The ability to set your own work hours is one of the features that attracts mystery shoppers to the job. Many mystery shoppers lead very busy lives, and mystery shopping is the perfect fit. Unfortunately, this also means that many mystery shoppers are working mystery shopping assignments into an already busy day. Occasionally, mystery shoppers may find themselves showing up on the site visit without reading through the entire assignment requirements first. While most mystery shoppers try to read the assignment requirements far ahead of time, if you find yourself in the position of reading through the requirements at the last minute, there are a few things you will want to double check before you walk in the door of the site location.
Where Are You? A busy mystery shopper has been known a time or two to visit the wrong store location. If you are “shopping” a store or other venue that only has one location in your city, you can probably rest assured knowing you are at the right spot. But if you are shopping a chain coffee shop with a different branch on every corner or a popular fast food chain, there are likely multiple branches of that chain even within a few blocks. Often, these chains will put branches on the same major road or highway just a few blocks apart in busy metro areas. So before you walk in the door, double check the address to ensure you are in the right spot.
What Time Is It? Many assignments require you to perform the site visit at a certain day and time, or within a certain time frame. While this may seem like a requirement with some flexibility, in actuality most providers stick to it like glue. If you perform your site visit outside of the specified date and time in the requirements, you risk not getting paid for your efforts and your shopper rating may even go down a notch or two. Double check the date and time requirements before you perform the site visit to save yourself a headache down the road.
A Mental Walk-Through. You may have the site location and the date and time of the site visit down, but do you know what to do once you walk through the door? Assignments have very specific instructions oftentimes as to how long you need to wait for a salesperson to approach you, what food items to order, if you need to check the restrooms or fitting rooms, and even what items to purchase. If you don’t perform the site visit exactly how the instructions have dictated, you will be lost for answers when you sit down to complete your report. And most likely you will not get paid for your efforts if the work has not been completed as specified.
The old adage saying anything worth doing is worth doing right applies to mystery shopping as well. Even though you may lead a very busy life, give each and every mystery shopping assignment you complete the time and effort necessary to do a good job. Doing so will save you time and money down the road!