Hello fellow shoppers!

I have compiled a list of tips and advice for shoppers looking to be the best, to get most shops, watch their reputation levels and badges soar, avoid the most common mistakes, save a ton of time, and make mystery shopping a more enjoyable, more professional experience. I've divided them into categories to make it easier to read and put into context.

Scheduling shops:

-Check the Available Shops regularly - A LOT of shops gets grabbed within hours of being posted, especially the easy/cool ones, so don't be late for the Awesome Train

-Request various types of shops - don't be afraid to try different assignments, different shop categories, etc. Every new experience makes you personally richer, and a nice side effect is that you get a new badge for every new type of shop you do, making you stand out to schedulers as someone who is experienced and versatile.

-Request shops for the soonest available dates - if a shop is available for any day next week, requests for Monday will be the first ones the schedulers see, and the first ones they approve (as they want their shops done as soon as possible), so requesting for the earliest date increases your chances of getting a shop.

-Read emails from schedulers/MSPs and from iSecretShop - these are often sent when new shops are available, giving you a heads up so you can request them early on.

-Do weekly shops - weekly. - there are shops that can be done every week, and if you have them in your area and don't mind doing them, keep hitting that request button every week, and keep doing them. Pretty soon you'll be very proficient at them, and schedulers WILL notice, and keep giving them to you.

-If you can't do a shop on the date you're scheduled to do it, let the schedulers know on time - letting them know a day before, or in the morning of the day of the shop allows them to review if the shop can be rescheduled rather than cancelled, which may prevent the shop from expiring and you from losing points. Plus, the schedulers appreciate you as they have the time to reschedule you for another date, or assign to someone else if you can't do it at all.

-When in doubt - ask. If there is any part of the shop instructions or guidelines that seems confusing to you, shoot an email to the MSP and ask them.

Doing shops:

-Before going, read the guidelines. Read the shop instructions, read the attached guidelines, read the scenario, read all there is. Seriously - read the guidelines. It will save both you and the editors a lot of time and trouble by making you understand the shop requirements exactly, so you can avoid having a reason for the shop to be declined. Even if you have done a certain shop before, check the guidelines again, as they sometimes get updated/changed. Have I mentioned reading the guidelines? :)

-Read the questionnaire before doing the shop - this will ensure that you know exactly what to pay attention to during the shop, making things a lot easier for you later on.

-Pay attention to details - of course, the more you notice, the more useful info you'll be able to provide, and the easier it will be to fill out the shop report. If it helps, take notes on your phone/tablet.

-Take photos during your shop - when a photo of the location interior/exterior or items in the location is needed, it needs to be taken at the time of your visit, as it may serve as proof of visit to validate the shop. Also, when taking onsite photos, always take back up photos, even if you use the app - stuff happens and a missing required photo could cause the shop to be rejected or declined.

-Enjoy the role - you are shopping by pretending to be a customer, or a potential one, so keep that in mind, don't sound scripted. At the time of a shop, I like to think of shoppers as world-class actors, or secret agents. BE the role you play, and you'll have tons of fun doing it. :)

Completing shop reports:

-Always complete your reports by midnight of the day of the shop - almost all shops will expire if you don't start doing them by then. If you can't complete the full report by midnight, at least start filling it and email/contact the scheduler letting them know when you will have it in.  That way you can try to avoid having your shops unassigned or points deducted from your rank.

-Use good grammar - Proper grammar, sentence structure and punctuation is required when leaving any comments on a report. Editors will LOVE you for taking the time to enter grammatically correct responses. Many Editors will return your shops for this to be done by you, and doing it initially will save the Editor from having to return to you and delay the shop being decisioned. Do this consistently and you can get nominated for the Grammarian badge by the Editor, which will make you really stand out!

-Keep your reports objective, and on point - there is no need to write entire essays in your answers, you'd be wasting both yours and editor's time. Simply make sure to answer the asked questions in an objective, informative way, covering all requirements of the question and providing good info.

