The Legal Services Board has commissioned a mystery shopping exercise into the will-writing market to explore the experience of consumers getting wills from different channels and test the quality of wills.

The study will recruit 100 consumers who are looking to obtain a will – split between 40 who would like to use a solicitor, 40 who would like to use a will-writer and 20 who would like to write their own will (either using an online provider or a paper-based DIY will).

Mystery shopping is a standard technique in many service industries and the definition used by the Market Research Society (MRS) is: ‘The use of individuals trained to experience and measure any customer service process, by acting as potential customers and in some way reporting back on their experiences in a detailed and objective way.’

It is not a technique that has been wholeheartedly embraced by the legal profession, although a few market leaders have started to recognise its potential to drive up service standards, a key way to differentiate a firm in a reputation-led market. We recently managed a mystery shopping campaign on powers of attorney for one of our clients. Not only did we mystery shop our client, but several of his competitors to see how their client-handling process compared. (This is allowed under MRS guidelines as long as individual staff cannot be identified and time spent is kept as short as possible so as not to waste the competitor’s resources).

It is particularly powerful when used in conjunction with training and development as it allows you to identify training needs, pinpoint weaknesses in your processes, and more importantly recognise and reward excellent customer experience. It works best as a carrot rather than a stick.

The first stage of the process is setting the standards that you desire for service in your firm and this can be incredibly detailed (29 standards for the power of attorney enquiry call alone). The mystery shopper’s role is then to assess actual performance against the desired standards. As it is possible to score each standard you are then able to calculate a measure of your current performance and then work on improving that score over time.

Some fixes are quick and simple, such as clarifying the information to be requested and recorded, while other problem areas may require more specialist assistance. For example, if enquiries are not always handled by a partner, how well trained are your support staff to handle questions relating to costs?

It is interesting to note that the LSB is separating the elements of shopping and technical review of the wills. As ‘perception is reality in the minds of the consumer’ will the shoppers be asked their opinion of the will? And will that be compared with the perception of the lawyer reviewing the will?