Mystery shopping

1. Executive Summary

The Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) is the premier building society in Jamaica and prides itself on providing excellent customer service. Consequently, JNBS conducts an internal quality service survey twice per year to help staff recognize how their performance and customer service delivery is perceived by individuals in other departments. This approach has provided the Society with some critical data and information regarding departments/branches perceptions of the importance and performance of the various services received from the other departments/branches.

However, while the survey provides information on the elements of service quality, such as telephone conduct; accessibility to telephone, willingness to cooperate and help; usefulness and reliability of information provided; interest in resolving any conflict that may rise; and the importance of the department/branch (being evaluated) in achieving the department’s overall goals and objectives. It is limited in its capacity to provide information on the service experience as it unfolds; instead, it gathers opinion about the service experience rather than assessing the actual activities and procedures that are being carried out. Statistics, averages and trend data are very useful indicators that can be used to assess departments/branches service quality. However, without more detailed qualitative information, improvements maybe be misdirected and fail to target the real cause of poor service quality. The adoption of a ‘mystery shopper’ style evaluation of service delivery offers a new dimension for the assessment of the quality and perceived value of services provided by departments/branches. The mystery shopper approach can also:

Act as diagnostic tool in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in Society’s service delivery; Assess departments/branches performance against their service level agreement; and Identify areas that need training.

2. Background

Customer satisfaction is at the heart of every organization and is embedded in all departments/branches working harmoniously together. Consequently, as part of the Appraisal Process, JNBS conducts an internal quality service survey as a means of evaluating the level of satisfaction received from the service provided by the departments/branches. This approach has provided the Society with some critical data and information on how departments/branches rate their perception of the importance and the performance of the various services received from the other departments/branches. However, while the survey provides information on the elements of service quality, such as telephone conduct; accessibility to telephone, willingness to cooperate and help; usefulness and reliability of information provided; interest in resolving any conflict that may rise; and the importance of the department/branch (being evaluated) in achieving the department’s overall goals and objectives. It is limited in its capacity to provide information on the service experience as it unfolds; instead, it gathers opinion about the service experience rather than assessing the actual activities and procedures that are being carried out.

Statistics, averages and trend data are useful indicators for assessing internal service quality; however, without more detailed qualitative information, improvements maybe be misdirected and fail to target the real cause of poor service quality. Additionally, there a number of other limitations associated with the current survey. Namely: The process can be very subjective and often times the entire department is graded based on the actions of one or a few individuals. Ratings are often times based on the most recent events or one-off events instead of the department’s performance over the entire appraised period. Questions are not designed to capture specific functions of the department and the departments’ Service Level Agreement (SLA). It is believed that the adoption of a ‘mystery shopper’ style evaluation of service delivery offers a new dimension for the assessment of the quality and perceived value of services provided by departments/branches and can be used to overcome some of the aforementioned limitations.

3. Mystery Shopping

According to Wilson (1998), mystery shopping is a tool that is used to measure, evaluate and report on the quality of the processes and procedures used in the delivery of a service. Mystery shopping is different from customer satisfaction surveys in that it explores the actual customer experience at a snapshot in time (rather than asking customers for their views retrospectively) and records specific details of that particular experience. As such, it can be a very powerful tool for service managers and help to highlight clear action points for improving service delivery1. The mystery shopping operation can be conducted using one of the following two methods or a combination of the two. 1. Use a professional who poses as a customer and evaluates various aspects of the service encounter using a checklist. A detailed and objective report is then prepared base on garnered. 2. Use actual customers who are trained to make detailed notes that tracked and logged based on their shopping encounters on a regular basis. Based on the nature and frequency of the internal quality service assessment, option two (2) would provide more value to the Society. This approach allows for the investigation of the total customer experience, from first impressions, through to the use of resources and services, the reliability, consistency and accuracy of promised services. It is also the more cost effective option and allow for the tracking of shopping encounters on a regular basis.

3.1 Why use Mystery Shopping?
According to Wilson (1998), Mystery shopping can provide a catalyst to revitalize the Society’s approach in assessing internal quality service by adding a new dimension for measuring the various elements within a process designed to deliver excellent service against predetermined quality standards. Unlike customer satisfaction surveys and the current internal quality survey, the mystery shopping approach can be used to measure the process rather than the outcomes of a service encounter. Mystery shopping places strong emphasis on the service experience as it unfolds, focusing on which activities or procedures do or do not happen rather than gathering opinions about the service experience. Additionally, the mystery shopping can:

Act as diagnostic tool in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in Society’s service delivery; Assess departments/branches performance against their functions and service level agreement; Identify areas that need training;

Help the Society focus on consistently exhibiting the key behaviours that result in customers’ satisfaction. Mystery shopping approach has the added benefit of collecting facts rather than perceptions. These facts include basic enquires such as: The number of times the telephone rung before it was answered What form of greeting was used?

How well are department members adhering to the department’s SLA? In addition, Mystery Shopping has the potential to effectively assess how well departments/branches are operating according to their SLA using an instrument designed to capture specific functions and procedures that are unique to departments/branches. Mystery Shopping can also help to minimize or eliminate the shortcomings of the current internal quality survey.

3.2 Key steps in developing a mystery shopper programme

According to Erstad (1998), the development and implementation of an effective mystery shopper programme originates in determining the objectives of the programme and including the employees in the process. The following diagram summarizes the stages in the mystery shopping process.

3.3 Ethical issues
As with all research, it is important to ensure that mystery shopping is undertaken in an ethical manner, which includes: Informing employees that mystery shopping will take place to monitor service delivery Ensuring that staff are aware of the objectives of the mystery shopping program and the intended use of the results Informing employees of whether or not they will remain anonymous in any reporting Informing employees of whether or not the findings from the mystery shopping exercise will be used as the basis for any disciplinary action 5.0 Recommendations

A wide range of organizations use the mystery shopping approach to provide a more reliable measure of performance relative to the service standards established by their management teams. In particular, mystery shopping results can be used as a diagnostic tool in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the Society’s service delivery; assess departments/branches performance against their functions; and service level agreement and identify areas that need training. It is therefore strongly recommended that mystery shopping be used to complement the internal quality survey as it will provide a more objective view of collecting information on intra department service. The Mystery Shopping Approach will also be able to measure departments/branches quality of service against established specific quality standards and expectations on an consistent/ongoing basis; This will help employees focus on the importance of better “serving” and responding to their fellow employees’ needs. Additionally, the Mystery Shopping approach will provide information on the service experience as it unfolds rather than on gathering opinions about the service retrospectively.

 References

Erstad, M. (1998). “Mystery Shopping Programmes and Human Resource Management.” Contemporary Hospitality Management 10(1): 34–38

Wilson, A. M. (1998). “The Role of Mystery Shopping in the Measurement of Service Performance.” Managing Service Quality 8(6): 414-420.

The Council’s Corporate Research and Consultation Team (CRAC)