DENVER-While mystery shopping can play a role in improving the member/customer experience, it does not measure satisfaction at credit unions and banks, according to Prime Performance.
The company, which says it works with financial institutions to increase profits by "developing and implementing a superior client experience," has published a new white paper entitled, "Why Mystery Shopping Does Not Measure Customer Satisfaction at Banks and Credit Unions."
The white paper discusses why mystery shopping does not measure customer satisfaction, the challenges with mystery shopping, when using mystery shopping makes sense and argues that telephone customer surveys are a superior approach for banks and credit unions.
"We believe the best way to get customer feedback and measure customer satisfaction and loyalty is to talk directly to the customer," said Jim Miller, president of Prime Performance. "While many banks and credit unions use surveys as their primary form of customer feedback, some continue to rely on mystery shopping. Mystery shopping may be effective in certain cases, but it is not the best way to hear the voice of the customer."
Prime Performance, which specializes in measuring the customer experience through live phone interviews, said its white paper outlines seven major reasons why mystery shopping "fails to accurately measure" customer satisfaction:
1. Mystery shoppers cannot accurately gauge customer satisfaction.
2. Mystery shoppers do not represent typical customers.
3. Mystery shoppers are not representative of the entire customer base.
4. Mystery shops do not reflect variations in service based on time of day or day of week or month.
5. Mystery shops do not reflect levels of service provided by different employees.
6. Substantial variation between shops diminishes value of results.
7. Mystery shops do not provide enough observations to draw accurate conclusions.
Not So Mysterious
The company said its white paper discusses other challenges with mystery shopping, including mystery shoppers being identified by employees and the unintended consequences of a mystery shop program. The paper also describes when mystery shopping makes sense, such as when customer contact information is not available or when it is used to supplement a robust customer satisfaction survey program.
According to the white paper, "based on decades of experience, we believe strongly that phone surveys are vastly superior to mystery shopping as a way for banks to gauge the quality of their customer service. Phone surveys are fast, efficient, effective and relatively inexpensive. They deliver data that is reliable, consistent and actionable. Clients welcome phone surveys that allow them to praise-or criticize-companies they know well. In fact, greater customer loyalty is an unexpected benefit of phone surveys."
