Second To None
Second To None is a CX research and mystery shopping firm that serves regional and national multi-location enterprise brands across the U.S. and Canada through a 700,000-shopper network, proprietary Catapult analytics platform, and HUMAN CX Framework.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1986
- HeadquartersAnn Arbor, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Second To None does
Second To None is a customer experience (CX) research and mystery shopping firm headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, founded by Jeff Hall in 1986 with its mystery shopping program launching in 1989. The company serves regional and national multi-location brands across the United States and Canada, helping them measure and improve customer experience at in-store, online, phone, and omnichannel touchpoints. Named enterprise clients span retail, restaurants, grocery, financial services, healthcare, consumer products, and energy, including Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Xfinity, Citibank, Humana, Kroger, Whole Foods, Chipotle, YETI, BP, Under Armour, and Minted.
The core offering is structured as a platform-plus-modules portfolio. Snapshot provides precision mystery shopping through a proprietary network of nearly 700,000 certified shoppers; Engage delivers customer and employee feedback surveys; Hive runs curated customer communities; JoyX provides CX consulting; Scout offers brand reputation monitoring; and Catapult is the proprietary cloud-based reporting and analytics platform that unifies all programs with real-time, role-specific dashboards and mobile access. The HUMAN CX Framework is a proprietary evaluation methodology measuring customer effort, emotion, and outcomes beyond surface-level compliance. The company maintains PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOC 2-aligned compliance and holds MSPA and CXPA memberships alongside an A+ BBB rating.
Second To None operates a sales-led go-to-market with direct enterprise field sales targeting CX leaders, operations executives, and field leadership, supplemented by inside sales for mid-market pilot programs. Programs are priced on a subscription basis ranging from approximately $4,000/month entry-point pilots to $25,000–$65,000+/month enterprise and strategic programs with multi-year contracts, with analytics bundled into all tiers. The company is privately held, founder-controlled, and reports no institutional investment or M&A activity.
Second To None firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Second To None
- Legal name
- Second To None
- Website
- https://second-to-none.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1986
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Second To None is a CX research and mystery shopping firm that serves regional and national multi-location enterprise brands across the U.S. and Canada through a 700,000-shopper network, proprietary Catapult analytics platform, and HUMAN CX Framework.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Second To None industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Customer Experience Research / Mystery Shopping Services
- akta.pro primary industry
- Undercover Operations & Integrity Shopping (Internal Theft Testing) (BPAKAJAI)
Keywords
Where Second To None is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Ann Arbor
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Second To None business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Mystery Shopping Services (Snapshot): Core mystery shopping and compliance audit programs deployed through proprietary field force network. Programs measure customer experience across in-store, online, phone, and omnichannel touchpoints. Pricing based on location count, evaluation frequency, and complexity.
- Customer Feedback Surveys (Engage): Voice of Customer and Voice of Employee survey programs using custom surveys deployed across customer channels. Includes modular questionnaire applications for continuous listening with unlimited response capacity. Integrated with Catapult reporting platform.
- Customer Communities (Hive): Curated customer panel and community programs providing invitation-based segmented feedback. Real-time customer reactions to product and service concepts delivered through dynamic communities.
- CX Consulting (JoyX): Customer experience consultation including program design, existing program assessment, journey mapping, and custom market intelligence studies. Strategic advisory services for CX transformation.
- Analytics & Reporting (Catapult): Integrated CX analytics platform accessible to all service users. Real-time dashboard with push-button analytics, role-based reporting, and anywhere mobile access. Analytics included in all program tiers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Entry-Point Programs starting at $4,000/month for brand pilots and CX measurement foundations |
| Subscription | Monthly | Ongoing Multi-Location Programs typically $6,000-$25,000+/month for regional and national brands |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise & Strategic Programs $25,000-$65,000+/month for complex high-stakes environments |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Second To None product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Second To None provides customer experience measurement and mystery shopping services to multi-location brands, deploying a network of nearly 700,000 certified mystery shoppers to evaluate in-store, online, phone, and omnichannel customer interactions. Core deliverables include mystery shopping and compliance audits, customer and employee feedback surveys, curated customer communities, CX consulting and journey mapping, brand reputation monitoring, and integrated CX analytics delivered through the proprietary Catapult reporting platform and HUMAN CX Framework.
Product overview
Second To None is a customer experience (CX) research and mystery shopping firm offering a platform-plus-modules portfolio. The core offering centers on Snapshot (mystery shopping and compliance audits), complemented by Engage (surveys), Hive (customer communities), JoyX (consulting), and Scout (brand reputation monitoring), all unified through the proprietary Catapult analytics platform. The HUMAN CX Framework provides a proprietary measurement methodology applied across programs. The company operates primarily as a service-delivery firm rather than a software platform, serving multi-location brands in retail, restaurants, financial services, healthcare, grocery, and consumer products sectors across the U.S. and Canada.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Snapshot: Mystery shopping and compliance audits solution for measuring customer experience and brand standards.
- Engage
- Hive
- JoyX
- Catapult
Products and services
- Snapshot Precision mystery shopping and compliance audit program that deploys trained evaluators from a network of nearly 700,000 certified shoppers to assess customer experiences across in-store, online, phone, and digital channels. Designed for national and regional multi-location brands seeking brand standards compliance, customer experience measurement, and operational insights, delivered through the Catapult reporting platform.
