Mystery shopping has ballooned into a billion dollar a year industry, employing people across the globe. But why are companies such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy paying millions of dollars for people to shop in their stores?
…Because they need independent customers to provide feedback about their shopping experience. This feedback is used for things such as employee training, quality assurance, market research, and even regulatory compliance.
You can get paid to fill up your gas tank just because a company wants to check out the cleanliness of a store. You can get paid to buy cigarettes to ensure that IDs are being checked.
You can get paid to eat a meal at a gourmet restaurant, because top-notch restaurants need top-notch feedback about their service. In fact, I was recently offered a $175 reimursement, plus a $12 fee, for dining at one of the fanciest restaurants in Chicago.
Some of the easiest shops are called ‘compliance shops.’ They usually take less than ten minutes to complete, and often pay $15. Basically, you go into a convenience store without your ID and attempt to purchase beer or cigarrettes, and make note of whether the cashier asks for your ID.
Of course, some mystery shopping assignments can be much more elaborate. Some of the most complex ones can be fast food shops. Often, they want you to take precise measurements of food temperature, keep down-to-the-second records on how fast they are, and order from the both drive through and the counter. (I’m not fond of fast food shops!)
Mystery shopping can be a real pleasure though. I recently mystery shopped a high end grocery store with my sister. We were given $25 (and free valet parking) to buy our choice artisan cheeses, decadent pastries, or gourment deli meat. Part of the assignment was to ask the person attending the Cheese Counter three questions. We got great answers, and delicious free samples. I love good food, and most of the shop was a great experience. However, our cashier was rude. I earned my keep by reporting both the good service we got at cheese counter & the bad experience from the cashier.
The amazing thing about mystery shopping is how widespread it has become. Nearly every type of business that has customers does mystery shopping. You can mystery shop grocery stores, restaurants, banks, insurance agencies, bowling alleys. You can even mystery shop hotels, resorts, cruises and theme parks.
If you want to get paid to shop there are opportunities available to you even if you live hundreds of miles from any store except a gas station. Even gas stations get mystery shopped!
But how much money can you make? I recently got a comment on my mystery shopping blog from a woman named Melissa…
“I started mystery shopping in February of 2006, and right away I received a lot of job offers. I began to do everything from flooring companies, fast food, casual dining, cell phones, electronic stores, department stores, banks, insurance companies, etc. I was surprised at how many job offers I received. I am making enough to cover a $630 car payment and another $550 loan payment. While I cannot make a true “living†off the money, it sure is coming in handy! “
Mystery shopping is covering her $630 car payment, and $550 loan payment. That’s $1180 a month for getting paid to shop!
While you shouldn’t expect to make as much as Melissa, her story is not unusual. There was a recent feature article in the Wall Street journal about a woman who makes over ten grand a month mystery shopping. Now that’s unusual.
The bottom line is…The average mystery shopper makes a few hundred dollars a month working just a few hours a week. That’s enough to cover quite a few bills. Or to pay for a nice weekend vacation every month.
In a single week, you could do a bank shop for $30, a restaurant shop for $25, and a quick compliance shop for $15. If it you spent average of one hour on each shop you’d be getting a $23 an hour. And it’s all on your terms. That’s one of the great things about mystery shopping…You can pick and choose what assignments you take and when you complete them.