Mystery shoppers in demand

On some days, she’ll wear glasses; on others, she’ll have her hair tied up.

Whichever way she disguises herself, she has to be as convincing an authentic shopper as possible, whether she’s opening a bank account or taking a boat ride at the aquarium in Dubai Mall.

She could be the person standing next to you in a bank, taking mental notes of how long the cashier takes to serve, how attentive staff are and how clean the branch is.

Step into the life of Sarah De Souza, a shopper incognito, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.

The 37-year-old mother of two from India is just one of thousands of people who scour banks, shops and hotels across the Emirates every hour of every day, clandestinely monitoring the level of service offered to customers. It’s a service that has become crucial for companies vying for customer loyalty, in a world where people are watching what they spend and where they spend it.

In fact, the growing emphasis on putting the patron first has inspired the country’s inaugural Customer Service Week, which will run from June 20 to June 24 at the Park Rotana hotel in Abu Dhabi. Developed by Ethos Consultancy, a customer service solutions provider in Dubai, the week-long event will host a number of workshops and forums “to grow and raise customer service standards through awareness, education and sharing of international best practice”.

Mrs De Souza, our mystery shopper, is just one part of this drive towards improved customer service.

She is on the front lines, collecting the information and data that’s crucial to understanding the confusing retail and banking landscape.

Before moving to the UAE four years ago, Mrs De Souza worked as a singer and dancer in India. And over the past year, she has participated in more than 800 jobs for Ethos Consultancy. The role is flexible; she can fill her mornings with four or five shopping trips and be home by the time her teenage daughters are back from school.

“I’d never done this line of work before,” she says. “But I’ve found it really interesting as it gives me a chance to meet a lot of people and also earn a bit of pocket money.”

Most of us are familiar with the frustrations of what some companies might consider “good service” in the Emirates, whether it’s being bombarded with calls selling loans or credit cards, or waiting endless hours for poor service from disinterested service workers.

Mrs De Souza’s job is to ensure companies are aware of any shortfalls in attending customers. Companies pay Ethos Consultancy to send its mystery shoppers to their stores and branches. But the timing is random and, after the appraisal is complete, the company receives a full report card on the quality of their customer service.

The information collected by the shopping spy is for the clients’ eyes only. Meanwhile, the feedback helps banks, hotels and retail outlets to keep on top of things, as they work harder than ever to win customer loyalty.

When it comes to banks, the role requires vigilance, objectivity and creativity in the way the information is collated and relayed back to clients, Mrs De Souza says.

Some of the criteria mystery shoppers look out for is how clean a bank is, whether ATMs are working or if a teller is present and how attentive they are.

They also assess how long it takes to be served and for their requests to be processed, as well as whether there’s adequate parking close to the branch.

“Without disturbing anybody, we are just mystery shopping,” says Mrs De Souza. “We are just finding out what is happening and reporting the truth to them [the clients].”

Hassan Harnoon, the vice president and head of distribution in the UAE for United Bank, says when it comes to keeping on top of the competition, mystery shoppers are a necessity. In fact, the bank employs these spies in all nine of its branches across the Emirates.

“Mystery shopping is one of the ways we can get unbiased views; all banks use it,” Mr Harnoon explains. “It is a good tool to improve customer service ... to make a difference, you need to be a cut above the rest. It is a buyer’s market now and you need to be careful about these things; it’s a bit like going back to basics.”

Mr Harnoon says the number of big banks has doubled in Dubai over the past 10 years, and in some cases, four or five rival financial institutions can be found in very close range to each other.

With banks mostly offering the same products, the only way they can distinguish themselves is through customer service.

Human contact has also diminished as more and more people choose to bank online.

Montaqa Gangari, the head of market intelligence and customer feedback at Commercial Bank of Dubai, says the results of the mystery shopper service are published across the firm.

“The service is crucial in highlighting our weaknesses as well as our strengths,” he says.

“We are able to keep an eye on where our services fall behind and quickly react to fix things so that we always meet and exceed our client expectations. It is also beneficial for identifying and recognising performing staff members and highlighting them as role models and service champions.”

In the retail and tourism sectors, mystery shoppers look for similar criteria when grading the businesses, such how they are addressed and treated by the salesperson, and whether employees are knowledgable and efficient.

“People need to make more effort, especially in the retail sector,” says Mrs De Souza. “It’s not only people in the UAE going shopping, there are tourists here, too. In some shops, you have to make yourself a little more visible before the staff attend you. Also, if I’m going to buy a laptop in an electronics shop, for example, the staff should know what each feature means.”

Ethos Consultancy, which has offered the mystery shopper service since 2004, now has about 3,000 shoppers on its books.

But becoming a shopper is no easy task, says Halima Anderson, the company’s consultancy and training director. Shoppers are put through a stringent screening and training process to ensure they’re as objective as possible when out shopping, and that personal emotions are kept at bay. The pay for each assignment is based on a number of factors, including the distance the shopper has to travel and the complexity of the questionnaire.

Those interested in becoming a mystery shopper can register on the website at msknowledgetrak.com, after which they will be contacted by a trainer from Ethos and invited to a mystery shopper orientation.

“It’s important they understand that they cannot be biased – this is not an opinion-based type of exercise,” Mrs Anderson says.

“It’s based on facts, so they have to remove their emotions. So even if they’re treated poorly, they can’t respond back to that individual poorly because although they’re acting as a real customer, they’re evaluating and need to be as objective as possible. So we drive that point home.”

A good grasp of the English language and grammar is also important, as the shoppers have two days after each mission to write and file a report. “Not everybody makes the cut, but we do our best to work with those individuals that can’t make it,” she explains. “We give them a test job and put them on probation for a certain amount of time. Then we rate their reports and they stay on probation until they reach a certain level.”

Source : Mystery shoppers in demand