How to Stay Organized
as a Mystery Shopper
Learning how to stay organized as a mystery shopper becomes increasingly important as you accept more assignments. One shop may be easy to remember. But when you're working with several mystery shopping companies and completing multiple assignments, it's surprisingly easy to mix up a receipt, forget a deadline, or wonder whether you've been paid.
I've learned that you don't need an elaborate organization system.
You need a simple system—and you need to use it consistently.
Over the years, I've used spreadsheets, envelopes, written notes, receipts, and other records to keep my mystery shopping business organized. Your system may be different from mine. What matters is being able to find the information when you need it.
Want more help getting started? My book, Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!, walks you through finding assignments, completing shops, writing reports, and avoiding many of the mistakes new shoppers make.
Start Before You Leave Home
Organization begins before the mystery shop.
Read the assignment instructions carefully and identify the details you'll need to remember.
That could include the correct location, required date and time, purchase requirements, employee descriptions or names, specific questions you must ask, photographs you need to take, and the deadline for submitting your report.
If you're doing several assignments in one day, make sure you know which instructions belong to which location.
Never assume two assignments for the same client have identical requirements.
Keep Each Assignment Together
One of the easiest ways to prevent mistakes is to keep everything connected to the correct assignment.
That includes your instructions, notes, receipt, photographs, mileage information, and report deadline.
This becomes especially important when you're route shopping.
I've completed multiple assignments while traveling from one location to another. By the end of a long day, you don't want to look at a receipt and wonder which assignment it belongs to.
Develop a routine for identifying everything immediately.
How to Stay Organized as a Mystery Shopper with Receipts
Receipts can be extremely important.
A mystery shopping company may require a receipt as proof that you completed the assignment. You may also need receipts for your own business records.
I developed a habit of keeping my receipts rather than letting them disappear into my wallet, car, or pockets.
For my business records, I've used a large envelope to keep receipts together. Today, you may also want to photograph or scan important receipts so you have a backup.
If you complete several shops in one day, identify which receipt belongs to each assignment before they all start looking alike.
Don't wait several days and trust your memory.
Record Important Details Right Away
Mystery shopping depends on observation.
You might need to remember when you entered the business, how long you waited, what an employee said, whether a particular service was offered, or what happened during different parts of the visit.
The longer you wait to record those details, the easier it becomes to forget them.
Follow the assignment's rules about taking notes during the shop. You don't want to expose yourself as the mystery shopper.
As soon as it's appropriate after the visit, record the important details while they're still fresh in your mind.
Track Your Assignments and Payments
I used a simple spreadsheet for my mystery shopping business.
Among other things, I recorded the assignment location, mileage, money spent, amount earned, and when I was paid.
You can expand that idea by tracking:
- Mystery shopping company
- Assignment and location
- Shop date
- Report deadline
- Amount spent
- Reimbursement
- Shopper fee
- Business mileage
- Report submission
- Payment received
You don't need sophisticated software to do this.
A spreadsheet works perfectly well if you'll actually use it.
Tracking payments is particularly important when you work for multiple mystery shopping companies. An assignment isn't financially finished just because your report was accepted. You still need to make sure you're paid.
Pay Attention to Deadlines
Mystery shopping companies can have strict reporting deadlines.
Don't complete an assignment and then assume you'll remember when the report is due.
Record the deadline when you accept the shop.
If necessary, use your phone calendar or set a reminder.
I prefer completing reports as soon as practical while the assignment is still fresh in my mind. Waiting also increases the possibility that you'll lose a receipt, forget an important detail, or suddenly realize the report is due sooner than you thought.
Be Extra Careful with Multiple Shops
Multiple assignments can be profitable and efficient, but they also create more opportunities for mistakes.
Imagine completing four locations for the same client in one day.
The stores may look similar. The questions may be similar. The receipts may look almost identical.
But the experiences aren't identical.
Before moving completely into your next assignment, make sure the information from the previous shop is properly identified and secured.
You don't want to report that the employee at Location A did something that actually happened at Location C.
Create a Simple Routine
My advice for how to stay organized as a mystery shopper is to develop a routine you can repeat.
Before the assignment, review your instructions and deadline.
After the assignment, secure your receipt and record important details.
When you get home, organize your records and complete the report.
After submitting it, record that the report was completed.
Later, record when you're paid.
That creates a beginning and an end for every assignment.
Don't Make Organization Too Complicated
There's a danger in creating such an elaborate organization system that maintaining the system becomes another job.
You don't need five apps, three spreadsheets, color-coded folders, and an expensive business-management program.
Use whatever works for you.
The real test is simple: Can you quickly determine what assignments you've completed, what reports are due, what you've spent, and whether you've been paid?
If the answer is yes, your system is doing its job.
Organization may not be the most exciting part of mystery shopping, but it can prevent expensive and embarrassing mistakes.
And as you begin accepting more assignments, a good system gives you something even more valuable:
Confidence that you know exactly where your mystery shopping business stands.
About the Author
I'm Mystery Don (Donald J. Servais, Jr.), and I've completed mystery shopping assignments for restaurants, hotels, apartment communities, automobile dealerships, new-home builders, and other businesses.
I created MystShopper.com to share what I've learned from my own experiences, help new shoppers avoid common mistakes, and explain how legitimate mystery shopping really works.
I'm also the author of Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!, which includes beginner-friendly advice, real-world mystery shopping experiences, and a directory of more than 150 mystery shopping companies.
Drawing on my 45-year career in television, I've also written 7 Keys to Success in a Changing Television Industry, a guide for people interested in building a career in television and video.
My goal is simple: honest guidance without the hype.
We're always looking for new faces to visit different places.
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