Measurement of quality of service is the means by which Royal Mail assesses how well it is delivering its services to its valued customers like you and provides Royal Mail with visibility of where delays are occurring in the postal system. By taking part in the Royal Mail quality of service measurement, you can help Royal Mail to target actions to resolve the delays and enhance the level of service it provides to you and to people and businesses across the country.

Royal Mail places a high value on maintaining trust with its customers, and independently measuring its quality of service and transparently reporting the results in the public domain, even when performance is below the high standards Royal Mail strives to achieve, is a key part of maintaining trust amongst its customers.

It is also a regulatory requirement for Royal Mail to measure quality of service from handover to Royal Mail through to the final delivery address (handover to delivery) and report the results to Ofcom and in the public domain each quarter.

Quality of service is measured by an independent research company using a combination of posting and recipient panellists and test items created specifically for the measurement. Spectos have been appointed as the new supplier for the independent survey measurement.

Being a panellist helps Royal Mail to identify areas of its network where mail is being delayed and thereby improve the service it provides to you and to people and businesses across the country.

You will receive a number of rewards as a thank you for taking part, including bespoke reports showing how long Royal Mail have taken to deliver your test items and gifts for the office.

You will be reimbursed for all postage costs you incur through taking part in the survey.

The test items are designed to accurately reflect the various kinds of mail that are posted through the Royal Mail network, and include different sizes of envelope, letters, large letters and parcels.

Spectos has a highly skilled team ready to provide the needed support to answer your questions.

Spectos has a training team to train panellists to ensure that you have all the information you need to perform your tasks, including step-by-step videos, instructional literature, and current FAQs.

It is important that the anonymity of panellists is maintained to ensure the integrity of the survey, so we ask that you never contact Royal Mail directly with queries you may have regarding the survey.

Posting
You will be expected to post twelve test mail items every week on average together with your company’s normal mail for the day. These will be made up of batches of up to four test mail items, so you will typically post 2-3 batches of test mail per week.

Once you post a test item, you will record the posting details, such as the date, time, and location of posting, via the Mailagents website or smartphone app.

All costs you incur for posting test mail items will be reimbursed.

The test mail items are inserted into your normal mail for the day. The time required is for entering the posting information via the Mailagents app or the Mailagents website, which should not take more than 5-10 minutes.

Yes, you can. However, you can only send a maximum of two bundles daily. It is important to stick to the original posting plan as much as possible. If this isn't the case please ensure you are posting the items the same day the following week and always enter the actual time and date of posting rather than the original scheduled date.

When completing the data entry for your sent items, you need to enter the time you completed processing your mail and made it available to be collected, not the time Royal Mail collected it.

For example, if you made your outgoing mail available for collection by 9 am and your collection is at 5 pm, please ensure you enter it as 9 am.

Royal Mail has recently partnered with PayPoint to offer parcel drop off services at Collect+ branches around the UK.

Collect+ branches currently only accept some types of Royal Mail items and do not accept business mail items such as the test items you send for us. Please do not send any test items at Collect+ branches, as they won’t be accepted there, and you won’t be able to enter Collect+ branches as valid posting points on the Mailagents app or website.

Please continue to post your test items in your normal way via your usual business collection or over the counter at a Post Office. If this changes in the future, we will of course let you know as soon as possible.

Royal Mail has recently partnered with Quadient to offer parcel drop off services at specific Royal Mail Parcel Lockers.

Royal Mail Parcel Lockers are currently not set up to receive any of our test items. Please do not send any test items at Royal Mail Parcel Lockers, as you won’t be able to enter the lockers as a valid posting point on the Mailagents app or website.

Please continue to post your test items in your normal way via your usual business collection or over the counter at a Post Office. If this changes in the future, we will of course let you know as soon as possible.