MYSTERY SHOPPER

Mystery Shopping refers to measuring the quality of service, performances and experiences by a customer trained for that beforehand.

Mystery shopping is one of the latest research methods in the corporative world, although its roots date back to the beginning of the last century in the USA when this work was done by secret agents. Mystery shopping is based on scientifically determined principles, which were structured in 1997 with the foundation of “Mystery Shopper Providers Association” (MSPA). The European branch was established in 2001, and we are proud to be its member.

Mystery shopping does not constitute spying, provokations, biased informing. Mystery shopping is a fair and impartial analysis of the store, the purchasing process, the environment and service, according to pre-prepared instructions and abiding by ethical work norms.

Mystery shopping isn’t when a mystery shopper performs assessment in a company they work for or when they work for a competitor. Nor is it when a mystery shopper applies for a job in the company which they previously assessed as a mystery shopper. However, information on what does and what does not constitute mystery shopping will be provided for you in the training.

When the assignment is performed in an appropriate way, our client has a possibility to correct irregularities (if they are perceived) and in that way improve their service or product, with everyone benefiting from it - customers, employees and the client.

If you like to shop, if you are communicative, observant, and can write well, you can be one.

A mystery shopper is a shopper who reports on their purhasing experience objectively, based on a pre-arranged scenario by Intelligence LLC. In order for someone to become a mystery shopper of our company, it is necessary for them to have an MSPA certification or to undergo professional online training in our company, i.e. pass the exam, examine, learn and sign the agreement and ethical code.

There are no limitations regarding age, work status or education. Generally speaking, the most frequently hired are women (65%), people aged 25 – 39 (26%) and the ones with less than two years of experience in their current job position. Mystery shoppers include the unemployed, the employed, the retired and students. Also included are people with low incomes and in beginner’s positions, as well as people in high positions (though in a smaller number).

Thus, for someone to become a mystery shopper, they need to comply with professional standards, ethical code, and to be unbiased. A mystery shopper certainly needs to have an ability to report their experience truthfully in both written and verbal form, to be conscientious and punctual and to prepare well for the assignment. They will receive free online training from us, as well as support, good preparation and all necessary information.

"Earn by shopping" and similar slogans of many companies can really be attributed solely to mystery shopping.

Activities involved are very dynamic, communication is required with various people, travelling is often needed, purchased items are kept for oneself and the like. In an assignment, a person can be a mystery visitor (a visitor of some store), at times a mystery caller (the one who dials a Call centre or a store) or a mystery traveller (the one who travels).

Most often it is required to go to consumer goods stores or specialized stores, but also to cafes, restaurants, hotels, exclusive car dealerships etc.

A mystery shopper can be rewarded for their effort by getting reimbursed, or being allowed to keep the purchased products, or often both. A mystery shopper is also given feedback on their work and a grade by Intelligence LLC team and the client.

You can become a mystery shopper in 10 steps. The training is FREE.

1. Registration at ms-sas.com
2. Log in and create a profile at ms-sas.com and earn the status: Recruit
3. Start your training and read the script carefully (read only)
4. Do the online test (you are allowed to fail once)
5. Do two case studies (an extremely interesting part)
6. Wait for the feedback
7. After you have passed, you earn the status: New and you sign the Agreement
8. Wait for your first assignment
9. After a successfully completed assignment you earn the status: Regular

Success of recruits has stood at 75% up to now. That is to say, out of the total number of people who start the training, 75% of them completes it until the end.

If you don’t have good results in any one of the steps, you will be directed to one of our seminars, held live in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac or Niš.

There are five levels of mystery shoppers:

• Recruit
  a candidate in the training process
• New
  a mystery shopper until the completion of the first assessment
• Regular
  when they do their first mystery shopping assignment successfully
• Elite
  a mystery shopper with a large number of completed assessments and a grade above 4.5
• VIMS
  A special group of mystery shoppers who go through F2F training, because it includes people in high positions, doctors, pharmacists and the like.

All our mystery shoppers with the Elite status have certifications issued by our company or MSPA. Mystery shoppers with the Elite status have a right to the advantage of getting the assignment first, and every month they have a chance of receiving additional reward in the form of valuable vouchers, since each month we choose the best shoppers of the previous month.

Mystery Day and Mystery Day PRO are conferences with workshops intended for mystery shoppers. The conferences are held in the biggest cities of Serbia.

The aim of these conferences is the enhancement of mystery shoppers’ skills. The workshops cover realistic situations from the field which have an influence on the quality of reporting.

The difference between Mystery Day and Mystery Day PRO is in the fact that the former is intended for people who have never worked as mystery shoppers, while the latter is intended for our mystery shoppers and those who have an MSPA certification.

Always check the e-mail address of a person who offers you the job of a mystery shopper. It’s best to contact the agency by phone or e-mail after you have checked their website. Do not agree to the first assignment if there is no training system secured before that. Do not accept to pay large fees for the first evaluation (it’s common for scammers to only try to sell a product or service and never call you back afterwards). Check information about the company on the MSPA EU website www.mspa-eu.org. You should always give preference to the MSPA members because they guarantee safety for everyone in the mystery shopping process.

Mystery shopping agencies don’t offer permanent job positions for this kind of job. An agency will never require you to make a payment prior to evaluation, but it may require a proof of a certification (certifications are issued by MSPA or its members) or work experience. An employee from the agency will send you detailed instructions before every assignment by e-mail, telephone or in person. A mystery shopper will always receive instructions about the way in which they should submit their reports.

What kind of assignments can I expect in the beginning?
After you pass the test and sign the agreement, you can be sent to fill up at the gas stations, shop in boutiques, various retail stores (drogeries, markets, paint stores, plumbing and heating supply stores etc.), cafes or restaurants and much more! Later on you can be assigned more complex tasks, such as open evaluations.

Who will contact me and how?
Prior to getting an assignment, you will be informed about the content, scope, location and time of the job by our fieldwork manager via phone. After that, all the details will be sent to your e-mail and MS-SAS profile. You can either accept or reject the assignment.

Am I allowed to reject an assignment?
There are no negative consequences in case of turning down an assignment. However, agreeing to an assignment and then not performing it, without providing any notice about it, leads to exclusion from all projects to follow.

How much money is spent on one assignment?
This depends on the assignment, but spendings are most often in the range from 500 to 2000 dinars. All spendings determined by the scenario are reimbursed, and the items purchased are most often kept by mystery shoppers. However, you will be informed about the whole financial process via phone call.