Students are to act as a “mystery shopper

Overview of the task 

Task: Written report of your experience as a customer. This task is done with the same group you worked in the presentation

Length:  2000 words 

Due Date: Week 9 at 23:59

Details of the task 

For this task you are to critically reflect on your learning and teaching in the unit till week 9. 

Students are to act as a “mystery shopper” and document the service experience with an organisation (e.g., small business such as hairdresser, manicurist, dog groomer) or event (e.g., local festival, concert, theatre).  The service experience diary is designed to help students understand customer expectations and why consumers are sometimes satisfied or dissatisfied with the service experience.

By recording and analysing a student’s own experiences, particularly in reference to the theories, tools and techniques of services marketing, they should begin to discover what is truly needed to satisfy a customer. The approximate length of the report is 2000 words. No more than 1/4 is to be the diary component. 

The Diary section may be written in first person but students must still ensure that they use correct English; this includes correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Students are required to:

Visit or experience a service organisation or event. For example, going to a concert, undertaking a training session at a gymnasium, receiving a service at University such as using the library, or receiving a hair cut at a hairdressing salon.

The report will be easier to do if students select a service that is heavily intangible dominant.  Refer to the figure from the set text (following). 

The service may be selected from the list in the following table.

Topic	Example
Hotel or motel accommodation	Over night stay
Travel	Service from a travel agent.  Bus or train travel beyond the Melbourne metropolitan area. Aeroplane travel; domestic or international flight.
Home services	Home cleaning. Pet washing or grooming. Garden landscaping or maintenance.
Theatre	Any professional performances
Music events	Concerts or shows
Sport events	Any paid for sporting events including football, soccer, netball, swimming, etc.
Personal services	Hairdressing, manicuring, sport and fitness services
Professional services	Accounting service, Legal service,
Other services	Freight and postal services, banking and finance, insurance (vehicle, home, personal).

Diary

1. Briefly (a couple of sentences) provide some relevant background on the author (e.g., demographics, psychographics such as strong interest in health and sport if the service is using a gym or attending a sport event) and any situational influences that may be relevant to this service experience and state why it is relevant.
2. Document the pre-purchase stage. This may include the process undertaken to find information on the organisation, how the customer (the student) planned to get there, their expectations of the visit (what the student expected to see, time taken, cost, etc.), and any perceived risks.
3. Document the actual visit/experience, (the consumption stage). Indicate the day and time of the visit and the weather conditions (if relevant) on the day and the effect on the experience. Indicate the composition of the group (if applicable). Express what happened during the visit and the customer’s feelings about the service (express emotions). Refer to ‘emotions in service encounters’ chapter/information from the text. Include interactions with personnel and the inanimate environment as relevant.
4. Conclude this section by providing a satisfaction rating, and/or a value for money rating and whether the service would be recommended to a close friend or family member and why it would be appropriate for them.  It is strongly recommended that students read and refer to the chapter in the required text book relating to customer satisfaction and service quality. Students will find it helpful if they look at the entire chapter including the appendix, that has a great deal of information about satisfaction ratings and use the criteria the authors discuss. Do not ask the tutor or the lecturer for the chapter number but look in the text book.  It is not sufficient to simply state that the service was liked or disliked.  It must have a formal rating scale based on recognised service quality models.
5. Start to refer to theory in this section and then discuss it more fully in the analysis section of the report. This is not a ‘mind dump’; the content must be orderly and as an author, the student must proof read their work.

 

Analysis

6. Consider a more fitting title of this section tailored to the topic, for example if appropriate, consider the title: ‘Analysis and recommendations for hairdressing businesses’.
7. Analyse the overall judgement and feelings about the service providing organisation in terms of services theories and concepts. This may be based on theories such as ‘expectations’, ‘satisfaction’, and ‘service quality’ or the 7Ps.  
8. The writing must shift styles from first person singular (I, me) in the Diary section to third person (the organisation etc.) in the analysis part of the report.  To help students with this a guide has been uploaded to VU Collaborate.
9. The academic articles provided by the lecturer or tutor may be used but students must use a minimum of 4 academic peer reviewed journal articles that they have sourced as well.  There are several reasons for this but the main one is that if students only use material given to them it does not show that they have researched the area for themselves.  Do not use lecture notes or tutorial notes (Monash University – Citing and Referencing http://guides.lib.monash.edu/c.php?g=219786&p=1454238). If the idea is in the notes then it is highly likely it is also contained within the text used to create the notes.  Go to the original source (usually the required reading text) and locate the idea from there.

10. The analysis phase should take up the remaining 3/4 of the word limit. Use 1.5 spacing and write in the 3^rd person (i.e., the organisation, the customers etc.).  There is information on VU Collaborate regarding how to write in the third person. English usage as well as spelling, punctuation and grammar, will be considered when marking as too will the correct conventions in report writing such as numbering and naming tables and figures and other report writing conventions such as page numbering. 
11. Students must use business report format (i.e., headings and sub-headings), including a table of contents, executive summary (this comes before the table of contents and is not included in the word count), recommendations, conclusion and list of references. 
12. Wherever possible make reference to the theories, tools and techniques of services marketing to achieve a decent grade. All published materials utilised should be listed in the reference list and cited throughout the body of the report using the Harvard system of referencing. Use a minimum of 4 academic peer reviewed journal articles (in addition to those supplied by the lecturer and tutor). 
13. Prepare and submit a hard copy report to the lecturer or tutor on the day of the tutorial. The report should consist of a cover page with the title of the assignment, the student’s first and second name, student identification number, and tutor’s name; and written evidence that TURNITIN was used, for example the first page of the originality report which is produced by TURNITIN.   

The assessment declaration form has been embedded in your submission before you upload your assessment.

Preparation 

You are expected to have completed all the readings, learning activities, lecture and tutorial material as well as the literature for this assessment.

Assessment Criteria and Submission

Formatting Tips

Start a new page for the title page and numbered them. A cover page must contain the topic and the service along with the names of the students & their IDs. The executive summary goes before the table of contents, the introduction and each major section within the report.

Format in 1.5 spacing so Rosa doesn’t get blind.

Leave a right hand margin of 2.0 cm.  This will make the report look neat and professional.

Label all tables, graphs and figures.

Don’t forget to attach a list of references

LATE WORK:  If a student has been ill (doctor’s certificate required) or if they have genuine family responsibilities as per the University’s policy and believe they will not meet the submission deadline, they must contact the tutor prior to the submission date. 

If an extension is approved the student must complete a request for an extension form and attach the receipt slip to their work when it is submitted.  Lack of organisation is not grounds for an extension of time. 

Please read the rubric set up for this assessment taks carefully. These are the criteria that you will be assessed against for this task. It is important that you read and understand the rubric before you attempt to write this report. Understanding the criteria written in this rubric will help you clarify what we are looking for in this report. 

The rubric for this task can be viewed in the Assessment 3 Dropbox where you can also submit your work.

Once you submit your report, you will be able to see Originality Report (via Turnitin), which you can use to improve your essay based on the report. You will be able to submit multiple files per submission till the due day and time but submit only once. This means that only one member of the group needs to submit the diary.

 

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