Would telling my friends about my mystery shopping experiences violate the confidentiality requirements of the companies I work for?

Giving your friends general information about mystery shopping would not violate confidentiality agreements. However, there are some reasons you may not want to do it. Read on to learn more.

Let’s start with what you may and may not disclose under most confidentiality agreements.

You may tell people that you mystery shop, although you should never talk about mystery shopping or disclose that you are a shopper while you are doing a shop. The exception is when the guidelines require you to identify yourself as the secret shopper, such as on a reveal shop.

You may give the names of companies for which you have mystery shopped. For example, when applying some companies will ask about your secret shopping experience. You may list companies for which you have completed assignments. Or you may share the names of your favorite mystery shopping companies with friends or even in online discussions.

Most confidentiality agreements prohibit giving the names of client companies, or saying which mystery shopping companies shop which clients. You may not share blank or completed report forms with anyone (including your friends), and you may not tell how much companies pay for specific clients or assignments. Never discuss the specifics of any client information, including how a shop is performed, the required purchase or any other information about a client.

Although you certainly may tell your friends about mystery shopping, there are reasons to keep quiet about the fact that you are a shopper. (That’s why we call it “secret” shopping!) The most important reason is that the more people who know you are a mystery shopper, the more likely you are to be discovered on a shop. Many of the people you tell will tell others about you—mystery shopping is fascinating to a lot of people, and they will talk about it.

Imagine that you walk in to a cell phone store to do a mystery shop, and the person behind the counter is a friend of your sister-in-law that you met once. You may not even remember her, but she remembers you. Especially the part where your sister-in-law told her that you are a mystery shopper. Could that affect the integrity of the shop? Absolutely! And you may not even know it, because you have no idea that she knows about your secret shopping.

Have you ever run in to someone you know while doing a shop? For example, I used to mystery shop a lot of grocery stores, and I sometimes saw friends who were doing their grocery shopping. I was never outed by any of them, but it is certainly possible that a friend would ask if you are mystery shopping, or joke to a nearby employee, “Watch out for her—she’s a secret shopper!” They may think it’s funny, but you will not see the humor.

Another reason is a little selfish. If you tell a bunch of your friends and neighbors about mystery shopping, you may have more competition for shopper assignments. Although you are more established, eventually the number of other shoppers will cut into your income. Especially when they tell their friends, who tell their friends, who tell their friends…

The best approach is to tell as few people as possible about your work. If you make a significant part of your income from secret shopping, and feel you need to explain where your money comes from, you might say that you are an auditor or that you do market research.

Keep the mystery in mystery shopping!

This week we examine five points in the MSPA Code of Professional Standards and Ethics For Mystery Shoppers that address confidentiality. All secret shoppers who achieve MSPA certification commit to uphold this code, and they are standards that all mystery shoppers, whether certified or not, should follow.

Confidentiality is critical–that’s why they call it “secret” shopping–however, many mystery shoppers seem not to understand the importance of keeping proprietary information secret. If you are an MSPA certified shopper and you violate confidentiality, you could lose your certification. Any shopper who violates confidentiality risks being dropped by the company they burned. Confidentiality is important to mystery shopping providers and clients. It should be important to you, too.

I agree to honor all confidentiality agreements.

When you apply to a mystery shopping company, the independent contractor agreement will include a section on confidentiality. Before agreeing to the terms of the independent contractor agreement, including any confidentiality clauses, be sure to read and understand it. The independent contractor agreement is a legal contract and you are bound by its terms.

I will not ask or encourage anyone to break confidentiality agreements with other firms for whom they conduct mystery shopping assignments.

This means that you should not ask other shoppers to provide proprietary information about mystery shopping companies and their clients. Don’t gossip about mystery shopping companies and their clients, and do not ask other secret shoppers to violate their confidentiality agreements.

I will not share information with others on which company shops which clients.

This is Confidentiality 101. Visit any online mystery shopping forum and you will see questions such as, “Does anyone know who shops ?” Disclosing this information is a violation of confidentiality. Many companies would also consider a violation to provide an answer such as, “I know who shops them, but I can’t tell you because of confidentiality.” Even stating that a client gets mystery shopped could be considered a violation of the confidentiality agreement.

