Develop into a mystery shopper and get FREE meals in restaurants, FREE stays in hotels and FREE drinks in bars.
Many mystery shopping corporations will offer you different assignments depending on who their clients are. We show you here the way to get mystery shopping jobs and bag a number of freebies as a mystery shopper.
What’s mystery shopping?
Nowadays, all industry sectors employ mystery shoppers – retail, automotive, financial services, hospitality, property, call centres, public services, travel, and even the voluntary sector – so there’s an enormous range of labor available.
When you turn into a mystery shopper you might be having fun with a weekend break one month and phoning a call centre to complain about your gas bill the following.
You don’t need any formal qualifications to be a mystery shopper – but you do have to have good observational skills and a very good memory.
Mystery shopping (sometimes generally known as secret shopping) has been around for 60 years and is now highly regulated within the UK. The Market Research Society has created a code of conduct, and standards are maintained by trade bodies comparable to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association.
Good part-time work
Mystery shopping could be very flexible and never often suitable as a full-time job, but it could possibly be good to suit around other jobs in your life.
And keep in mind that mystery shoppers count as self-employed, so that you’ll have to declare your earnings to HMRC. Find out here about paying tax when you make extra money.
Jasmine’s experience of mystery shopping
See here what Jasmine thinks about mystery shopping after her experiences of it.
Try our bumper article on freebies and bag yourself much more free stuff.
In-store opportunities
Report-only mystery shopper
That is essentially the most common option. You’ll be given a temporary and a checklist of things to look out for. It is advisable to follow your instructions (without letting anybody know you’re testing them), evaluate the response after which provide feedback, often by means of a web based questionnaire.
Covert video mystery shopper
That is specialist stuff and just for well-trained shoppers. Essentially, you’re given a temporary; you enter the premises as a customer, and you then record the whole process using covert video cameras. Firms need clear pictures, so don’t go for this in case you record your feet at family events!
Site inspection
For a site inspection, mystery shoppers could also be asked to do certainly one of two things. You could be asked to go to a store and buy specific items from a selected retailer. That is to make sure customers are getting what they pay for, in addition to the provision of stock.
The mystery shopper can also be asked to interact with staff when trying to find and buying their items. That is to envision how staff interact with customers. You’ll then provide your feedback to the corporate conducting the mystery shopping.
Eating at restaurants
Getting paid to eat at restaurants? Appears like the dream. This dream could turn into a reality for you in case you take up mystery shopping, and could possibly be a fun side hustle.
Multiple chain restaurants use mystery eaters to make sure their customers are getting good food and even higher service. They may pay you to go to their restaurants, have a meal and report back to them. In some cases, your meal shall be paid for and in other cases, your meal shall be covered and also you shall be paid on your time on top.
It is crucial to bear in mind that some agencies will give you a set sum of money to eat at a restaurant. Remember, it might not be enough to cover the fee of the meal, so you will want to envision beforehand.
watch movies
As with restaurants, cinema chains need to ensure their customers are getting one of the best experience possible. So, in case you’re an avid cinema-goer or movie buff, this could be the perfect job for you.
Not only will you find a way to look at movies without spending a dime, but agencies will often allow some money for snacks and drinks. This means that you can interact with the staff, try the yummy goodies available to munch on whilst you watch the film.
You shall be asked to review many things, from the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff, the provision of snacks, the costs and even the comfort of the seats. Your overall experience shall be asked for. It is crucial to take into accout that reviews can take time and agencies require detailed responses, so keep this in mind while you apply.
Online opportunities
Telephone mystery shopper
When you’re higher at playing a task on the phone than in person, you may prefer this selection – there’s loads of work available. You’ll be given an organization to call with a set of questions that a typical customer could have. Again, you’ll need to evaluate the response and supply feedback.
Postal monitoring
This one requires minimum effort. Your own home address is solely used for receiving brochures and other promotional material. You come the items, and the content and speed of delivery is measured.
Email mystery shopping
You’ll be sending specific enquiries to web sites and monitoring the speed and content of the response. Depending in your personality, writing emails is potentially much easier than talking to businesses in person or on the phone!
Again, you’ll need to evaluate after which pass in your findings.
giving your opinion online
It’s not mystery shopping as such, but giving your opinions about services or products through online survey corporations is identical kind of thing.
It’s one other easy and quick way of constructing some extra money in your spare time.
