How does mystery shopping work? What kind of skill sets does the job require? How much can be realistically earned on a monthly basis, etc?
I’m currently working part time only during weekends and have a lot of tike during weekdays, so I’m considering becoming a mystery shopper as a way of earning some extra cash while not compromising my mental health. Any help to shed light on the topic will be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you.
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It has a huge range based on the company you work, the contracts they have with businesses buying their services.
It can range from “I’m not even sure this person went to the store but they are a real person who filled in this form with real enough answers” to “this person went in there, took on a complete back story/part and played it so convincingly no one could tell”.
You typically have to be observant, have a good memory and be able to think on your feet and handle the unexpected.
Be observant and also good at naturally interjecting with ideas or but-what-abouts without coming across like it’s rehearsed or leading. You’re given a checklist of things to look out for, possible questions to ask to catch workers out if they’re not doing X, Y or Z thing that they’ve been told to do. Makes a smidge more than minimum wage here in Ireland.
I did this for a while. You log into a site and select the shops you want to do. There are different time frames and different procedures for each shop. All of it is spelled out before you select it. You basically go in and do what it tells you to do, submit a report and the receipts (if applicable), and you get paid. A typical job would be: Go to this fast food restaurant, order this type of meal, and eat it. The report would ask things like how was the service? how was the cleanliness of the restaurant? Did they ask you to try a new item or to upsize your meal? Did they check on you during your meal? Were the bathrooms clean and well stocked? You need to do everything to complete the shop, or you don’t get paid. The company I worked for paid very little, typically around 5 dollars per shop, but getting free food was worth it to me at the time. Some paid higher, and some even required you to bring a friend! I only did restaurants, but there were some for retail and cell phone providers as well. I did get burned out after a while, and the pay just wasn’t worth it for me. Free food was nice, but it was usually the same 4 or 5 places and I got bored of it. Something else you can do is mock trials where lawyers present their case to a group of “jurors” to get an idea of how their case will go. These can pay around $100 and they usually provide lunch. There are also studies you can participate in, but they are usually specific, and you may not qualify. Good luck!
I knew a couple of people who did this. Basically it’s market research… a company, let’s say a restaurant chain, wants to know what the customer experience is. So they hire a mystery shopping service.
The mystery service has a stable of “customers” who visit the restaurant. They might be directed to come at certain times of day, order certain things, etc. Afterwards, the undercover customers write up reports detailing their experiences. They get paid for their work and reimbursed for the food (This is probably the part of mystery shopping you’ve heard of, and are considering doing).
But at the mystery shopping company, there’s more going on. One of my friends did the rest of the job: compiling the reports into information the client wanted. So now the restaurant knows, say, whether their staff is following policies, or how long it generally takes for a customer to be served, or whether the new menu items look appetizing, or whatever.
Mystery shopping is how companies test their employees.
When you sign up as a mystery shopper, you are given assignments, like say, going grocery shopping with a list of items to purchase and tasks to complete.
Were the items stocked, reachable, placed where they should be? Was there staff available for assistance? Were they knowledgeable and helpful? During checkout, were there lines and how fast did the line move?
Afterward, you fill out a report with all the information they are looking for.
You typically pay for the items up front and get reimbursed if you filled out the report correctly. You then keep the items.
It’s kind of like gig work.
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I have done it several times for different companies. You get emails from the companies you work with about shops. It will tell you the location and the job like when it has to be done and what you have to submit. If you want it you claim it. For some jobs the product or service is a part of the payment. Take my car to an oil change place and leave with a free oil change and 10 bucks. The value is I got a 40 dollar oil change. Same deal with food places. Free meal and some cash. Best shop I ever did was almost 150 to go to a motorcycle dealer and test drive a motorcycle and describe the way the dealership worked. Give it a try. You might like it. I did some drama in high school so it is kind of fun playing a role. I never paid for any sign up fee or training or certification. Real companies will not charge you. You will be rated by the company on simple stuff like did you do the job and did you do it right. If you are basically competent and get the job done you get offered better gigs. Start slow with a few simple shops.
I was a mystery shopper for McDonalds for a couple of years. Each week I was given a location to go to and something specific to do. Either I had to order a certain item, or meal, or make certain customization requests.
I usually had to order at least 2 meals worth of stuff. Sometimes I had to go to the counter, sometimes to the drive through. This was before Covid, so no curbside.
A couple of times I was asked to actually complain about my order to see what the outcome would be. 99% of the time it was go here and buy 2 meals. Then I had to go online and fill out a survey. I had to scan a copy of the receipt and they would direct deposit a reimbursement and $40 per visit.
It was fun for a while, then it got to the point where I started dreading it. I’d end up eating the least amount to do the survey. I stopped in 2017 and couldn’t eat McDonald’s again until about 2020
Not gonna retire off it, but I make a few hundred a year with a particular app. Send you a referral code if you want.
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