Yes, (almost) anyone can become a mystery shopper, but that doesn’t mean that anyone can be a good mystery shopper!
You need to be an adult to register as a mystery shopper, but there are no other age limitations. There is no specific educational requirement and you can mystery shop in just about any city.
Some shop assignments require shoppers of a particular gender or who are within a given age range to match the client’s typical customer demographics. But most of the time schedulers are just looking for someone who will do a good job on the shop.
So what else does it take to be a good mystery shopper?
There are skills that will make some people better mystery shoppers than others. Writing skills are important, because you will need to be able to write comments and narratives to help the client know exactly what happened during your visit. Internet and computer skills are needed to sign up with companies, find assignments and submit reports.
More important that those skills, though, is being dependable. It shocked me to learn that about 25% of the time, shoppers do not complete the assignments they accepted. It happens so often that we have a term for it—“flaking” on a shop.
Want to be an excellent mystery shopper? Here is what it takes.
- Do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it.
- Read and follow the written guidelines for the assignment.
- Communicate with schedulers to ask questions and share relevant information about the assignment.
- Always work on improving your skills. Need help writing reports? Take a grammar or business writing class.
- Honor confidentiality, and don’t share confidential client information with anyone.
- Take pride in your work. Make your reports the best they can be.
Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?
Thank you for your site…it gave me the information to complain about scam…
I was sent a $1950.49 cashers check!!!
Trish
Trish, I’m glad you knew it was a scam! Thanks for the comment!
You need to add this: Be honest, never lie to the scheduler, your voice can reveal a lot over phone and pauses and inconsistencies in statements are red flags. Last year when I did audits, time stamps for photos were not required. However all my photos with one particular MSP need a time stamp, indicating when the photo was clicked (time, date). I was told that many mystery shoppers took the easy way out by recycling photos from old audits and submitting these with their reports. As I am honest, I was not perturbed. But I was like, WTF, how can people even think of cheating? Maybe that’s why most mystery shopping jobs pay peanuts. I always feel honest shoppers should be rewarded with higher payments or reimbursements. What;s your view, Cathy?
Ashwin, be honest is incredibly important. Those of us who are honest are shocked when we learn what the minority of dishonest shoppers try to get away with: faking receipts, copying old reports, making up visit information…hard to believe, but some people do it. Maybe pay could be a little better if providers didn’t have to spend so much time correcting spelling and grammar, checking up on shoppers, etc.
Ideally, all mystery shoppers would be honest. If companies get rid of the dishonest shoppers when they find them that helps. But there are unfortunately always new cheaters to take their place.