When someone hears the term mystery shopping, their thoughts will most often default to hospitality or retail as those are the two primary industries that utilize mystery shopping. At 360 Relay, we pride ourselves on having a vast portfolio of clients that operate within a variety of different industries. Any industry looking to obtain feedback and gather data on their guest and customer experience can benefit from having a mystery shop program in place. While the core focus of mystery shopping across different industries is primarily the same; gathering actionable data that a client can use to improve their operations, the specific shop preparation, experience, and reporting differs vastly.
There are many different types of banking and financial intuition shops that we conduct for our clients such as phone, email and web inquiries, teller interactions and a more in-depth personal banker shop. Within these shop types, there are many different scenarios that are played out including but not limited to, new and existing account inquiries, a variety of personal and small business loan and financing inquiries, along with standard teller services.
For a banking or financial institution shop, the shop generally requires more preparation than a standard mystery shop. There is most often a scenario that the shopper must follow, and becoming familiar with certain terminology and verbiage associated with the financial world is pivotal for a successful shop. For example, if the shop instructions indicate that the shopper must inquire about a small business loan, they must prepare the appropriate background information to be ready for any questions that may be asked of them by the rep such as the name and size of the business, the location of the business, and the amount they are looking to borrow. If a shopper is faced with these questions and isn’t prepared to provide relevant answers, the shop’s status becomes compromised as any delay or uncertainty in their responses will raise a red flag with the rep. While we will never ask you to provide any of your sensitive, personal information; it is vital that you have made up a back story that goes along with the scenario you are playing out.
These shops can vary significantly and it’s important that the shopper is always reading through all the instructions and requirements prior to accepting the shop. Some banking shops require the shopper to already be a member of the bank, and some specifically ask that they are not. The phone inquiries most often involve a recorded call element making it all the more important to ensure the shopper is prepared to answer any questions they are asked as the recorded file is being sent directly to the client. A lot of the phone, email, and web inquiry shops typically involve some back and forth, and awaiting follow up and it’s important to make sure you are updating your shop report along the way, so your scheduler knows that the shop is being actively worked.
These types of shops are often very popular among shoppers as there is no money spent out of pocket, making them straight-profit shops. If you are interested in learning more about these shops or are interested in being scheduled for these shops, please don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know.