Real interactions, scored against your standards
- Verbatim feedback alongside the numbers
Methodology
How we deliver mystery shopping across every channel
Why insight6
Six reasons to choose insight6 for your mystery shopping
Trained UK Researchers, every visit
Every visit is carried out by a trained UK Researcher, whether that’s a retail store, a restaurant, a complex legal enquiry or a school induction.
800 trained shoppers across the UK & Ireland
All trained one-to-one, with every report reviewed and given expert feedback.
48-hour reporting
All feedback delivered through your customer portal within 48 hours of the experience being completed.
A local CX Specialist on every programme
Your regional specialist supports every step, taking the right actions from the quality feedback.
Benchmark against your sector
Compare your business’s experience against others in your sector, anonymised and meaningful.
Quality, depth and integrity
The depth of our feedback is generally perceived as the finest in the world.
How mystery shopping works at insight6
Discovery
The visits
Report and act
What should you invest in a mystery shopping programme?
Every mystery shopping programme is different, so the right investment depends on your sector, your channels, and what you’re trying to find out. Start with a discovery call and we’ll take it from there.
Mystery shopping case studies
Three programmes, three sectors, three different problems mystery shopping helped solve.
OpticalOCL Vision
Mystery shop scores climbed from 77% to consistent mid-90s.
Read the full case study →
Leisure & TourismCrealy Adventure Park
Customer satisfaction scores rose from 75% to 95%.
Read the full case study →
Higher EducationUniversity of Birmingham
Mystery shop scores rose from 35% to 76% in 10 months.
Read the full case study →Sector expertise
Mystery shopping built around your sector
Mystery shopping looks different in a care home than it does in a car showroom. Different KPIs, different customer scenarios, different reporting needs. Our programmes are shaped around the KPIs, scenarios, and reporting that matter in your sector, with specialists who know your industry delivering every step.
Don’t see your sector? We’ve worked across many UK industries.
Professional mystery shopping vs DIY
The difference between mystery shopping and DIY customer surveys
| DIY surveys | insight6 mystery shopping | |
|---|---|---|
| What you find out | What customers remember and choose to write down | What actually happened, recorded as it happened |
| How much you see | A snapshot of one moment | The full picture, across every customer touchpoint |
| Reporting time | Weeks, sometimes longer | 48 hours |
| Comparison to your sector | None, your data sits in isolation | Built in, you see how you compare |
| Who runs it | You, alongside everything else | A local CX specialist who knows your sector |
| What you can act on | A score, often without a reason | Scores, verbatim quotes, and clear next steps |
Local expertise
Find your local mystery shopping specialist
A nationwide team of CX Specialists across the UK and Ireland. Each one knows the sectors, sites and standards in your patch.
Common questions
Mystery shopping FAQs
What makes insight6 different from other mystery shopping companies in the UK?
Three things: local knowledge, trained people and speed. Your programme is run by a regional CX Specialist who knows your sector, your visits are carried out by our 800 trained UK shoppers, and every report reaches you within 48 hours of the visit, with clear actions your team can act on straight away.
Is secret shopping the same as mystery shopping?
Yes. Secret shopping and mystery shopping describe the same service: trained shoppers experience your business the way a real customer would, then report back on what they found. Mystery shopping is the more common term in the UK, and it is the one we use across our programmes.
How is mystery shopping different from market research?
Market research asks customers what they remember. Mystery shopping captures what actually happened in a real interaction. You get evidence-led KPI scores, verbatim quotes and, where appropriate, audio recordings, not just opinion.
How do you train your shoppers?
Every one of our 800 UK shoppers is trained one-to-one and receives feedback on every report they submit. Your regional CX Specialist reviews quality on each assignment, so the depth and integrity of feedback stays high.
Can you cover multi-site or multi-region programmes?
Yes. We run national programmes across hundreds of UK sites, coordinated by 25+ regional CX Specialists with local sector knowledge. You get one point of contact, with regional depth behind them.
How is the data delivered to my team?
Through your customer portal: KPI scoring, verbatim quotes and audio recordings where relevant. Reports land within 48 hours of the experience, and your CX Specialist supports the actions that follow.
What does a typical programme cost?
Programmes are tailored to your sector, channel mix and frequency. After an initial 30-minute call your local CX Specialist scopes a tailored quote, with no obligation to proceed. Whether you start with a one-off review or a long-term programme, we’ll build a plan that suits your goals and budget.
What does the discovery call cover?
The discovery call is a 30-minute, no-obligation conversation with your local CX Specialist. We talk through what you’re trying to find out, the channels and sites in scope, any standards or scripts you already use, and what success looks like.
On our side it’s your regional CX Specialist; on yours, whoever owns customer experience is enough, typically a marketing, operations or CX lead. Loop in colleagues if useful, but you don’t have to. There’s nothing to prepare. If you have an existing brief, current metrics or a recent survey to hand we’ll happily look at them, but the call works just as well as an open conversation. You’ll leave with a clear view of whether mystery shopping is the right fit and what a tailored programme could look like.
Next step
Ready to find out what your customers actually think?
Tell us a little about your business and your local CX Specialist will aim to be in touch within one working day to scope a mystery shopping programme that fits your sector and channels.
