Many mystery shoppers sign up to earn cash in this unique line of work because it is a fun and flexible way to make a few bucks, or even to earn a full-time living. Yet there is more to the job than meets the eye, and spending most of your workday with head down and trying to keep your secret identity concealed from those around you can really weigh on you over time. Many mystery shoppers become overly anxious and sometimes even completely stressed out over the anticipation of getting caught during their site visits.
Accept What May Come. Anytime you enter an assignment location and perform a site visit, you do indeed run the risk of getting caught. There absolutely are steps that you can take to prevent your identity from being revealed, but even the most skilled and experienced mystery shoppers will meet their match with a cunning and overly observant employee from time to time. Absolutely take preventive measures to limit these occurrences as much as possible, but you should also relax and simply accept that this is part of the job and may happen from time to time. After all, being anxious about it only makes you look more suspicious!
Develop a Plan. Often it can make you feel better about the possibility of being revealed as a mystery shopper by having a plan in place for how you will handle such an event. Each event will be unique, and so you cannot expect to have a step by step plan. Instead, you can run through a few general scenarios in your head, such as if your identity is revealed by a consumer versus by an employee. What will you say? How will you make a discreet but hasty exit from the location? What will you say when you call or email your scheduler?
Prevention is Key. As mentioned earlier, taking a few preventive measures can go a long way towards helping you to prevent such occurrences from happening. They likely will still happen from time to time, but when you take evasive actions, you will find that you can complete hundreds of assignments without being caught. There are numerous ways you can prevent such things from happening, such as not shopping the same location more than once every few months, keeping your job a secret from friends and neighbors, and developing a strategy for completing assignment requirements before you set foot in the location.
Nobody wants to be revealed as a mystery shopper. It can be embarrassing and stressful, and it also can cost you a paycheck, too! There are quite a few things that you can and should do as a mystery shopper to prevent your identity from being revealed and known to store staff. Yet even with the best preventive measures, this is bound to happen to you at least a time or two over the course of your career as a mystery shopper. So develop a plan of action for how you plan to handle such an event, and then try to relax and enjoy your job as much as possible knowing that you have done all you can to prepare.
You will find it easy the more shops that you do to keep your idenity as a mystery shopper. Just go in as a regular customer seeking to purchase or getting information about a product. You will not always buy that product or have to think about it if its a major purchase such as a TV, car or an appliance. Sales people have never asked if I was a mystery shopper or what I do for a living.
However, I just did an in home mystery shopping assignment for a carpet company. The salesman happened to ask what I do for a living. I had to catch myself from telling him that I was a mystery shopper. I covered myself that I just do some part time jobs as needed. Luckily, he didn’t pursue this farther. That was the first time in 8 years that I have been a mystery shopper.
When asked, which isn’t often, I say I’m a freelance writer (which is actually true, sort of) when I’m writing my reports.
I’ve only been mystery shopping for about 8 months, and the only time I even got close to being caught was at an upscale boutique that sells a certain line of purses, I had to go in and say I was looking for a gift for someone and see what they recommended and if they showed me a particular item.
Well, I was the only person in this small store, so there was no peeking around to get my info. I said it was my sisters Bday gift and was going well I thought, we were talking about my sister and what type of things she likes, but then she asked when was my sisters bday and I said “Oh, it’s not until November!” It was April when I was in there! I just stood there and looked at her thinking what do I do now…She questioned me and I played it like “Oh, it’s a long story” So dumb of me. I’ll bet she knew who I was, but she didn’t outright ask me, thankfully.