The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

A new year (or any time) is a good time to organize the paperwork, computer files and workflow for your mystery shopping business. Being better organized means you spend less time seeking assignments, doing shop visits, completing reports, and calculating taxes. Most importantly, you will not risk forgetting to do shops, or waste time trying to track down your notes to answer editor questions about your reports.

Here are some tips to get—and stay—organized.
…continue reading Organize Your Mystery Shopping

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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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Most shops require that you get the names of the employees you observed or with whom you interacted. That can be easy if they are wearing name tags.

Of course, you should be subtle about reading name tags. Don’t stare or make a big deal about it. Just look at the name tag, then make eye contact with the employee.

So what can you do when the employee is not wearing a name tag? You may be able to get his or her name in another way. The best method to use depends on the circumstances, and it is important that you do nothing that would seem suspicious or draw attention to you.

Here are some ideas that can help you get the names you need. …continue reading How to Get Names During a Mystery Shop

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Suggestive selling, or upselling, involves suggesting additional items when a customer makes a purchase, or encouraging a customer to upgrade to a more expensive option. Perhaps the best-known example of an upsell is when the order taker at a fast food restaurant asks, “Do you want fries with that?” However, upselling is used in almost every kind of business.

Mystery shopping questionnaires may include questions about suggestive selling techniques used by employees. Here are examples of upsells that mystery shoppers may encounter: …continue reading Suggestive Selling and Secret Shopping

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Most mystery shopper assignments require that you submit a receipt in order to be paid. Most often you are instructed to upload a scanned image or digital photo of the receipt. You may be allowed to fax or mail the receipt instead. In some cases, you may be asked to mail the original receipt, and in others you may only have to enter information from the receipt when you submit the report from your secret shop.

No matter how they ask for the data, you will almost always need to have a receipt from the mystery shop in order to successfully complete the shop requirements. Here are some tips to help you deal with receipts and mystery shops.

Read the guidelines carefully to know what you are supposed to do if a receipt is not offered. Some clients will tell you that you should request one. Others say that you should not draw attention to yourself by asking for a receipt. Know beforehand what you are to do. …continue reading Tips for Getting Receipts on Secret Shops

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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 mystery shopper:

I just completed a secret shop, but I have forgotten the name of the employee who assisted me. The report requires the name. What can I do?

Whenever there is a problem in completing a report, one option is to contact your scheduler and ask what you should do. For example, they may be able to accept a description of the employee instead of the name.

You may be able to salvage this situation on your own, though. If you did get the name, but just can not remember it, make an attempt to recall how you got the name. Was the employee wearing a name tag? Did she introduce herself? Did you overhear another employee call her by name? The more you can recall about how you got the name, the more likely you are to remember the name.

Still don’t have it? …continue reading Forgot a Name – What Can I Do?

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Whenever you send email to a mystery shopping company, you should include identifying information that makes it clear who and where you are, as well as why you are writing. If you are contacting a scheduler with a question about a mystery shop assignment, you should also include the assignment number (if any), client name, location and due date.

You might be surprised how many emails mystery shopping companies receive from shoppers whom they can not identify. Or the scheduler may have to spend valuable time looking up the shopper to figure out who they are and what assignment they are emailing about.

An easy way to include your information is with a “signature” or “signature file.” …continue reading Using Email Signature Files

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Have you ever had this happen? You are mystery shopping more than one location of the same business, and one of the employees from a place you shopped earlier turns up at another location. Oops. What can you do?

Many businesses have “floating” employees who work at more than one branch or store. This happens in banking, retail, property management (apartments), and other businesses. Sometimes floaters have a regular schedule that moves them from place to place, and other times they may be filling in for an employee who is ill or on vacation or when a location is otherwise short-staffed.

I used to shop a lot of grocery stores, and often did two or three in one trip. One day, a manager was at both of the stores I shopped. Fortunately, I saw him before he saw me, and the store was big enough that I was able to avoid him for the rest of my visit. However, there are times that isn’t possible. …continue reading Same Employee, Different Location

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