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:

Shop location. I realize they may not want to give an exact address, but how about a city and a zip code?

Deadline. When does the shop need to be completed?

Type of business to be shopped. Is it fast food? Casual dining? Apartments? A bank? A car dealer? I don’t expect the client name in the email (although I love to see it) but at least give me a hint.

What is required in the shop? Is it dine in, take out, retail no purchase, purchase and return, teller shop, or what? Is there a requirement that the secret shopper spend a certain amount of time there?

Are there special requirements? Does the shop include taking three digital photos? Do you need to have a companion on the shop? Do you have to be male? Female? A certain age?

How much does it pay? Fee? Reimbursement? Both? What purchase requirement is there, if any?

Do I have to qualify to shop this client? Some clients and/or mystery shopping providers require that shoppers review all of the shop information and pass a test before they can even apply.

So a shop notification might say:

We have a Benny’s Burger shop in your area. These are lunch dine-in shops for up to four people–children OK. Maximum reimbursement is $17. You may spend more, but you will be reimbursed up to $17. The client requires that you upload a clear digital photo of your burger, so your party must order at least one burger.

To apply for this shop, log in to your account and go to Available Shops. You must have a current Benny’s Burger certification before you may request this shop. Go to the Shopper Education Center in your account to complete the certification, if you have not done so.

Must shop any day between 7/6 – 7/11
Locations available:
Houston – 77006, 77027, 77098

Is that so hard? Really? I know that schedulers are busy, but so are we. This could easily be set up as a copy-and-paste template that is just modified with the due date and locations.

I always tell mystery shoppers that to get more assignments they must be easy to work with. Make things hard on the schedulers, and they will be less likely to give you future assignments. Well, schedulers, that works both ways. Make us waste our time chasing assignments and you will find it harder to get shoppers to even bother to read your emails.