Mystery Shopping Tips

The allure of “getting paid to shop” draws tens of thousands of people to mystery shopping every month. There are over 1 million mystery shoppers in the United States alone, and many more around the world. To most people, mystery shopping is a mystery that’s hard to pin down.

Many people tell me that mystery shopping is something they would like to try, without understanding what its all about.

If you are going to decide if mystery shopping is something that YOU want to do, then keep reading. Because I’m going to tell you what skills you will need, what benefits you will gain, and just as importantly, what you won’t get from mystery shopping. Continue reading ‘Why People Mystery Shop’

The key to getting mystery shopping assignments is to find companies that actually have assignments for you.

I’m here right now to tell you how that is done.

When I first got started in mystery shopping, I thought that I had to find local companies for shops in my area. I thought that all it would take was to open up the phone book.

That’s definately not how it works.

Sometimes people ask if they should call the business they want to mystery shop and ask what companies do shopping for them. Many people have tried that, and very few people have succeeded. That is just not how its done.

Mystery shopping is a huge billion dollar industry. There are hundreds of companies operating in the US alone, and they are constantly competing for business.

That means one month a company might have shops in your area. And then the next month, they lose their contract to a competitor and they don’t have any shops at all.

But take heart! Things are not as dire as they may seem.

It is actually quite easy to find companies that DO have shops in your area, whether you live in the middle of nowhere Nebraska, or in a giant city like New York.

In the past two years I’ve talked to hundreds of mystery shoppers, and I’ve experimented with dozens of ways of finding companies with assignments in a specific area….all with the goal of making it as quick and easy as possible.

There are several good options. If you want to have the most assignments offered to you with the least amount of effort, I recommend doing all of them.

First, sign up for ShadowShopper. Yes, I know some people hate that they are a ‘for-profit’ company, but they also have a very comprehensive scheduling service. That means they automatically connect you with companies that have assignments in your area.

Second, register with Kern Scheduling. They are another big scheduling company. They’ll be pretty likely to find assignments in your area.

Third, scour the job boards. The biggest job board is run by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. They’re the trade organization that represents 200+ mystery shopping companies. You can easily search for assignments in your area. Don’t worry if the assignments you find are out of date — register with the companies anyways. It’s likely they’ll have assignments for you next month.

Fourth, read the forums. I own and operate MysteryShopForum.com, and it has turned into a great community of active mystery shoppers. It is also a great source for finding new mystery shopping companies. You can get feedback about the good ones, the bad ones, and the ones that have assignments in your area.

Follow those four steps and your inbox will fill up with assignments. But remember, the more companies you register with, the more assignments you will be offered. Don’t just register with four or five companies. Most full time mystery shoppers have a list of 10-20 companies they work with on a regular basis, and another 20-30 companies that they might check out from time to time.

As a mystery shopper there are a few basic things you will need.

Years ago, before the internet, mystery shopping was a much different game. Finding companies, getting assignments, and submitting reports was a completely different process. Nowadays, everything is done online.

That means the first thing you need to get started is internet access. Internet at home is ideal. Libraries are also a good place for internet access.

Once you find a reliable source of internet, I recommend registering an email account dedicated just to mystery shopping. Once you get the ball rolling, you’ll be receiving dozens of job offers every day. Dedicating a separate email account to mystery shopping will make staying organized much easier. I recommend Gmail, Google’s free email service. Continue reading ‘Mystery Shopping Equipment’

So you’re ready to get your toes wet with mystery shopping? Then now is your chance to get started. In fact, its actually really easy to get started with mystery shopping.

The formula is very simply.

Apply to mystery shopping companies + check websites for jobs + apply for assignments = Get paid to shop.

But whats really cool is there are shortcuts for each of the pieces of the formula, so that you can spend less time getting started, and more time getting paid to shop.

The bottom line is this: You need to find companies in your area with assignments that you want.

The most effective way is to apply to every mystery shopping company that you can find, and then sort out which companies have assignments in your area, and which don’t. Most highly successful mystery shoppers have a working list of 10-20 companies that they work with on a regular basis, and then another 10-20 that they keep a loose eye on for assignments.

The trick is to find those companies. One way to do that is to apply to every company you can find. Spend a few hours a week on it, and in a few weeks you’ll have more assignments than you know what to do with.

But there are some shortcuts:

• Search job boards for old assignments in your area. Chances are, if the company had an assignment in your area last month, they’ll have one for you this month. Apply to those companies!
• Search the MSPA job board for assignments. This is a great way to find companies that have assignments in your area, because you can search by location.
• Read forums such as MysteryShopForum.com to learn about companies in your area from other shoppers, and to learn about which companies are highly rated, and which aren’t.
• Apply to scheduling companies such as Kern Scheduling or ShadowShopper. They’ll find companies in your area with assignments. Apply to the companies they refer you to.

The bottom line is that if you want to get started with mystery shopping, you need to apply to mystery shopping companies. Thats step one, and its really the only step that counts. If you do nothing else, I recommend applying to at least a couple of scheduling companies, and doing a search on the MSPA job board.

Once you build a good list of companies in your area, you should be able to establish a pretty solid mystery shopping business. But you’ve to apply!