How did you hear about mystery shopping?

I thought this would be a great place to share where we heard about mystery shopping:

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2015 08:34PM by jworm7.

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Great idea. Someone needs to go first. So, as a new member here, jworm7, how did YOU hear about mystery shopping?

Welcome to the forum jworm7. I took a look at your website. Am I understanding correctly that you are basically a new mystery shopping company with the appeal to business owners being that you pay shoppers less than typical mystery shops?

Do you know how your level of reporting detail compares to other traditional MS companies?

I recently graduated from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, in learning about hospitality management and restaurant operations mystery shopping was a topic that came up as a tool for operators to ensure the highest levels of service across their units. Your turn

re:saacman5033

<10% of restaurants use mystery shopping primarily because of how price prohibitive it is. Moreover, due to its pricing there is less mystery shops, resulting in unrepresentative data (1 evaluation per 1000+ customers) of the restaurant's average experience.

I'm the founder of Servy (www.servyapp.com), and we are challenging the traditional MS model by only reimbursing part of the meal and focusing on a higher frequency of evaluations. Restauranteurs are able to dictate the questions they want to ask and we deliver a focus on identifying actionable trends over time. Mystery shoppers benefit because they are able to eat at a discount and mystery shop at their leisure.

jworm,
We always welcome reps of MSCs. However, we also ask that you attach a permanent sig line that will show up on all of your posts, indicating your company and position. That way, shoppers will know who is who here.

Thanks, and enjoy the forums.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I MS for money, not for a discount on food. For that it's quicker and easier to take the survey on the back of receipt.

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

I originally heard about mystery shopping from a friend of my husbands who was in charge of inventory control for Neiman Marcus. He told my husband that mystery shopping was something that I might like to do. I waited may years before I did anything about it, and I'm sorry I missed out on all those years.

Exactly, and because of that the people who sign up for these likely will not be the ones trained as well in observations and to be unbiased as the more serious mystery shoppers.

@LisaSTL wrote:

I MS for money, not for a discount on food. For that it's quicker and easier to take the survey on the back of receipt.

Kim

I can get a better discount on lots of good dining opportunities by following the "specials" at restaurants.com! This business model will just attract hobbyists, not professional MSers.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I hear about it while working for a company that used mystery shoppers. My first shop was being shopped.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

As for the original question, I found the other MS forum 12-13 years ago when I was searching online for ways to make money in my spare time while going to college. Signed up with several companies and began shopping here and there. Never got accepted to participate in that other forum because I didn't care for the username rules, and after finding this board years later I'm happy not to have to visit that other board anymore.

@kimmiemae wrote:

Exactly, and because of that the people who sign up for these likely will not be the ones trained as well in observations and to be unbiased as the more serious mystery shoppers.

Seems to me this model may appeal to folks who like to write restaurant reviews for fun, ie yelpers. Not my cup of tea though.

@LisaSTL wrote:

I MS for money, not for a discount on food. For that it's quicker and easier to take the survey on the back of receipt.

Well, I MS for a 100% discount on food all the time, but 50% wouldn't get me out the door and 10% would make me laugh.

I don't shop out of pocket on purpose.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

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