Oh, and asking a question about which company shops which client is encouraging someone else to violate their confidentiality agreements, so even asking the question would be a violation of these standards.

I will not share information with others on shopping fees and reimbursements for specific clients.
I will not share the results of a shop with others in order to protect the clients confidentiality.

In general, you should not share any information about specific clients with anyone. This includes posting to a public forum or telling your friends a funny story about a mystery shop. If your friend wants to become a mystery shopper, you may share information such as the names of your favorite mystery shopping companies, but you may not say who their clients are or how much they pay, and you may not share guidelines, report forms or completed reports. All of those things are covered by the confidentiality agreement.

Watch for the final installment in this series on mystery shopper best practices next week.

That brings us to the ethics of working for more than one company. While there is nothing wrong with accepting assignments from several companies, you must respect the confidentiality of the information you receive from each company.

As part of the application process, you will complete an Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) that describes the relationship between you and the secret shopping company. ICAs typically include a clause specifying that you will keep any information you obtain about the company and its clients confidential, and will not share it with anyone else.

This means that you should not share information about which businesses get mystery shopped, who shops which businesses, fees, guidelines, report forms, results of mystery shops and other proprietary data. Mystery shopping companies and their clients take confidentiality very seriously, and violating the confidentiality agreement could result in being removed from the shopper data base.

That does not mean that you can not share any information about mystery shopping. For example, when an application asks for what other mystery shopping companies you have worked, it does not violate your independent contractor agreements to list the names of mystery shopping companies. You should not name specific clients you’ve shopped, but it is fine to name the mystery shopping companies. You may also share information that is generally available to the public. For example, many mystery shopping companies say on their home page or other public area of their web sites the types of businesses they shop. Sharing that information (“Mystery Shoppers R Us specializes in shopping restaurants and hotels.”) without naming specific clients or giving out confidential data is fine.

Pay attention to the terms of the confidentiality agreements, or confidentiality clauses of independent contractor agreements, you signed when you applied. At a minimum, follow these guidelines:

• Don’t share information with anyone about a mystery shopping company’s clients, or shops you have done for any mystery shopping company.
• Don’t disclose the names of companies that have mystery shopping programs. Many shoppers believe that it is acceptable to post comments or questions about clients or shops to public forums, as long as they don’t disclose which mystery shopping company has that client. It is not.
• Don’t send copies of blank report forms, sample reports, or completed reports from one company to another.
• Don’t share information about compensation with other mystery shopping companies, clients or other shoppers.
• If a friend asks for advice about becoming a mystery shopper, you may refer them to mystery shopping companies you recommend, but don’t disclose information about the clients they shop, fees and reimbursements, etc.
• Don’t give educational materials or other documents you received from one company to another.
• Don’t gossip about the people or clients of any of the companies you work with.
• Don’t discuss the results of mystery shops directly with the client, unless you have been asked to do so by the mystery shopping company.
• Don’t post proprietary information about a mystery shopping company or client to an Internet message board, chat or forum.

If you are not sure whether it is ethical to divulge something you know, DON’T DO IT! It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Remember that this is a business and you are a professional. Take your responsibilities seriously.

For one thing, your friends may “out” you during a shop, intentionally or unintentionally. Imagine you are in the middle of an assignment, talking to a salesperson, when your neighbor walks up to say hello. You politely chat for just a moment, then return to the business at hand, saying to your friend, “I’m kind of rushed today, but let’s get together for lunch next week.” Suddenly, a light bulb goes on over her head as she realizes what you are up to. But instead of saying, “Sure. See you later,” she blurts, “Oh, you must be doing one of your mystery shops. I’ll let you get back to work.”

She didn’t mean any harm, she just didn’t think. But now your cover has been blown and you might as well end the shop right there. And forget about ever coming back to this store once they know that you are a mystery shopper.

Being outed in the middle of a shop is only one way being indiscreet about your profession can come back to haunt you. Read on for more, including tips on how to deal with curious friends and family.

Another problem arises when everyone wants to know how they can get this sweet job and start getting paid to go to the mall and out to dinner. We know that mystery shopping is not that easy, but they don’t. Although most of the people who claim an interest in mystery shopping will never follow up (or will not continue once they find out it involves actual work) you may not want to encourage anyone who could become competition for mystery shopper jobs, especially if you are in an area where jobs are not plentiful.

