The world we live in today is becoming more digitized and remote with each passing day. Many years ago, mystery shopping was a far different world without online job boards and manual submission of reports. Communication with providers was often conducted with the phone, the fax machine, and even snail mail. Today, it is not uncommon for a mystery shopper to work on dozens of different assignments without any communication from a provider at all. Even compensation for your work efforts is provided to you over the internet now in many cases.
Because of how remote the mystery shopping industry is today, it can often leave mystery shoppers like you feeling disconnected and even alone. The fact is that while mystery shopping today does provide room for that feeling of disconnection more commonly, the digital world we live in also provides you with the opportunity to connect with other mystery shoppers in a way that previously was not available to you. Through your participation in mystery shopping forums online, you can connect with many mystery shoppers from across the globe and even internationally, too.
Industry News. Many mystery shoppers today use these online mystery shopping communities to stay up to date on industry news. Mystery shoppers often leave new posts and messages regarding a wide range of topics such as current issues they are having with providers, new scams that are targeting the industry, and other such issues. These online communities provide you with the ability to receive very current information on topics that most mystery shoppers will find useful and valuable.
Strategizing. Mystery shopping is not really a job that you can do on “auto pilot.” Rather, it often takes a lot of thought on your part to develop a strategy for completing an assignment quickly. Further, you may run into issues with how to answer a poorly worded question on a report, how to handle a tricky situation that arose during a site visit, and more. You can use online communities for mystery shoppers to raise questions that you have and to get a variety of responses. Many times, you will find that other mystery shoppers have already gone through similar experiences or had similar issues, and you can learn from their own personal stories.
Education. Mystery shopping communities certainly do provide you with the opportunity to learn new strategies for tackling tough situations on the job, but they also are valuable for gathering other types of information as well. Mystery shoppers love to share tips on topics such as in-home organization, saving time on assignments, mystery shopping with kids or a spouse, tax tips, and so much more. The posts that mystery shoppers leave behind in online mystery shopping communities are a plethora of valuable information, and it’s there for you to learn from for free.
If you are a mystery shopper, you definitely want to commit at least a few minutes every week to catch up on the latest posts and threads that are on online mystery shopping communities. The information provided in these communities can make your time on the job more profitable, productive, and sometimes even more safe, too.