Mystery Shopping
Why do we use mystery shoppers?
Mystery shopping is a market research method used to evaluate and monitor interactions between a customer and a company within a defined scenario. The mystery shopper research method helps us ensure all our customer interactions align with FCA expectations, support consumer duty, and that we consistently deliver good customer outcomes.
The performance results can be used as a developmental tool for retailers, helping improve their performance and increasing their ability to provide a truly premium experience to customers.
Complimenting our sales monitoring activity
- Mystery shopping helps add an extra layer to our existing compliance oversight.
- It helps us independently evaluate finance-related interactions for accuracy and transparency.
- It identifies our strengths and areas for improvement based on real customer scenarios.
Customer journey perspective
- Mystery shoppers capture the customer experience from start to finish.
- The results help us assess the levels of clarity, compliance and understanding at each stage of the finance process.
Who will be assessed by our mystery shoppers?
The mystery shoppers will be interacting with our network of Partners.
How is the assessment carried out?
Performance In People will make a video recording of the mystery shopping interaction, following strict data privacy protocols. The assessment will focus on three key areas of the finance sales process:
- Qualification: Evaluates whether staff identified customer needs, addressed vulnerabilities, and gathered the essential information (e.g. deposit, mileage, monthly payments, and current finance terms).
- Sales consultation: Assesses how well staff demonstrated their knowledge when presenting the features, benefits, and risks of the relevant finance product.
- Offer: Checks if a finance quote was provided (paper-based or digital), that customer obligations and rights were clearly explained, and that marketing consents were captured.
When will the mystery shopping programme take place?
Mystery shopping will be conducted across 2026.
PIP Mystery Shopping Portal
All users of the PIP Mystery Shopping Portal must follow these guidelines:
- Ensure retailer/group data-protection training is completed and up to date.
- Retailers are responsible for notifying ALPHERA Financial Services of any staff changes affecting portal access.
Please email your Business Development Manager to report any staff changes.
FAQS
To complement our compliance monitoring and to gain first-hand insight into the customer experience so improvements can be made.
Mystery shops will be conducted infrequently and will cover only a small percentage of our intermediaries.
We do not currently have a formal pass or fail threshold but this will be established once the programme is up and running. However, actions and recommendations will be assigned to retailers when there are failings in specific topics identified within the criteria.
A bulletin has been distributed to intermediaries to announce the commencement of the Mystery Shop Programme. Selections will be made randomly.
No. The programme may potentially include all customer-facing staff.
Actions will be set based on areas where your performance could be improved. However, the focus of the programme is recognising the high levels of service we regularly deliver, especially around good customer outcomes.
The video footage is not published for public consumption and will only be available on the Performance in People Secure Dashboard, to which access can be provided upon request.
Video-based mystery shopping has been in use in the UK for over 15 years, and complies with the Data Protection Act and Human Rights Legislation. This form of research is successfully used by major retailers, automotive manufacturers and financial service institutions.
Yes, the assessment will extend only to the quotation stage.
No, no cars will be removed from sale. The assessment will only go up to the quotation stage.
The number of mystery shops will be relatively small and will not be evenly allocated per quarter. Mystery shops will take place on a sporadic basis across the year and will be carried out with a random selection of partners, rather than every partner being reviewed.
Mystery shoppers will make their enquiries via a phone call.
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