Mystery Shopping – Get Paid To Go Shopping!

Do you live to shop? Do you feel a surge in adrenaline when a friend invites you to go shopping? Are you someone who pays careful attention to the quality of customer service that retailers provide their valued customers?

Then ask yourself this question … what if you could earn extra money simply by shopping at your favorite retail stores - and then get to keep many of the things you’ve just bought or consumed for free?

There is a legitimate way to earn a decent income simply by shopping at your favorite stores & restaurants … become a professional Mystery Shopper!

While many people have doubts about the idea of “mystery shopping” and “getting paid to shop” and find the concept of being a ’secret shopper’ to be just too good to be true (and many times it is), consider the following argument from a business point of view:

Companies are becoming increasingly more aware of the importance of customer opinions for their long-term success. In fact, there are now many businesses and organizations that have been created to provide their business clients not just with market research information about customer preferences and product choices, but actual feedback on the way their client’s employees treat consumers. These agencies require trained researchers to visit shops, stores, offices and anywhere that their clients’ staff come into contact with their customers, then observe and report back their findings. The need for these “secret” evaluation services (i.e. checking out a business to see how customers are really being treated) has even been extended now to corporate websites, where much of a company’s business is done online.

Companies want to know how their customers view their business and more of them are now hiring marketing companies to recruit, train and send out mystery shoppers to evaluate their employees secretly. The information reported back is priceless to these companies, as it can be used to identify problem areas in the business, or on a more positive note, to reward and acknowledge outstanding employees by giving them the recognition they deserve.

In the U.S. alone, companies are spending over $1.5 billion dollars each year on mystery shopping and using this information to better understand their customers and refine their businesses. Mystery shopping has been around since the 1960’s and today is a very legitimate and necessary aspect of doing business. Business owners and management need to know how to improve their businesses and better serve their customers. The very best way for businesses to learn exactly what they need to do to improve their customer service is to hire mystery shoppers to tell them exactly what the average customer experiences when shopping at their store.

As a mystery shopper, sometimes you will be required to make a purchase, while other times you may simply be asked to evaluate a particular service or the information provided by employees to prospective buyers. You don’t get to keep everything you buy for free, however. For example, if you are given the task to visit an auto dealer, don’t expect to get a free car, but you will be paid for the time you spent asking questions about the vehicles, financing options, deals for trade-ins, etc., then compiling a detailed report about your experience as a potential customer of that store.

Hopefully now that you understand that mystery shopping is a $1.5 billion dollar business and growing, you can see how it is possible to make up to $40 an hour or more as a professional mystery shopper, getting paid to eat at your favorite restaurants, shop at your local mall and grocery store, watch a movie at your local cinema, or hundreds of other exciting mystery shopping assignments … plus get to keep many of the things you purchase for free!

Who Hires Secret Shoppers?

Most people think of fashion retail stores or restaurants when talking about mystery shopping, but in reality, just about any business that sells products or services to the general public may require the information that mystery shoppers can provide them with.

Some examples of companies and businesses that currently employ the services of mystery shoppers include ...

To read the rest of this article, including how to get started as a mystery shopper, go here: Secret Shopper