- Engage Customer feedback and employee engagement survey program offering Voice of Customer and Voice of Employee listening through custom, modular questionnaires deployed across customer channels with continuous listening, unlimited response capacity, fraud-prevention features, and integration with the Catapult reporting platform.
- Hive Curated customer community and panel program providing invitation-based, segmented communities for real-time customer reactions to product and service concepts through dynamic, focus-group-style discussions that capture authentic market perception.
- JoyX Customer experience consultation service that designs new CX initiatives, assesses existing programs, builds journey maps, and delivers custom market intelligence studies for clients pursuing CX transformation and strategic advisory support.
- Catapult Proprietary integrated CX reporting, analytics, and insights platform providing real-time dashboards, push-button analytics, role-specific reporting, mobile-friendly cloud access, key driver analysis, experience mapping, and sales linkage analysis. Analytics are bundled into all Second To None service tiers with no separate analytics charge.
- Scout Brand reputation monitoring service that tracks and analyzes brand perception across multiple channels and touchpoints to help clients understand external brand sentiment and identify emerging reputation risks.
Quantifiable outcome
- 26% average lift in customer satisfaction and loyalty
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Second To None
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Second To None technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Second To None partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- CX GroupcoreSecond To None is a member company of the CX Group. The CX Group provides the Shopper Hub platform for mystery shopping assignments and serves as the parent organization for Second To None's mystery shopping operations across North America.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Second To None competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- InMoment: InMoment is a CX measurement and mystery shopping provider offering VoC, VoE, and customer experience analytics. It directly competes with Second To None's Snapshot, Engage, and Catapult stack, particularly in retail, restaurant, and financial services verticals.
- SQM Group: SQM Group specializes in call center and customer service quality measurement, including mystery shopping and CX tracking. Comparable offering focus and enterprise client base for service-quality benchmarking.
- Walker Information: Walker Information is a long-standing CX research and loyalty measurement firm serving enterprise clients with B2B and B2C experience analytics. Comparable to Second To None in target buyer (CX leaders at multi-location brands) and methodology.
- MaritzCX: MaritzCX is a customer experience measurement and consulting firm that conducts mystery shopping, CX surveys, and journey mapping for multi-location enterprises. It is a direct competitor in the U.S. mystery shopping and CX analytics space.
Broad incumbents
- Qualtrics: Qualtrics is a leading experience management platform with survey, CX, and employee engagement products. Competes with Second To None across survey and analytics capabilities, particularly for enterprise CX programs.
- Medallia: Medallia is a large enterprise experience management platform offering VoC, CX analytics, and AI-driven insights at scale. Competes with Second To None's Catapult analytics and Engage survey offerings as part of a broader, software-led platform versus Second To None's service-heavy model.
- Nielsen (NielsenIQ): Nielsen is a global measurement and data analytics firm offering customer experience and retail measurement services. Overlaps with Second To None in retail and consumer CX measurement, with substantially greater scale and international reach.
- Ipsos: Ipsos is a global market research firm with CX and mystery shopping practices serving large multinational brands. Competes in the same enterprise CX measurement category as Second To None but at much larger scale and broader geographic reach.
- ServiceNow (Customer Experience Management): ServiceNow offers enterprise customer service management and workflow automation with embedded CX analytics. While not a mystery shopping firm, it is an indirect competitor to Catapult for enterprise CX technology budgets.
Others
- Forrester Research: Forrester is a global research and advisory firm that covers the CX and customer experience measurement market, including through its CX consulting practice. Adjacent to Second To None's CX consulting (JoyX) and thought leadership offerings.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Second To None social profiles
Digital presenceSecond To None compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Second To None financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Second To None leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Second To None funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Second To None M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Second To None
What does Second To None do?
Second To None provides customer experience measurement and mystery shopping services to multi-location brands, deploying a network of nearly 700,000 certified mystery shoppers to evaluate in-store, online, phone, and omnichannel customer interactions. Core deliverables include mystery shopping and compliance audits, customer and employee feedback surveys, curated customer communities, CX consulting and journey mapping, brand reputation monitoring, and integrated CX analytics delivered through the proprietary Catapult reporting platform and HUMAN CX Framework.
Is Second To None a public or private company?
Second To None is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Second To None founded?
Second To None was founded in 1986. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Second To None based?
Second To None is headquartered in Ann Arbor, United States, in the North America region.
How does Second To None make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Mystery Shopping Services (Snapshot) is the primary driver. The others are customer Feedback Surveys (Engage), customer Communities (Hive), CX Consulting (JoyX) and analytics & Reporting (Catapult).
Who are Second To None's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are InMoment, SQM Group, Walker Information and MaritzCX. Broad incumbents are Qualtrics, Medallia, Nielsen (NielsenIQ), Ipsos and ServiceNow (Customer Experience Management). Forrester Research is listed as an others.
Does Second To None have an API?
No public API is recorded for Second To None.
What industry is Second To None in?
Second To None's product category is Customer Experience Research / Mystery Shopping Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAKAJAI, Undercover Operations & Integrity Shopping (Internal Theft Testing).