Mystery Shopping 101

It might seem like a shopaholic's dream--to actually get paid for ruffling through clothing racks, browsing through toy aisles, strolling through malls. Indeed, if you are a serious shopper, the idea of becoming a mystery shopper might be appealing. It's the type of job that can be fascinating to those with an admiration for the retail industry. It is not boring, and you can get plenty of exercise walking through stores.

Of course, there is much more involved in mystery shopping than just wandering store aisles. You need to compose written reports of your adventures and you must be willing to abide by confidentiality agreements. In fact, it takes a certain type of individual to be able to meet the demands of the mystery shopping industry.

For decades, large department stores have paid mystery shoppers to take on the role of regular customers and report how they were treated. But now, a number of other businesses are using the same technique in order to upgrade customer service. In the late 1990s, the mystery shopping industry doubled in size, to an estimated $600 million in yearly revenue.

Also, the services offered by mystery shopping companies have expanded. For instance, Bare Associates offers "intercept interviews" with customers on their way out of the store, "internal customer" or employee interviews and comparison reports of a client's main competition.

In today's business climate, mystery shopping is an essential tool for measuring customer service. If a customer has a bad shopping experience, chances are the retailer won't know it. That's because only five percent of customers register complaints. The rest simply choose not to shop at that establishment again. By serving as a mystery shopper, you can help ensure the high-quality customer service that will help companies to not only survive, but to thrive.

It is estimated that more than 750 companies offer mystery shopping services. The income from mystery shopping is estimated to be somewhere between $400M to $600M.

Mystery shopping offers a number of benefits to companies. These include:
-- Enabling them to see the effectiveness of their training
-- Determining employee knowledge and attitude
-- Seeing business rules and practices in action
-- Determining the performance level of the organization
-- Seeing their business from the viewpoint of the customer

There are literally hundreds of different companies that use the services of mystery
shoppers. However, there are a few that stand out-those that are most dependent on such services. These include:
-- Restaurants, which tend to offer free meals up to $150 plus reimbursements
-- Retail, which offers jobs ranging from about $12 to $60
-- Banks, which offer anywhere from $30 to $70
-- Hotels, which offer reimbursements up to $4,000