How to … hire mystery shoppers

If you want to gauge service success and tenant satisfaction, mystery shopping can touch the parts that the survey fails to reach. Elgar Housing Association in Malvern, Worcestershire, began its mystery shopping experience in mid-2003, and has run two tests to date. Tenants are selected from one or more housing associations and are asked to test the services, both by phone and in person, providing an insight into the operation of the association that might not have otherwise emerged. But how can you make such a scheme a success?

First, don't use your own tenants, says Clare Huyton, executive director of Elgar.

"It doesn't work because people would recognise the staff. We've worked with Evesham and Pershore Housing Association, swapping our mystery shoppers with theirs."

According to Huyton, the housing association newsletter is the most obvious recruitment medium. But you need to make sure your pool is wide enough, to protect against people changing their minds.

"We were disappointed that the initial interested group of 12 tenants went down to four after the training. Next time we'll advertise more widely, using more than one newsletter, posting notices in offices and using the tenants' groups to spread the word."

Be flexible with the shopping tasks in order to prevent fall-out. "We had people dropping out because they had to work or had childcare responsibilities and couldn't come to the offices in person," says Huyton. Elgar is now designing tests that are carried out only by phone in order to widen the net.

All tenants will need training, says Huyton. "It's not a natural thing, being a mystery shopper, and people tend to put on an act." Elgar's one-day training covered the purpose of the programme, conduct for the shoppers and how to record feedback.

It’s not a natural thing, being a mystery shopper – people put on an act

Clare Huyton, Elgar executive director

Elgar's tenants were given two tasks: to ask about the possibility of rehousing for a close relative who would soon be made homeless and to ask about the choice-based lettings system. Shoppers were asked to carry out each task by phone and in person. The feedback checklist covered prompt response to requests, staff access to information, disabled access, the wearing of ID badges and whether appointments were made with named officers on request. Performance was graded from one to 10.

Be prepared for some negative feedback, says Huyton. "Results are never as good as you want them to be." Elgar's average score was 5.5, the highest 9, and the lowest 4.5. "The two areas in which we scored the lowest were staff ID badges and the displaying of opening hours information on the inside of the offices," recalls Huyton. "However, these were areas that, had we graded them, were less important than ones in which we fared well."

The crucial point is to take action on the weaker areas highlighted by your mystery shoppers. "We've reinforced the wearing of ID badges and now have opening hours notices on the inside of all our offices," says Huyton.

Keep widening the pool of tenant shoppers. Elgar will now test its freephone repairs line, but Huyton says that with each new service tested, a wider pool of tenant shoppers is needed. "We'll involve another housing association this time," she says.

Mystery shopping can provide cheap and valuable consultancy. Elgar, for instance, rewards its mystery shoppers with a £25 retail voucher for each session completed.

There are more expensive alternatives: Croydon council used a market research company to provide mystery shoppers, focusing on repair request scenarios, antisocial behaviour and domestic violence.