Who doesn’t want to make more money as a mystery shopper? Whether you dabble in mystery shopping as a side job opportunity or you have wholeheartedly put all of your time and energy into mystery shopping a full-time job, you no doubt want to figure out how to make more money this year. Here are some great strategies that you can put to use today which will have you bringing home more mystery shopping money than ever!
Do Some Weeding! Every mystery shopper has providers who pay them more money than others. If you haven’t done a time and pay analysis on your providers lately, you are likely not getting paid as much as you can for your efforts. You will want to keep a log of the provider’s name, the time spent on an assignment, and the net compensation of that assignment for a week, a month, or several months depending on how often you mystery shop. Then when you have a fair amount of data, analyze it to see what the equivalent hourly pay rate for your assignments are with each provider. Drop the lower ones, and either replace them with other providers or pick up more assignments from the providers who pay better.
Get the Top Assignments. You certainly are not going to pass over great assignments with the best pay for lesser quality assignments, and neither will other mystery shoppers. What this means is that if you aren’t checking the job boards frequently throughout the day, other mystery shoppers are likely snatching up the great assignments before you even see them posted and available. So if you want to earn more by getting your hands on the top paying assignments, be the proverbial “early bird.”
Do What? You should make an effort to review each and every assignment on the job boards. Instead of choosing them based on desirability, as many mystery shoppers do, choose assignments from the vantage point of profits. Consider which assignments will pay you the most money with the least amount of work. This way, you can get more assignments in each day, and ultimately get a fatter paycheck for your efforts. Keep in mind not just the compensation aspect but also the benefits of travel reimbursement and expense reimbursement. For most people, a $10 reimbursement at a grocery store is more valuable than a $25 reimbursement at a jewelry store because you are dealing with expense reimbursements on necessities versus luxury items.
Take some time to start putting these strategies to work for you today. If you find that these strategies still aren’t getting you the income you really want to be making, keep in mind that you can always request more money from your providers. They may actually honor requests for higher compensation on assignments they are having trouble filling, and they may also offer travel reimbursement or up the expense reimbursement, too. You never know what you will get until you ask for it! Just be sure that you don’t become a nuisance to providers by constantly asking for more money on every assignment.
You are right about the weeding…there are some businesses that use multiple shopping companies and one shopping company pays more than the other for the same shop..Market Force and Stragegic Reflections have the same shops but Strategic Reflections pay you plus reimburse..market force only reimburses…
one other thing..I have been doing this for five years and have found that market force has not increased their pay in that time..what you got paid for five years ago is still the same pay today….
Market Force offers $7.00 fee plus reimbursement of up to $12.00 for the food. I told them I would not do the shops for less then $12.00 and I get $12.00 plus the food. Sometimes I get a little more. Going out for $7.00 (as National does for Sleepy’s) is a no no for me. I told them I would not get into my car for $7.00. I get $12.00 when I doe Sleepy’s. Don’t sell yourself short. You are doing a very important job as a Mystery Shopper.