I noticed a survey offer on the back of a McDonald's receipt the other day. It says if you complete the survey you have a chance of winning $1,000.00. Do you think they could be trying this out to replace their mystery shops?

Please don't mention the name of any MSCs, since I have mentioned a client.

I don't think so. Both Burger King and Wendy's have links to surveys on their receipts.

Yes, while in a McD's and also a Burger King I had the opportunity to talk to some corporate folks. They want to phase out the mystery shopper program. I pointed out to them that they are then targeting only the opinions of those who are computer savvy and more inclined to actually do a survey instead of a broader spectrum of clientele. Yes, we need a computer to do our reports but we are more apt to be average citizens rather than just those who like to bother with surveys listed on receipts.

well in theory...the majority of people to fill out the surveys are ones who had
a bad experience...which is what they want to know anyway.

Also mcdonald's has become very aggressive in addressing customer complaints
on twitter about their locations so they may feel shopping is no longer needed..

what if when you shop everything is good but a half hour later something
is wrong....is their rationale...

Smart people who had a bad experience wouldn't waste their time with an anonymous survey, they'd do a real complaint to corporate which is more likely to yield a coupon or freebie of some kind. Most people just go away mad and don't say anything anyway -- except on Twitter or Facebook, to their friends, not the corporation. So what they're likely to get is a bunch of relatively random opinions with little insight into the actual experience.

I had two horrendous experiences at the Sonic in our town when I first moved here, also with the Del Taco -- horribly slow slow slow service -- to the point that I actually boycotted each of those places for YEARS. I never filled out a survey or said anything to them, I just voted with my feet. I never went back to Sonic until I did my first mystery shop for them. Del Taco I tried again about once every couple of years, and recently their service has improved. (They're probably being shopped now.) Mystery shopping doesn't just tell them what's wrong, if done right it should keep the employees on their toes.

Not saying a company might not try switching to surveys, only that it wouldn't really prove anything because the people who enter would be doing it for the prize and have no reason to really think about their responses.

What's ironic is that the clients all think fast food customers care about friendly, cheerful customer service. They care about getting it fast, and not being sick afterward. I'll bet if you randomly surveyed 100 customers three minutes after they placed their order, they would not be able to tell you if the cashier made eye contact, smiled, greeted, or thanked. Nor would they care. What they care about is how long did they wait for food after getting in line, could they find a table, and was the food hot and tasty, the order accurate, and did they get sick later.

And, not being mystery shoppers, while they would CARE about how long it took, none would be able to accurately estimate what the timings were. They'd just know if they were late getting back to work or not.

I think our jobs are largely still secure. Even if some of them stopped Mystery Shopping I think they'll be back.

If you talk about mcdonald's on twitter, you don't need to direct
it at them. As a business they can search and see any twitter
message that has their name in it and they have a team now
of 25 or so people that are going through messages with their
name and reaching out to the people who posted a negative
message about a visit and offering to get it fixed.

I know because they messaged me on twitter after I posted
and I did alittle probing afterward to see and they are working
to approve their image among what they feel matters most now...
which is people that are active on social media and their target
clientle of 16-49 year old people...

Anyone over the age of 49 has probably been told by their doctor(s) to stay the hell away from that crap

I almost never eat FF burgers, anywhere (except Five Guys). I shun McDonalds -- they put onions on everything -- and JIB (except when they pay me $20 on a mystery shop) -- and Carl's Jr because I find their ads offensive.

If I eat out on my dime, it's either Taco Bell or Arby's or Pollo Loco.

It's interesting that the only places I've gotten to mystery shop are all the places where I formerly NEVER ate -- Sonic, McD's, JIB, Papa Johns, Little Caesar. The ones I'd LIKE to shop -- Pollo Loco, Taco Bell, KFC, Del Taco, Arbys, Pizza Hut, Dominos -- I don't know if they're shopped (except Pollo Loco, I've seen those but never where I was going) and if they are haven't found who does them yet.


Exposure to places I normally don't eat has done nothing to make me want to go there unless I was being paid.

Except Five Guys. I've gone there on my own dime a few times since discovering them through a mystery shop.

Considering their obsession with timing, I can't see a survey replacing mystery shopping.

I agree with ShopUntilYouDrop. Time and again they make it clear that timing is pretty much the most important thing to them.

Liz

Arby's is shopped nationwide most months. Occasionally they skip a month.

I first heard this concern about five years ago when I first saw the surveys. So no need to panic. I called once to see the scope and it was all Likert scale stuff with no room for questions or comments except as related to their questions. So if they didn't ask about the bathroom, you can't comment about the bathroom. I don't know if it has changed, though.

Thanks, Techman. Time to sign up for more MSC's. Gotta find some Arby's to counterbalance the greasy burgers and fried chicken breasts I've been eating. And they have a lovely peach tea I like.

Secret - Arby's is in Prescott Valley and there are two in Flagstaff, but the one in Cottonwood closed.

We've got an Arby's here. I just want to shop it so I can eat free. I may have a line on their MSC after a google search, but I am waiting for approval before I can search their job board.

Haha Arby's is how I learned about Mystery Shopping when I worked there in the 70s (not a typo). I remember it being grilled into my head to say, "Will there be anything else?" rather than "Is that all?" and offering a certain sandwich each month.

Liz

I've always considered McD's main concern for using MSing was speed of presentation since we're so limited on what we can order. By using a survey from the general public, they can get feedback on all the other things on their menu we can't touch. They need everybody's information and ours is just a part of it.