Do you love to shop? If so, you may be tempted by unsolicited emails or newspaper ads that claim you can earn a living as a secret or mystery shopper by dining at elegant restaurants, shopping at pricey stores, or checking into luxurious hotels.

What is Mystery Shopping?

Mystery shopping is a fun and exciting way to earn money while you shop! The more technical definition is: "evaluating a company's front line service providers from the view of the average consumer." Or in its most basic definition, a mystery shopper's job would be to shop our client's stores anonymously, acting as the "average consumer", and complete a questionnaire after you left the store. You would then submit this questionnaire to our office by your deadline for review and payment.

You, as a mystery shopper, would be considered the "average consumer", and the information you supply speaks for thousands of other consumers. Therefore the information you supply needs to be accurate, factual, detailed and well written.

Why Do Companies Do Mystery Shopping?

As the average consumer becomes more educated about their purchasing power, they are realizing the value of their patronage. This gives them the opportunity to make their purchases where they receive the best overall customer service. Our clients simply want to ensure that the service they supply is going to make them the establishment of your choice. They want to ensure that their customers are being greeted and offered assistance quickly. That their salespeople are using the sales and service techniques they have been trained on, and that they are providing the best possible service to all their customers. Mystery shopping gives our clients the opportunity to witness how well their training programs are progressing, as well as the opportunity to re-train in the areas that require the most attention.

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Mystery Shopper?

Mystery shopping takes the right individual, and it is not an area where you can get rich quick and you should not be doing this just for the money, as you will soon be disappointed. Mystery shopping is intended as a means to supplement your existing income, and requires an individual with excellent listening skills and a remarkable memory, who is capable of noticing details and communicating this information clearly into written format. A mystery shopper needs to be fair, honest, and conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism. A mystery shopper is someone who understands the meaning of a deadline and is willing and able to commit to the responsibility of being a mystery shopper.

How Much Money Can You Make as a Mystery Shopper?

The average mystery shopping assignment will pay $15 per store, but can range between $10.00 and $20.00, depending upon the length and detail involved in each assignment. If an assignment is for a variety of stores in a single shopping centre, the pay may be in the $10 per store range, because there is no travel involved. Or if an assignment is lengthy and more detailed, the pay may be in the $20 range to allow for the additional writing on your part.

For some mystery shopping assignments, the payment might be as reimbursement of a service or product. Some mystery shopping assignments might be a combination of product reimbursement and a fee. Each mystery shopping assignment is different and will be uniquely explained in the instructions for each unique mystery shopping job. Most retail assignments will take about 15 minutes inside the store and another 10-15 minutes completing each questionnaire.

Mystery shopping jobs are posted on websites for shoppers to select their own mystery shopping jobs. There are no guarantees as to how many mystery shopping assignments will be available to you, therefore, do not rely upon mystery shopping as a regular source of income.

The mystery shoppers are evaluated following every single mystery shopping report submitted and placed in a priority sequence. The better the quality of your reports, the sooner you will have access to the newly posted mystery shopping jobs. The best mystery shoppers receive more work if they continually provide outstanding, quality, detailed mystery shopping reports and live in a highly populated area, or travel on a regular basis. Poor mystery shoppers can be declined access to the job boards after as little as one report. On the other hand a good mystery shopper can move up the priority sequencing just as quickly.

Mystery shopping is most definitely a fun and exciting way to make a few extra dollars, but in no consideration should you rely upon mystery shopping as a regular source of income. It is not a way for you to earn a living, and yet on the other hand is absolutely not to be taken lightly.