Of course, if they do not know that you are a mystery shopper, they will not ask you how they can become one, too, so that solves the problem before it can even become a possibility. The fewer people who know about what you do, the better.

The best strategy is not to tell anyone, even your best friend, that you are a mystery shopper. If she knows, you do not know who else she will tell. If you have a full time job and do a little secret shopping on the side, you do not need to tell anyone about it.

If you spend a lot of time shopping, or have no discernible income other than from shopping, you may need to have an answer when people ask about your job. Keep it simple. “I do retail audits,” is one possible response. Or, “I work in market research.” Most people’s eyes glaze over when they hear words like audit and research, so they will not ask a lot of questions after that. Just the opposite of when they hear the words “mystery shopper.” If they do ask more questions, simply say that you are not allowed to talk about your clients due to confidentiality, and leave it at that.

There are times when you have to tell others what you do. For example, if someone accompanies you on a restaurant shop, they need to know if about any ordering requirements (such as no alcohol, or that you should share an appetizer). And they have to be aware of what they should do–and not do–so that they do not affect the integrity of the shop.

When you must have someone with you, choose someone who can be trusted not to talk about the shop and who will take the shop requirements seriously. When my husband accompanies me on restaurant shops, he is thoroughly prepared to assist me on the shop and not to do anything that will sabotage the assignment. He knows how important it is that we do the mystery shop correctly, and that he maintain confidentiality both during and after the shop. That means no talking about the mystery shop the next day at work.

Perhaps you told a lot of people about your secret life as a secret shopper, and now wish you hadn’t. You can not put the genie back in the bottle, but you can downplay it. You may not be comfortable saying that you are no longer mystery shopping if, in fact, you are. However, you can give an answer such as, “Oh, there is not anything of interest happening there. That dress is lovely. Where did you get it?” Continue to brush aside questions and turn the conversation back to their favorite subject, themselves.

It has been said that discretion is the better part of valor. It is certainly an important part of mystery shopping.

I am always stunned when shoppers openly disclose names of clients, fees they were paid, shop requirements and other information. I hear it at events where shoppers gather, and I read these things in public forums and blogs. What part of
“confidential” don’t these shoppers understand?

Almost every mystery shopping company includes a confidentiality clause in the Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) completed during the application process. Prohibited activities typically include:

• Sharing information about the operations of the mystery shopping company and its clients.
• Discussing compensation and other details of shop assignments with a third party.
• Directly contacting a client, without the specific permission of the mystery shopping company.
• Sharing blank or completed report forms, guidelines and other shop materials with anyone else.

That means you can not talk about:

• How much a shop assignment pays.
• Which mystery shopping company shops a particular client.
• Specific shop requirements (e.g., service standards, purchase requirements, etc.)
• Which companies are mystery shopping clients.

A good rule of thumb is to never say anything about a mystery shopping client to anyone, other than the mystery shopping company. One exception to this is when you are required or allowed to have someone accompany you on a shop (such as a restaurant shop). In that case, you should tell your shopping companion what they need to know to help you with the shop (or at least not to mess it up), but you also need to stress to them the importance of confidentiality. Tell them that they should not discuss any aspect of the mystery shop with anyone else. In fact, the words “mystery shop” should never cross their lips.

Do not make posts to public forums about clients or shops. Although you may comment about mystery shopping companies (i.e., “Mystery Shopping Provider is a great company to work for, although I wish they would pay sooner than 60 days after the shop.”) do not gossip about mystery shopping companies or disclose information about their operations you obtained as a shopper.

When asked on a application about which companies you have worked for, it is acceptable to name them. Do not name any clients you shopped for them.

Giving confidential information to your best friend over coffee, or in a private email, is still a violation of confidentiality. If you have any doubt about whether or not to talk about something, do not talk about it.

You may not see the harm in sharing this information, but the mystery shopping providers and their clients can be harmed by it. You can be deactivated as a shopper if a company discovers that you have violated confidentiality. If you are MSPA Certified, you can lose your certification. In an extreme case, it is even possible that you could be sued.

Keep the mystery in mystery shopping by not sharing confidential information.

Cathy Stucker is the author of The Mystery Shopper’s Manual.

Do you have questions or comments about confidentiality? Post them in the comments below.