There are times that the only way to ascertain how well a set of regulations or laws are being followed is to test them under rigorous conditions. Many agencies routinely use compliance shoppers to ascertain that their policies and procedures are being followed in dealings with the public.
For a company, it is much better to measure your own performance and find out how things stand rather than have some one else tell you when your processes and communications are flawed. For a regulator, the questions are the same - finding out how regulations and laws are followed in the field, day to day.
We help develop complex sample designs and methods of observation to help a firm learn about its public face or a regulator to find out the truth about compliance. For example, banks want to know what is being said to consumers regarding the risk of an investment; insurers want to know that communications with all potential customers are fair and equitable. We quantify where interactions with the public are going well, and where there are problems that need to be addressed.
