Northern Rock

When this blue chip financial services company needed to lower mystery shopper detection rates and obtain valid, relevant information, they came to Tern Consultancy to assist them with a complex programme of walk-in and telephone enquiries.

The Situation

Northern Rock are one of the countries leading building societies and currently the UK's 5th largest mortgage lender. Operating in a commercial environment which is both highly regulated and extremely competitive it is essential that every customer is dealt with in a way that caters for compliance whilst exploring all possible product avenues.

Mystery shopping financial institutions is a hugely complex task and therefore Northern Rock needed a provider capable of training and briefing their shoppers to the high standard required when enquiring about a mortgage or an unsecured loan. The complexity of the task had, historically, led to a high degree of shopper detection thereby undermining the findings.

In addition, it was apparent within the developing financial services market that more and more people wanted to conduct their business over the telephone rather than walking into a high street location.

The Solution

When embarking on a project such as this, shopper selection, briefing and training are paramount to the final outcome. With Tern's extensive portfolio of shoppers who have been specifically recruited for their report writing skills, we were able to hand pick shoppers based on their financial situation, location and the visit scenario This ensured the programme of work felt 'real' and we were not forced into a situation where people were enquiring about products and services that were not relevant to their everyday life.

By working closely with the client we were able develop different surveys that presented information with a natural flow reflecting discussions that took place between the shopper and their adviser.

Finally we presented shoppers with the option of either conducting a walk-in visit or carrying out the enquiry by telephone according to their personal preference and the recommendation by branch staff. This further boosted the validity of the enquiry and again contributed to a significantly reduced detection rate.