Mystery shopping is an interesting and fulfilling means of making money and also feeling good about yourself as you get businesses to advance their services. Mystery shoppers are needed in restaurants and retail shops, banks, and supermarkets to assess customer service, products, and experience quality.
However, to master your job, it is not enough to have a good eye, but also the ability to strategize, be professional, and be reliable. These are the 10 best pieces of advice to make you succeed as a mystery secret shopper and get the most out of each assignment.
1. Be Aware of the Role
Always find time to clarify your duty before you decide to take an appointment. Every mystery secret shopper assignment is accompanied by details about what you should buy, questions to ask, or things to notice. Read them through and clear the doubt in advance. In most cases, failure to provide details may result in a lack of payment or disqualification.
2. Stay Organized
Have several tasks to balance? Keep an organized date on the calendar or a tracking sheet. Make sure to write down the deadlines, submission dates, locations of the stores, and requirements. An organized shopper is a trusted one, and the trusted one has more opportunities.
3. K
Mak
eep your eyes and ears open and speak low.
Your task is to look like an ordinary customer and make mental notes of everything you see: cleanliness, behavior of the employees, how products are displayed, etc. Never make notes at the time; they can only be done with any discretion. Rather, go through all of it right after leaving the site, as it is still fresh in mind.
4. Do as You Are Told
Every mystery shopping is accompanied by a rigid set of instructions. When it tells us to come at 3PM, do not come at 5PM. In case it requires a particular interaction (such as inquiring about a particular product), then you should do so. The instructions that you follow—failure to do so may prompt rejection of your report.
5. Be frank and impartial
Your job, as a mystery secret shopper, is to offer a truthful and unbiased evaluation and not to be critical or over-the-top positive. Do not give personal thoughts unless requested to do so. Put in factual statements like, "The cashier said hello to me in 10 seconds," or "The cashier appeared friendly."
6. Write Slowly Reports
Reputation is made or broken in most cases of report writing by a mystery shopper. Your grammar should be clean, your detail should be clear, and the tone you take should be neutral. Make sure you check to see if your work is correct before submission. A formal report will make you win more repeat projects.
7. Never reveal who you are.
Anonymity would be your greatest asset. Say nothing about the role of a mystery secret shopper even after completion of the exercise to store employees. Keeping the secret will make the business get unbiased, realistic reviews—and also keep you in the good books of the agency.
8. Dress to the Part
The best thing is to never go to work like that (in a luxury store) and arrive in a gym outfit. Similarly, when you are heading to a relaxed restaurant, make it casual. Wearing the right clothes for the setting allows you to avoid standing out since it is preferable not to attract attention.
9. Expedite All Deadlines
Submit your report on schedule—all the time. Business organizations operate on short timelines and require feedback within a short time. Late submission may destroy your reputation and bar you from future assignments. Create reminders and allow some buffer time to write reports and revise the same.
10. Work with a Reliable Mystery Shopping Agencye
An initial step and select a good and legitimate agency. Other firms have more favorable support, education, and systems of payment. As an example, CTRL Service is a reputable industry name, reliably offering secret mystery shoppers new tasks frequently with prompt payments and clear guidelines. CTRL Service is a good companion whether you are a newbie or want to work at more demanding gigs.
Final Thoughts
Being a mystery secret shopper is more than just cashing in freebies; it is the job of ensuring that companies improve on their customer service and performance. You are deeply experienced, and with each task, you provide the actual improvements.
Be professional, read and adhere to the instructions, and keep deadlines in order to pass. When you play mystery shopping as a genuine job, it will get you more jobs/gigs, higher remuneration, and extended relations. So whether you are new in the field or you are looking to scale up, this is the right time to take the game to the next level.
Shop with intent and partner with CTRL Service to shop with intent today!