If you have been feeling out of the loop in your job as a mystery shopper, you certainly are not alone. Mystery shopping is, by nature, a very remote and isolated job to have. You are required to conduct your assignments often undercover. While you may be able to take a friend, child, or spouse along with you on some assignments, you certainly would never do a joint assignment with another mystery shopper as a co-worker of sorts. And you may email and occasionally even talk on the phone with a provider, you likely will never have the chance to meet with your providers face-to-face. So if you are feeling isolated in your role as a mystery shopper, you are certainly joined in this fact by many, many other mystery shoppers.
Mystery shoppers years ago often had to find a way to live with the feeling of isolation. However, today with the internet connecting so many people in so many different ways, the world has become a smaller place and mystery shoppers from across the country and beyond now can interact on a daily basis if they desire through various mystery shopping forums online. So why should you visit your mystery shopping forums today?
Insight on Providers. Many mystery shoppers use the forums to gain insight on various providers. Some mystery shoppers will research providers via the forums to learn which provider pay the most or are the best to work with. Others use the forums to gather information about problems they may be having with their providers. They can ask other mystery shoppers if they have experienced these same issues with a certain provider. Often times, mystery shoppers come together to determine where some mystery shopping providers fall short in terms of service provided to mystery shoppers, asking for revisions to reports that may cross the line, slow payment, and so forth.
Learning From Others. As a mystery shopper, you no doubt have learned quite a bit about the job through personal experiences from performing numerous assignments. You can also learn through the experiences of other mystery shoppers, too. By reading posts on forums, you can read more about other issues and challenges mystery shoppers have faced, as well as gain insight about how to handle such challenges if they present themselves to you. In this way, you can become a much better mystery shopper in a faster period of time without the need for personal experience.
Camaraderie. The mystery shopping forums aren’t always about getting down to business and dishing out the goods on providers and assignments. Mystery shoppers use the forums to show their fun sides as well, sharing funny stories, hilarious typos on reports, and even just “feel good” topics like why they love mystery shopping. Everyone needs to hear positive comments from time to time, and this is true about mystery shoppers and their jobs, too. With other types of jobs, this is often done in the break room, when co-workers get together for an after work drink, and more, and the forums give mystery shoppers a place to do this, too.
If you haven’t visited your mystery shopping forum lately, take some time to re-introduce yourself to the community of mystery shoppers online and enjoy the benefits the forum can offer you.
Recommended Forum: MysteryShopForum.com