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Queue and waitTimed at each stage, so a slow branch separates from a busy hourMystery shopping
Bank Mystery Shopping in Oman
Branch, contact centre and digital journeys scored against your service standard and your compliance obligations, reported to branch level.
In short
What is bank mystery shopping, and does Quantum Gulf Marketing run it in Oman?
Bank mystery shopping is a programme of scenario-based visits and calls in which trained researchers approach a bank as ordinary customers and score what happened against the bank's own published standard. Quantum Gulf Marketing runs banking research across Oman and has delivered consumer satisfaction programmes covering full country branch networks at around a thousand interviews per wave. Banking programmes are designed to report at branch level, because that is where accountability sits, and to separate compliance failures from service shortfalls, because the two require different responses.
Programmes report at branch level because that is where accountability sits, and separate compliance failures from service shortfalls because the two require completely different responses. Sample is sized so one unusual shift cannot decide a branch's score, which is the most common place banking programmes are under-specified. Running the identical scenario in branch and by telephone is the cleanest way to see where the customer experience diverges by channel.
- Channels
- Branch, contact centre, relationship manager, app and online
- Reported to
- Branch level, region, and network
- Separated
- Compliance pass or fail, kept apart from service scoring
- Languages
- Arabic and English
- Coverage
- All 11 governorates of Oman
What gets scored
The dimensions that matter here.
02
Greeting and routingWhether the customer was acknowledged and sent to the right place03
Needs identificationWhich questions were asked before a product was recommended04
Product accuracyWhether what was said about rates, fees and terms was correct05
Mandatory disclosureRequired statements made, in full, without prompting06
Cross-sell relevanceOffered because it fits, or offered because it is a target07
DocumentationWhether the list of required documents given was accurate08
Close and next stepWhether the customer left knowing what happens nextHow a programme runs
Four stages, every time.
Stage 01
Build the scenario
Your published standard becomes a scenario a shopper can follow and an assessor can score without interpreting it.
Stage 02
Brief and calibrate
Shoppers are briefed and calibrated against worked examples, so two shoppers scoring the same visit reach the same number.
Stage 03
Field the wave
Visits spread across days, hours and locations to your quota, with evidence captured at the time rather than reconstructed later.
Stage 04
Validate and report
Every questionnaire checked before it enters the dataset, then league tables plus the dimension detail that shows what to fix.
Track record
Done here, for names you know.
Banking programmes already delivered in the Sultanate.
| Client | Programme | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Bank Muscat | Branch mystery shopping and consumer satisfaction | N = 1,000, four waves |
| Bank Dhofar | In-depth interviews, face to face | N = 3,000, full country |
Client names published with permission. Sample sizes are per wave where a study ran in waves.
Questions
Common questions
How many visits does each branch need?
Enough that one unusual shift does not decide a branch's score. This is the single most common place that banking programmes are under-specified, and we size it with you before quoting.
Can compliance be scored separately from service?
Yes, and it should be. A missed mandatory disclosure is a pass or fail event with evidence attached, not a few points off a service average.
Do you cover the contact centre?
Yes. The same scenario run by phone and in branch is the cleanest way to see where the customer experience diverges by channel.
Can shoppers open real accounts?
Only where the scenario requires it and you have authorised it. Most branch scenarios stop at the point of application.
Are visits run in Arabic?
Yes, in Arabic or English matched to the customer profile the scenario represents.
How do you stop shoppers being recognised?
Rotation across waves, controls on repeat visits to the same branch, and shopper profiles matched to the scenario. For small networks this is planned at design stage.
Start here
Tell us the question.
We will tell you how to measure it.
Send us the business decision you are stuck on. You will get a straight answer on whether research can settle it, what it would take, and what it would cost.