-Read the ENTIRE question - shops are often returned for more information to shoppers that only answer a question partially, or don't directly answer what was asked, so save yourself the trouble and make sure to read the entire question before answering it fully.

-Be professional - imagine you're reporting your experience directly to a CEO or a VP of Marketing - so, in your report, use politically correct language, be objective, precise, etc. - it will take the experience of reading your reports a pleasure, and you will be greatly appreciated for it.

Troubleshooting and communication:

Just like with your shop reports, when communicating with MSPs or with support at iSecretShop, try to be as precise and informative as you can. State clearly what your problem is, what would you like to know or need help with, which shop (or page) are you referring to, are you using a PC browser or the iSecretShop app, etc. The more info you provide, the less chance that you'll spend a lot of time sending emails back and forth in order to get assistance. If you want to reschedule - state the exact shop ID and the date you'd like to reschedule for. If you can't upload a photo, state the exact shop ID, which photo is it, are you getting any errors, and attach the photo in the email. The examples are plentiful, but the principle is the same - anticipate what may be required, and provide it proactively.

I hope you found this informative and helpful, and if you have some pro tips of your own - don't hesitate to add them in this thread!

Best of luck to you all!

Ivan

Thank you for these pointers. Excellent and well presented.

I would like to add that for starters, Independent contractors just starting, is to take it slow.

Accept one assignment per day, and make sure you leave time for the report writing. After getting and mastering the process of accepting an assignment, going to the establishment and gathering the information and observations, and then the report writing and getting familiar with the time it takes for the whole process to complete, then you can go to two assignments per day, then 3 and 4 and you see the trend.

Taking on more that you can handle at first, is a receipt for disaster. The fun part is the going out on assignment, the boring part is the report writing. You can’t just do the fun part.

That's very well said Wassim, thank you!

Yes Thank you Ivan. Good information and tips.

You're very welcome!

I have to agree to disagree about not writing too much. I try to give as much RELEVANT information as I can so a client can feel like they were right next to me on the shop (as most MSCs ask for, but not all give space to do so). I've run over on some data sets but when sent to the editor I was thanked for my detail. I also have a bone to pick with editors. I have shopped for one particular company and even when I am so thorough there should be NO questions, they ask a question about my report. There have been times were I literally just re-worded a sentence to say THE EXACT SAME THING, just so they would "accept" the report. It was like they were told that NO ONE will submit a complete enough report and they should ALWAYS send it back for something. I gave up after 5 times of this so now I always leave a small, insignificant fact out so I have something to add if they send it back.

Hi Debby,

Oh I absolutely agree about providing RELEVANT information like you said - being detailed and objective and providing useful info is great and encouraged. But in that part about writing too much, I was referring more to situations where shoppers lace their answers with their stories, personal thoughts, attitudes and opinions, previous experiences, mentioning other locations or events, going into way to much detail trying to put things into context.

I'll give you a brief example of what I'm talking about:

"The associate had straight brown, shoulder length hair with blond highlights" - is good (and more detailed than "She had brown hair."), BUT,

"The associate had wonderful straight brown hair that was shoulder length but she also had blond highlights which I think were a bit too bright and possibly distasteful and certainly not seen in the store across the street where me and my partner regularly shop..." - that's too much. :)

As one MSP put it when correcting me once - a shop report should be like a police report in a way: precise, detailed, objective, and to the point.

As for editors returning shops all the time, that's really not in their interest. In a best case scenario, an editor wants to open a shop report, see that everying is answered, well-written and is where it's supposed to be, verify the validity of the shop, approve it and move on to the next one.

What I do is always read the question again after I've answered, to make sure it gives the info requested, in the right way. I found that this helps reduce the number of returns to a minimum.

Thanks for your input!

Thanks for the information!

Thank you so much for this info! It is very appreciated & I am ready to soak up as much as I can get!

Thanks again!

You are most welcome!