You will have to watch out which online survey corporations you join though. These are those that we like:
Make sure that you arrange a separate email address before you enroll to any of those. Give this separate email address to them once they ask for contact details in order that your usual inbox isn’t flooded with offers and ads (that’s certainly one of the ways they make their money).
Discover more about online surveys and the way to make essentially the most money from them here.
Learn how to get entangled as a mystery shopper
Step 1: Find the proper mystery shopping agency for you
Try the list below and enroll with certainly one of the various mystery shopping agencies on offer. It’s not a whole list, the total list of real agencies might be present in our mystery shopping eBook (which is totally free!)
Some specialize in specific industries, others are more general. You would try investigating the most important shops – Selfridges for instance has its own mystery shopping panel.
You should definitely take a look at…
This list accommodates a few of the higher mystery shopping agencies within the UK. We’ve got the whole list in our Mystery Shopping eBook.
Many of the agencies will get you to take a test before they’ll allow you to in. These might be quite tricky so you may should do them just a few times before getting them right. Don’t be postpone though – persist!
If you need to find an organization on your personal…
- Make sure that they’re based within the UK with a UK phone number and address.
- Don’t just put ‘mystery shopping’ into your search engine. All sorts of dodgy corporations could come up.
- When you see an organization you haven’t heard of before, put their name into the search bar and see what web sites like ours say about them. Check the forums too as individuals who have had experience of them will say what they think.
- Make sure that you retain an eye fixed out for the small ads too. Local papers and recruitment agencies often carry mystery shopping adverts.
- You have to be on the lookout for those you’ll get essentially the most out of, whether that’s the pay you receive for the roles you do, or the freebies you get from the places you inspect.
- It should never cost you to affix an organization – they needs to be paying you for the work you do.
Step 2: Exit in the sector
Once the agency accepts you, you possibly can begin on the lookout for jobs on their website.
It is advisable to go and shop – or eat – or enjoy a show – however the principal objective is to follow the rules exactly, without having the instructions in front of you.
You’ll have to report on services and products, which may include anything from features of the decor, cleanliness, atmosphere, how the staff cope with other customers, what number of staff there are and what they’re all doing.
Most mystery shopping agencies ask that you just don’t write notes or make what you’re doing obvious when you’re ‘on the job’, as it could possibly affect the best way you’re treated by the staff. The corporate’s principal objective is to get an impartial experience.
Note that at time of writing, the UK is on lockdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and you must only be doing minimal shopping trips for essential groceries right away. You possibly can nonetheless make a remark of the in-person mystery shopping opportunities available and apply for them when life returns to normal!
Step 3: Report in your mystery shopping experience.
This can often involve filling in a web based questionnaire with short or longer answers about your experience as a customer.
You’ll receive payment/reimbursement after you’ve reported in your job, which you’ll ideally do inside 24 hours of completing the duty.
Pay rates differ from company to company and rely on the complexity of the work.
Generally, you possibly can expect to earn £5 – £25 per task plus expenses (but as little as £1 – £5 for phone work).
Our Publishing Editor, Marc Crosby, decided to affix as much as a mystery shopping agency to see just how easy it was to earn money. Here he tells us in regards to the experience:
“I joined as much as certainly one of the web mystery shopping agencies and, after putting in just a few details, was asked to do a mystery shop for a quick food chain in my local area. It didn’t take long to be offered the job and so they were willing to pay £20 for completing it.
It really did feel like going undercover, little did the staff know I used to be watching their every move, mwahahaha…well, except, they probably did, because mystery shopping takes a bit practice. I used to be told to notice down how long it took from asking for my order to the meal being handed to me, which meant using my phone as a stopwatch. That’s easier said than done while you’re juggling your wallet around.
By the point the meal was handed to me and I’d fumbled for the ‘stop’ button, they probably knew what I used to be as much as (which could explain why a member of staff held the door open for me as I left, wishing me a very good day – not a standard procedure at fast food stores!) But, hey ho, good service and I gave a very good rating. All I needed to do was return and quickly answer just a few questions that took not than half an hour to finish.
I used to be paid inside two weeks and was offered a great deal of mystery shopping work after. Truthfully, it might have been a pleasant little earner if I had more time to do it.
So in case you’re doubtful, I’d say give it a go. Mystery shopping really is sort of easy money, plus the corporate often pays on your food/item, in order that’s one other bonus!”
Whatever you do, don’t miss our primary article 10 easy ways to make quick money – featuring the best money makers around including mystery shopping!