Are Restaurant Assignments Right for You?

Mystery shoppers have a wide variety of mystery shopping assignments to choose from. Most mystery shoppers choose to work with several different providers, and some even work with a dozen or more providers. Each provider will offer numerous assignments to choose from, but many do offer several restaurant assignments on any given day. These restaurant assignments may include everything from an ice cream shop or coffee shop to a fast…

Making Gas Station Assignments Work for You

As a mystery shopper, you no doubt put many miles on your car over the course of a day or a week. These miles traveled for business purposes may be tax deductible, but the rising cost of gas may nonetheless be eating into your profits as a mystery shopper. Gas station mystery shopping assignments may be strategically put to use to make filling up your tank more affordable. Free Gas…

Why Mystery Shoppers Should Work on Phone Assignments

Often when new mystery shoppers first sign up to work with their first mystery shopping providers, they have grand visions about the type of assignments they will work on. In their mind, many envision strolling through a shopper’s heaven of clothes, shoe racks, home décor and more, and getting paid for their time and effort. While some assignments are as amazing as mystery shoppers first dreamed they would be, other…

Are Audit Assignments Right For You?

Mystery shoppers are generally an adventurous sort. After all, it takes a lot of spirit and confidence to walk into a new and unfamiliar location to observe store staff, cleanliness, and more in a secretive way. There is always that air of excitement and possibly even slight apprehension at the possibility of getting caught by the staff and having your identity uncovered. Yet however adventurous mystery shoppers may be as…

Strategies for Picking Restaurant Assignments You Will Love

Mystery shoppers love to get out in the world and interact with other people while earning extra cash shopping, dining out, and more. While mystery shoppers generally agree that they have great jobs, many disagree on just how great mystery shopping assignments at restaurants are. Some people love them, and others refuse to ever do another restaurant assignment again. As with many things in life, there are some things you…

An Introduction to Video Mystery Shopping

Video mystery shopping is a highly misunderstood and scary prospect for many mystery shoppers. The technical equipment and the covert use of such equipment to capture a customer service or sales interaction may seem like an overwhelming challenge, but I am here to ease your fears and help you understand just how fun and easy it can be! There is a growing market for this specialized type of mystery shopper….

Strategies for Making Phone Assignments Work For You

With gas prices continuing to rise, and in some parts of the country exceeding $4 per gallon, many mystery shoppers are trying to find ways to cut back on travel costs. For many, this means finding assignments that are located closer to home, and it also means picking up an extra gas station assignment or two so you can get at least a little bit of free gas (or at…

Trouble with Timed Shops? Hot Tips to Help!

Almost every mystery shopping assignment you work on will have some timing component involved. Some assignments will simply ask for you to take note of the time you entered the site location, and then also indicate the time you left the site location. Other assignments, however, have far more complicated timing requirements. They may ask you to keep track of how long you were in the site location before you…

Airport Mystery Shopping Assignments You Can Do Without a Plane Ticket

Airports, and especially larger airports in major metropolitan areas, are a popular place for mystery shopping assignments. These airports are often filled with retail stores, restaurants, service booths, and so much more, and many of these venues regularly utilize mystery shoppers’ services to improve their customer service and the overall customer experience. Many of these stores and restaurants, however, are located in areas that are only accessible with a ticket,…

Purchase Return Assignments: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Many mystery shoppers are very specific about the assignments they work and those they refuse to do. Some mystery shoppers feel very strongly about assignments that require you to make a second visit to a location to return merchandise that you bought during the initial site visit. There are some pros and cons to these assignments, so let’s look at what is involved in these assignments and why mystery shoppers…