The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

Are you on Twitter? If so, you might want to follow these mystery shopping companies on Twitter. Most of them tweet things about available shops, tips for secret shoppers, industry news and more.

Not on Twitter? Don’t get it? Learn about Twitter and how it works here—be sure to watch the video embedded in that post. It is a great introduction to Twitter.

Now, let the tweeting begin! (BTW—you can follow me on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/CathyStucker.)
…continue reading Mystery Shopping Companies on Twitter

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There are lots of things to remember during a mystery shopping assignment. Remembering to get names, take timings, ask the right questions, etc. can be difficult enough, but we also have to do these things in a natural way that doesn’t draw attention to us, and without influencing how the employees do their jobs.

It’s a tough job, but it becomes easier with practice. In fact, you should be practicing your mystery shopping skills all the time, not just when you are mystery shopping.

Here are a few good habits you can cultivate that will help you to remember to do all of the necessary actions on mystery shopper jobs, will make secret shopping easier and more natural for you, and will make sure you complete all of your mystery shopping assignments accurately and completely. …continue reading Good Secret Shopper Habits

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Question from a secret shopper:

I want to become a mystery shopper. When I search for information, I get a lot of sites that want me to join. Some of them seem to offer free mystery shops, but others charge a monthly fee. Before I start running up a bunch of charges, I need to know if I can make money as a mystery shopper, and which site I should join. Do I need to join more than one? Help!

First of all, yes, you can make money as a mystery shopper. But you do not need to pay anyone to become a mystery shopper or get mystery shopper jobs. Legitimate mystery shopping companies will not charge you to apply to them. …continue reading Mystery Shopping Sites – Which Ones Should I Join?

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Having great relationships with schedulers means you will be on their minds when they have jobs to fill. Here are some ways to be one of their favorite mystery shoppers:

Be dependable. If you accept an assignment, do it. About 25% of the time, secret shoppers who accept jobs don’t complete them. Imagine having to do your job twice 25% of the time. You wouldn’t like it, and schedulers don’t appreciate it either.
…continue reading Get More Mystery Shopper Jobs From Schedulers

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The folks running mystery shopper scams are becoming even more brazen. In Idaho, they used a job board operated by the Idaho Department of Labor to troll for victims.

Using a state-sponsored job board is just another example of the things criminals will do to make their scams appear to be legitimate. Many job seekers probably believe that companies and their postings are reviewed and approved by the state before a job can appear on the board. Not true. From this article about the mystery shopper scam, it sounds as if it was a job seeker who discovered the fraud and informed the state. Fortunately, the state did take action when they learned about the bogus jobs.

The lesson in this is not to be too trusting and assume that anything with a cloak of respectability is actually respectable. The people behind these secret shopper scams do things to make themselves appear to be legitimate. They use the names of legitimate mystery shopping companies. They claim to be mystery shopping for respected brands, such as McDonald’s and WalMart. And now they are soliciting victims through state employment agencies.

Learn more about mystery shopping scams.

Find legitimate free mystery shopper jobs.

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Good narrative writing spells out the facts in a clear, concise way. However, “concise” does not mean using sentence fragments or only short sentences. To make your writing more readable, interesting and easy to follow, vary the lengths of your sentences.

When all of the sentences you use are very short, the narrative is choppy:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. Mary greeted me. She told me about the sale. I found three blouses. Mary asked if I wanted to try them on. She led me to the fitting room. Mary unlocked the door. She hung the blouses in the room.

You also should not use only long sentences, especially run-on sentences:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. and Mary greeted me and she told me about the sale. I found three blouses, and Mary asked if I wanted to try them on then led me to the fitting room and unlocked the door and hung the blouses in the room.

…continue reading Simple Sentences and Compound Sentences

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