We live in a very digital world today, and that is good news for mystery shoppers! Sure, you need access to some high speed technology to sign up for assignments, submit your reports, and so forth. You may use some high tech gear on your site visits, too, such as digital cameras, video cameras, audio recording devices, and more. Some mystery shoppers take notes incognito on their handheld devices and phones, too. Yet one of the best ways digital comes in handy for mystery shoppers is giving them access to connect with other mystery shoppers near and far through online forums. If you haven’t made an effort to visit the forums regularly, here are a few reasons why you should think again:
Avoid the Isolation. There is no question about it – mystery shopping is truly a very isolating job. You can go weeks and weeks without talking to another mystery shopper or someone who works at your providers’ offices, and this makes for some pretty lonely work time indeed. Yet there are hundreds of other mystery shoppers just waiting to communicate with you through online forums. You just have to hop online, and you have a whole slew of instant mystery shopping friends available at your fingertips.
The Gripes of the Day. Many people who work in a traditional work environment love to gripe about bad customers or clients, a disappointment with the boss, and so forth, and this is generally done in a break room or lunch room. If you have been on the receiving end of these gripe sessions in person, you may think you want to avoid them as much as possible. Yet the fact is that it is helpful to lend a listening ear because you can gain a lot of insider information by doing so. When you need to gripe, letting off a little steam can sure make you feel better, too. Online forums are a mystery shopper’s version of a break room, and here you can get some great insider information about other providers, bad clients to avoid, and more. You can also share your own grievances to let off steam and to give your mystery shopping friends a head’s up.
Quick Answers. Every mystery shopper has questions that need to be answered knowledgeably from time to time, and the online forums offer a great place to get those questions answered by people who likely have walked in your shoes already. The mystery shopping world is a small world, and you can bet that there is another mystery shopper online who has completed that very assignment you are working on now, or another mystery shopper who also has dealt with pay issues or personality conflicts with a provider, too. The answers you need are there, and you just have to access them!
As you can see, there is quite a bit of benefit to you for spending time on the online forums. Sometimes you will visit the online forums to gather specific information, but visiting the forums is a great way to learn more about the job in general, too.