What does it mean to be a mystery shopper? It is quite simple - a person is paid to visit local stores and evaluate the kind of service they get. They enter the store and acts like an ordinary customer, just to keep the identity of mystery shopper a secret. A mystery shopper evaluates different aspects of the service while they are in the store.

Mystery shoppers provide businesses with more information through the use of questionnaires and detailed narratives. These questionnaires provide businesses with an unbiased opinion of how they are perceived by the customer.

Mystery shoppers relieve the owner of this added responsibility. Business owners who are presently using these kind of services are now getting a more realistic picture of how their customers perceive their company.

The mystery shopper company work with their clients to establish mechanisms to measure and improve the levels of service. The information from a mystery shopper is reported to the management of the clients and they use it to evaluate and improve their customer service. Ultimately the purpose of mystery shoppers is to help businesses increase sales.

If you work as a mystery shopper you will be paid to shop. That is right, a mystery shopper is paid to evaluate different types of customer experiences.

You can be paid to

- Fill up your car with gas

- Have dinner on a local restaurant

- Shop in your local hardware store

- Request information about a computer

- Sometimes you will be paid for working from home. Some tasks can and should be performed by a phone call.

The list can be very long because the number of businesses using this method to collect information is very long. And it is increasing for every day.

The best thing about being a mystery shopper is that you are paid for everything you purchase. If you have lunch or dinner ? your expenses are paid for. If you watch a movie you will be paid for the ticket and the job you do. This is really an opportunity for many.

Why do big companies use mystery shoppers?

How many times have you left a store dissatisfied with the service you got? How many times will you go back to that store again? It is not surprising to find that many organizations are very interested in making a good impression, the impression they make on you, the customer, is vital for their company.

So feedback from mystery shoppers are often a key factor for those companies in their efforts to improve the standards for customer service. Persons that think they have something to add to the ongoing improvement of customer service are suitable for a job as a mystery shopper. If you like to shop and get paid for it, you can have the perfect job.

So what is the catch?

There is no catch! It is free to become a mystery shopper. You will be trained to collect the information the companies want and need. If you have the time you have nothing to loose but a lot to win.

Finally, there is an organisation, MSPA, which is the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources. MSPA have over 150 member companies worldwide and they have a diverse membership including marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services.