Background
A financial services company approached Confero to conduct telephone mystery shops for an annual study comparing customer service and knowledge across several stockbroker teams. This long-running research provides competitive intelligence that helps stockbrokers evaluate performance and understand how well they support prospective investors.
Challenge
The company required anonymous calls from individuals who sounded like typical prospective customers seeking investment guidance.
To ensure consistency and accurate comparisons across firms, each caller needed to follow the exact same scenario.
The goal was to design customer experience research that:
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Produced fair, repeatable comparisons
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Helped consumers understand differences between firms
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Offered insights into service quality, expertise, and communication
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Identified trends and improvements year over year
Because topics varied in complexity—such as 401(k) rollovers and options trading—shopper selection was especially important.
Solution
Confero carefully selected highly rated phone shoppers who could speak naturally and confidently about financial topics. After thorough vetting, shoppers placed unrecorded calls to ten different stockbrokers, each using one of ten structured scenarios.
Scenarios included:
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Asking for help with a 401(k) rollover
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Inquiring about options trading
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Opening a new investment account
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Understanding fees, risk levels, or portfolio services
Each broker received the same types of calls, allowing the client to compare service behavior accurately across firms.
Confero also reviewed every completed shop to ensure clarity, accuracy, and scenario adherence. Shop results were delivered in Excel so the company could integrate findings with the rest of its study data.
Results
The annual program consistently delivers:
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High-quality, repeatable competitive intelligence
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Clear comparisons of service, staff knowledge, and communication styles
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Trend insights showing how broker performance improves or declines year over year
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Actionable findings that support employee coaching, recognition, and process improvement
With Confero’s experienced mystery shoppers and careful program oversight, the client receives timely, reliable research that strengthens its annual stockbroker comparison study.
Why Competitive Intelligence Research Matters
Through this yearly study, stockbrokers gain insight that helps them:
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Understand how they stack up against peers
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Identify opportunities to improve customer communication
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Support compliance through accurate information sharing
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Strengthen their reputation with prospective investors
Reliable mystery shop data supports both strategic decision-making and frontline coaching.
Learn more about how Confero’s research benefits banking and financial institutions.
More – 10 Ways to Discuss Mystery Shopping Reports with Employees
