Treating Customers Fairly is at the forefront of new FCA regulation for consumer credit. Mystery Shopping is one of a suite of customer experience tools that can track this. However, both researchers and research subjects have certain rights and responsibilities. Use this brief guide to ensure that mystery shopping is compliant.

1. Mystery Shopping
What’s it all about?

2. Key points
Mystery shopping is a research technique.
• it collects information about organisations
through individual employees
• the researcher does not declare his/her presence
and
• the respondent is unaware at the time of the
interaction that it is in any way different from a
normal customer contact

3. Legals
Mystery shopping is therefore subject to:
• the Market Research Society Code (subcontracted)
and the
• Data Protection Act (sub-contracted and
DIY / peer)

4. Best Practice
Research relies on the confidence of those
involved that it is conducted:
•
honestly
•
objectively
•
without unwelcome intrusion
and
• without harm to respondents

5. Mystery Shopping Types
There are three types of mystery shopping:
• Own Organisation
• Competitor Organisation
• Regulatory Organisation

6. Mystery Shopping Outputs
Each has a distinct focus for its outputs:
• Own > staff training and development
• Competitor > management benchmarking
• Regulatory > monitoring standards and
compliance

7. Mystery Shopping Disclosure
On this basis, the audience may differ too,
for example:
• Own > senior management, line manager,
team and / or individual employee
• Competitor > senior management
• Regulatory > government, trade or
professional body and senior management

8. Informed Consent
Whenever mystery shopping involves:
• recording
• monitoring
and
• observation
subjects must be informed about this before it
takes place

9. Mystery Shopping a
Competitor?
You are without consent, so:
• never record them
• never waste their time
• nor disrupt their work
• and report a cohort only e.g. opticians in
Nottingham

10. Mystery Shopping Yourself?
Once you have advised your team that service
delivery may be checked from time to time through
mystery shopping, you need to share:
• the objectives and intended uses of the results
• whether these may be used in relation to terms
If you are using audio or video to record a mystery
shop, the Data Protection Act applies, so staff must
be aware of specific uses – planned and potential.

11. Recording a Mystery Shop?
It’s a good idea to share a disclosure checklist like this to explain your
purpose and audience.
who
accesses what
and why
Individual employee
recording and record sheet
performance management
Employee’s line manager
recording and record sheet
performance management
Employee’s team
anonymised record sheet
staff training
Senior Management
all outputs
strategic planning
Consultant /coach /mentor
all outputs
strategic planning

12. How may we help?
Zero-credit is a full-service research agency,
specialising in financial services. We also train
clients to conduct research that includes:
• market analysis
• trend spotting
• customer experience
• consumer behaviour
• outcomes evaluation