Mystery shopping in hard-to-fill regions: recruiting without flying blind
How agencies can identify regional gaps, expand radius sensibly and avoid repeatedly contacting the same small group of shoppers.
A coverage gap should be visible as a gap
If only a few current profiles cover a region, a system should not create false confidence through large overall result counts. Local density, freshness and practical reach are more useful.
Expand radius, but not arbitrarily
A larger radius can help where neighbouring locations are practically reachable, but actual journey time, transport links and the attractiveness of the need matter more than simply adding kilometres.
Consider neighbouring regions and regular routes
A shopper can cover a location without living there. Work, study, commuting and frequently visited areas may be more relevant than home postcode alone.
Sometimes more acquisition is the honest answer
If the current base is too small, more filtering does not solve the problem. Targeted acquisition or reactivation may be needed, and a good system should make that distinction visible.
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