The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

Are you fed up with emails about mystery shopper jobs such as this?

Hi! We have a mystery shop available for you. Log in to your account to learn more about this fun shop!

You go to the mystery shopping company website, log in to your account, click on Available Shops and discover that:

1. the shop location is nowhere near you;
2. it is a type of shop you do not like to do;
3. the pay stinks;
4. you must complete a test before you can even request the shop (with no guarantee you will get it);
5. all of the above.

My policy? If a scheduler can not give me basic information about the shop in the email, I just delete it. Do it often enough and I will stop the emails or even deactivate myself from their database.

Schedulers, if you want me to work with you, you need to stop wasting my time. Give me a little more to go on.

In my opinion, a shop notification email should include at least: …continue reading Mystery Shopper Jobs and Scheduler Emails

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Whether you are a brand new mystery shopper or you have been shopping for years, there are a few things you should always check before you accept a secret shop assignment.

What is the location? Do not assume when you see the name of the client or a street name that you know where the location is. Verify the address to be certain you know where you will be going on the shop. For example, I live in the Houston area. If all you know is that the client location is on “Westheimer,” it could be anywhere in a 20-mile stretch of that road. And many companies have more than one location on Westheimer.
…continue reading What to Check Before Accepting a Mystery Shopper Job

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Each of us has at least one food that we simply refuse to eat, and there may be others that we do not care for or should not eat. This may be due to health reasons, religious prohibitions or just personal preference.

Most of the time this is not a problem on restaurant mystery shops. The guidelines may state that you must order an appetizer, entree and side, but not specify the exact menu items to be ordered. There are shops (usually fast food), though, that will specify specific foods to order. Even if you may choose any menu item you wish, there may be limitations on special requests, such as asking for sauce on the side or substituting items.

So what if someone has a long list of foods that can not or will not eat? Can they still do restaurant mystery shops? Sure! Here are a few tips anyone can follow to make sure their food preferences do not clash with the mystery shop requirements.
…continue reading Restaurant Mystery Shops and Food Preferences

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Many mystery shoppers spend a lot of time in the car, traveling from one client location to another. That can be lost time or, with a little planning, you can put it to good use. Here are some ideas on how you can use your travel time.

Plan your route. Use mapping software, such as Microsoft Streets and Trips, to plan your route before you get in the car. With this software, you can enter a list of addresses, and the software will map out the most efficient route. That way you will not spend a lot of time (and gasoline!) backtracking or getting lost. …continue reading Making the Most of Travel Time

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Giant Eagle stores are seeking customers to mystery shop their pharmacies.

Qualifying shoppers will be given guidelines for the shop. After completing the visit and online report, they will receive a $15 gift card.

Giant Eagle stores are located in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland.

For more information, see the Giant Eagle website.

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Guest post by Jeff Hall, CEO, Second To None

The recession that began in 2007 has affected the mystery shopping industry. Not long ago, traditional shopping assignments were abundant, requirements were straight forward and payments were generous.

What a difference a few years make.

Many retail and restaurant operators have experienced measurable declines in revenue, as a rising unemployment rate and general economic anxiety have forced consumers to tightly manage spending habits. As brands have struggled with losses, many have reconsidered the resources allocated to market research and within this environment, mystery shopping.

This era has also ushered in a new corporate mindset regarding the value of market research, with increasing emphasis on custom research projects. Our firm has witnessed a shift toward non-traditional applications of mystery shopping—the type of assignments that demand significant preparation, instore interactions and increasingly complicated cognitive and observational requirements.

Today’s economic environment has forced businesses to assess their own operational performance through increasingly complicated mystery shopping efforts. While businesses continue to recognize the value mystery shopping adds via critical business intelligence, end-user (client) expectations are becoming more sophisticated.

What impact does this have on service providers, and shoppers?
…continue reading A New Era of Mystery Shopping

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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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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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A mystery shopper asks:

I got several gift cards as Christmas gifts, and including some for stores and restaurants I sometimes visit as a secret shopper. May I use these gift cards on mystery shops, instead of paying with my own money? What about gift cards that are issued by the credit card companies (e.g., Visa, American Express), not the store or restaurant? May I use those on mystery shops?

Generally, you should be able to use gift cards on mystery shopping assignments. However, there are a few exceptions. …continue reading May I Use Gift Cards on Mystery Shopper Jobs?

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