Measuring Compliance with Mystery Shopping Audits
Advantages of Internal Compliance Audits.
Every company needs to adhere to government regulated laws. This is even more so for industries such as the medical and financial, among others. These industries are highly regulated and are at risk for government compliance audits all the time.
Though most service staff would be trained to handle a variety of different situations. The services and products provided would evolve over time. Companies need to make sure that the service provided would meet the brand standard and adhere to any regulations in place.
What is Compliance Auditing?
Describe by Business Dictionary as an “Audit undertaken to confirm whether a firm is following the terms of agreement… or the rules and regulations applicable to an activity or practice prescribed by an external agency or authority.”
In other words, it’s to find our if the organization is adhering to regulations, through comprehensive reviews.
This also means that different organizations are subjected to different compliance audits based on their industries.
You can also read our introduction to Compliance Auditing here.
How can Mystery Shopping Help?
As previously discussed, mystery shopping audits allow us to get real time feedback on the service provided by the staff. A company can therefore use mystery shopping to check whether certain standards and regulations are met.
For the company, this would be an internal audit. The company would be able to know or discover any situation that is not adhering to regulations. For example, if a service staff in the financial sector were to omit information regarding the product or skipping a step in an approval process.
Advantages of Internal Compliance Audits.
Specific areas can be tested.
Each program is design and customized to fit the needs of a company. For a company performing internal audits, they can choose what kind of scenario they would like to test. For example, testing the knowledge of the teller at a bank.
Instant Feedback
One of the advantageous of internal audits is instant feedback. Companies would be able to spot what needs improvement and take action on it immediately.
Companies would also be able to know if any training given is effective or does it fall short. Whether the service staff need improvement in a certain area or if the service staff is a star player of compliance.
Sample Size
Companies can also customize the program’s sample size. Some companies may only want to audit on a branch to branch basis, or view the results in an overview to see which location had the best performance.
If the company is willing to invest in more research, the field can be narrowed in. Companies would be able to find out why one branch is performing better. For example, how is the training communicated?
Statistical Data.
An overview of the whole program would be beneficial to identify where the company stands on being compliant towards the regulations set in the industry.
The statistical data can also provide an overview over a longer period of time to show trends. Maybe there is a branch location that is performing better and is constantly improving, while another is stagnant, which may pose a problem.
Essentially using mystery shopping for compliance audits will help rescue the risk of heavy finds for non-compliance. This can save the company a lot of time and financial burden. Not to mention, maintain a reputation.
Want to learn how mystery shopping can help your company. Get in contact with us today
