Frequently Asked Questions

Answer: Mystery shopping is a tool that is used to provide clients with an objective, unbiased account of their customers' experiences. These reports provide valuable information that the clients uses to ensure they are meeting their customers' needs and correcting problem areas that can affect their bottom line.

A mystery shopper is someone who poses as a legitimate customer in order to provide their first hand experience to the client. Mystery shopping evaluates customer service, product knowledge, employee training, and the company's sales process. Each shop is different in that each client is looking for specific information pertaining to their business. Your job as a shopper will be to observe different aspects of your experience and objectively report those observations. You will be provided guidelines that must be followed while conducting your shop, as well as a survey form which must be reviewed before you do your assignment. Once your shop is complete, you will then fill out a detailed report that entails the different areas of the business you were asked to observe.

Answer: You need to be able to write a good report. You need to be at least 18 years of age. You will need to have a computer. Always be sure that you can do a shop that you apply for. Check the job specifics before you decide to apply to do the work. You must have the ability to take digital pictures and upload them to your mystery shops.

Answer: If we have shops in your area, you may receive an email with a job posting within a few days or weeks. If we do not have shops in your area, then you might not receive any offers until we are hired by a company with locations in your are 

Answer: Once the scheduler books the mystery shop and you are the one accepted, you will receive an e-mail telling you to go to your shop log to review the shop guidelines/instructions. Also, you must confirm you are doing the shop so that you have access to the survey form you must review before you conduct the shop and fill out afterwards. Confirmation also ensures that the shop you are assigned is not canceled and rebooked. 

Review the shop guidelines and survey form. If a shop is not completed as instructed, you will not be paid for the shop or your reimbursements, if any. 

Make sure you verify the address and visit the correct location. Once you have completed the shop, you must log on to the Sassie website, go into your account and the report will be there for you to fill out (click on view/submit). Remember, when you accept an assignment, you have agreed to do the shop and report it by the deadline. The report will be sent to the account manager or editor where it will be reviewed to make sure all of the information the client is looking for is in the report. 

Payments vary for each shop, you will know how much the shop pays when you receive the shop notification. Many shops also require that you send in documentation such as a business card, documents, video and/or audio. We must have that documentation before you can be paid.

Answer: Occasionally, shoppers have emergencies that call for a shop cancellation. If that should occur, just e-mail your scheduler and explain your situation. There are times an extension can be granted. If a shopper accepts a shop and cancels numerous times, a note will be made in the shopper's profile each time and if this becomes a common occurrence, that shopper may be deactivated.

Answer: Pay is different with every company.  Make sure you read each companies contracts carefully.

Answer: We provide mystery shops ranging from retail, home, restaurants, travel, apartments, etc. 

1. Retail Shops: You will be posing as a customer that is wanting to purchase or will be purchasing something at the store. Some shops may not require a purchase, read the shop guidelines carefully.
2. Home Shops: You will be posing as a potential new homeowner.
3. Apartment Shops: You will be posing as a potential new resident moving in the near future (e.g. within a couple of weeks to a couple of months). Be flexible on your dates. this item.

Answer: Video shops are video recorded shops using button camera or Mystery Media Pro paid subscription mobile app. The button camera we prefer shoppers to use is a PV500 button camera. Cell phone video will only be accepted if you use Mystery Media Pro (go to mysteryshopping.com for info. Mystery Media Pro does require the purchase to get more than 3 minutes of footage). 

We always expect quality angles and sound and complete footage. Gaps in the footage will result in a failed shop. Footage should start prior to entering the location(you may start the video in your car) and end after leaving the location(you may end the video in your car). The Leasing Professional should be the star of the show and captured 85% of the visit. 

Visit our shopping equipment tab if you are interested in purchasing equipment for video shops. 

IF YOU ARE USING MYSTERY MEDIA PRO FOR THE FIRST TIME, PLEASE VISIT THE LEARNING CENTER AND WATCH ALL OF THE VIDEOS, THEN PRACTICE!

• MMP LEARNING CENTER: https://sites.google.com/mysteryshopping.com/learning-center/home