The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

Each time you apply to a mystery shopping company, you fill out a shopper profile. The profile includes your contact information, demographic information about you (e.g., birthdate, gender, marital status, etc.) as well as specific things the mystery shopping company needs to match you to client requirements. These questions might include the ages of your children, if you own a digital camera or voice recorder, if you wear glasses, etc. Of course, MSPA member companies will want to know your MSPA certification status.

The information in your profile may be used to determine whether or not you receive a particular shop offer, so it is important that it is current and correct. Make sure you update your profile when: …continue reading Keep Your Secret Shopper Profiles Up to Date

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Question from a mystery shopper:

What if the date I plan to do the shop changes after it is assigned to me? Do I need to let the scheduler know?

There are several reasons for asking on what date you will complete the shop. The best answer to give will depend on how the scheduler plans to use the information; however, there are some “safe” answers that will almost always be acceptable.
…continue reading What Day Will You Do the Mystery Shop?

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A simple definition of karma is that what you put out comes back to you. If you do good things, you receive good things in return. And if you do bad things, you can expect negative consequences.

As a mystery shopper, you can attract good karma (high report scores, more assignments, better paying assignments, etc.) or bad karma (low scores, fewer assignments, or even being deactivated.

Maintaining good mystery shopper karma means doing your job well, and being helpful to schedulers, editors and other mystery shopping company representatives. Here are some of the ways you can keep good mystery shopper karma flowing.
…continue reading Good Mystery Shopper Karma

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You always do your best as a mystery shopper…until that one day. Maybe you didn’t get an important bit of information for the shop, or you went on the wrong day, or at the wrong time or to the wrong place. Or you completely forgot to do the shop.

Dumb mistakes? Yeah, but every shopper has probably made a dumb mistake or two somewhere along the line. So what do you do now that you have really messed up on a shop?

Some mystery shopping companies have a “one strike and you’re out” rule, and if you make a major mistake that would cause the client to reject the shop report, they will deactivate your account. Others will consider your history with them and other factors. Even the companies that will automatically deactivate you may reconsider if you take the right approach. …continue reading What to Do When You Mess Up on a Mystery Shop

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As secret shoppers, we “check up” on employees to make sure they are following the policies and procedures set by their employers. But who checks up on us, to make sure we are doing our jobs properly?

Mystery shopping companies are (understandably) quiet when it comes to the procedures they have in place to verify mystery shop reports. There are always some shoppers who will try to game the system, so the less the companies say about how they check reports, the harder it is for lazy shoppers to cut corners and submit inaccurate reports without getting caught.

There are, however, some things that we know companies do to make sure reports are accurate. Some of these things may be done routinely to randomly selected reports, while others are more likely to occur when the mystery shopping provider or the client suspect a problem. …continue reading Who Mystery Shops the Mystery Shoppers?

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Question from a mystery shopper:

How would you handle this?

Most of the time, shoppers are paid according to schedule for the mystery shops they complete. If you are not paid when expected, here are the steps you should follow. …continue reading What Do You Do When You Are Not Paid for a Mystery Shop?

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When you submit a mystery shopper report, it will be reviewed by an editor. The editor will review the report for proper spelling, grammar and punctuation, but there is much more to an editor’s job than proofreading reports.

Here are some of the issues an editor has to consider when examining a secret shopping report.

Did the secret shopper complete the shop during the required time frame? Mystery shopper jobs may have to be completed on a specific day, or during a range of dates. For example, the shop guidelines may say that the shop is to be completed between the 1st and the 8th, and it must not be done on a Saturday. There may be a time of day specified (e.g., before 4:00 p.m.) or the guidelines may say that the shop may be done any time the business is open, except the 30 minutes after they open and one hour prior to closing time.
…continue reading What Do Secret Shopping Editors Do?

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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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School is out for the summer, and you may be planning to take your children with you when you do your mystery shopper jobs. Stop for a moment before you do so, and make sure you are not making a mistake.

Although you may take your children with you while doing some secret shopping, you should not assume that it is always a good idea.

Do not take it personally if the guidelines say that no children are allowed. The fact is that children can be a distraction and create disruptions. Your children may be the best-behaved in the world, but other people’s children are not. Rather than saying that you may bring your children if they are well-behaved, the client chooses to say you may not bring your children.

However, even well-behaved children can be a distraction. If you have to keep one eye on them, or your toddler starts asking for food, or needs to use the rest room in the middle of the sales person’s presentation, you will be distracted. The employee may also be distracted by your children, affecting his performance on the mystery shop, and timings and other measures may be thrown off. …continue reading Secret Shopping and Kids

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