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Mystery Shopping – How Does it Work?

Mystery Shopping – How Does it Work?

Chances are you came across the term mystery shopping in one of your Internet searches, and asked yourself, how exactly does that work? Am I really getting paid to give feedback, which is something I already do for free? Can I really get a free lunch for just telling them what I think? Is this company going to pay me to go in and buy a new pair of shoes?

The short answer, YES! Our company, 360 Intel, contracts with various clients throughout the country and across many different industries. We work with our clients to coordinate a mystery shop program that parallels what they are looking to find out about, within their businesses.  Our clients are looking for a variety of different feedback from within their establishments, as they cannot be in all their locations at the same time. There are many reasons why clients need a mystery shop program in place; whether it be franchise compliance, confirming service and training standards are in place, product placement and promotion verification, health and safety standards, along with many others.

So now that you know why clients put a mystery shop program in place, you probably want to know, how exactly does it work? Every company works a little differently, but below are the steps that outline the method of how you, the mystery shopper, become involved in the process.

  1. First, make sure you are signed up as a shopper (you can do that here).
  2. Once signed up, simply check the job board to see what is available in your area. View the shop details to find out more about what is required, the date range and time frame you can go, and any other specifics about the shop.
  3. Go on your shop! Make sure you know what you are looking for, and the type of feedback you will be asked to provide in your shop report.
  4. Once you have concluded your visit, you will fill out the shop report either through the app or on the website.
  5. After you submit your report, it is sent to our quality assurance team. The QA team reviews the report for any spelling and grammatical errors, along with verifying that the report has useable content and will provide value to our client.
  6. The shop report is then delivered to our client and the data from the report is input into a robust reporting platform that our client uses to not only review the individual shop experience, but also the cumulative reporting we provide based on the aggregate data from all their shops.
  7. Once your shop is approved, we issue payment to you through PayPal. Payments vary, depending on the type of shop, and you will be able to see what you are being paid before you accept the shop.

Our clients use the shop reports for training purposes, positive and negative reinforcement, to review trends across different areas and regions, and for a variety of other reasons. The feedback you provide is extremely important and critical to this process. If you have any other questions about the mystery shop process, please visit our shopper zone.