VIDEO MYSTERY SHOPPINGVideo Mystery Shopping is something you may consider if you don't mind walking into a business with a hidden camera and microphone. This is a very effective tool for business owners, because they can see and hear what happened at their place of business. They don't have to rely on written information from a shopper, who may have missed an important detail or two. With hidden video, the owner has a better tool to train people. The video companies I have worked with had the camera equipment and would ship it to people after they completed the application process. The camera is inside one of the buttons on a shirt they send you (or attach on a purse) and the recorder is small enough to hide in a pocket. The mystery shop company would usually have more than one assignment for you to complete. After you complete your last assignment, you must ship the equipment back in good working order.
There are a few companies that ask if you’re willing to purchase video equipment to work for them. I would advise against doing that at first. I think it's better to do a couple of video shops through a company that will ship equipment to you to see if you like the work. If it's something you want to pursue and you have the money to do it, then you may consider doing this. You could end up getting more work in the long run. However, make sure it is a legitimate company. Call them to make sure they have assignments in your area. Otherwise, there are companies that will pay to ship equipment to you and have return postage to send the equipment back once your assignments are completed. There are TWO big benefits of video mystery shopping. - The pay per shop is much better than the written shops. Individual assignments can pay $35 for 15 minutes in a retail store. That's the least amount of money I was paid for a video shop. 
The most was $110 with my wife for a new home builder ($75 if I did it alone). That took over an hour to do. A shop for a new home builder can last 90 minutes or more in some cases. That's both video and written shops. You can receive several assignments during a month’s time and get paid several hundred dollars for your work. There were a few months that I was paid several thousand dollars for nothing but video assignments. - You don't have to write as much detail about your visit. Most of the time, I had to answer a few questions and write a couple of sentences online about the video shop. The only other writing was on labels for video chips and shipping forms. That's a far cry to some written assignments. I've had some that took me more than an hour to complete. These are the DANGERS of video mystery shopping. There are several things to be aware of before going on location for a video shop. You will not be paid if any of the following problems occur. - Your recording stops during your shop. If you have technical problems that are your fault, you will not get paid. That can include a battery that runs out of juice because it wasn’t fully charged. I have accidentally stopped a recording during my shop and didn't know about it until after the visit. You will have extra batteries and video chips to work with that you have to have with you during the shops. If you feel your recording time is getting close to the end, you must excuse yourself to go to the bathroom and change these items out. - Your camera is shooting too much floor, too much ceiling or the audio is bad. You have to have a good recording to send to the client. They pay a lot of money for these videos so they expect the best in return. You have to have the camera pointed at the sales agent most of the time. It's impossible to do it 100% of the time, but there are tricks you learn in the training that will help you point the camera at the subject. Also, if the audio is so bad that you can't understand anything, the mystery shop company will have nothing to give to the client. - You didn't follow instructions. For every assignment, you are given specific directions on what you MUST and MUST NOT do. For a new home shop, there are specific instructions that you are supposed to say "yes" to. If the agent asks if you would like to see a lot to have your home built on, you must say "yes." You can't have an excuse like I have to pick up the kids. The homebuilder wants to see a complete presentation from their agents. Saying "no" could mean a reduction in pay or no payment at all. - You didn't talk to the specific person you were assigned to. For many new home and apartment shops, you may have to shop a specific person. This can be a little challenging, because some companies don't want you to call the location before you visit. If the agent is not there when you visit, you have to find an excuse to leave. You will usually be paid half the fee for your efforts in addition to the whole fee if you’re able to shop that agent later. I think it's safe to say that all video mystery shoppers ran into a problem once in a while where they didn't get paid. That's the nature of the beast. The plain fact is that over time, you will make more money with video mystery shopping, even if you lose a shop once in a while. 
Funny moments can occur during video mystery shopping. The funniest I had was at a car dealership and I had to act like I needed a new car. One of the requirements for the shop was to get a test drive in a new car. The salesman was doing a good job building rapport with me in the dealership. Once we got in the car, the salesman loosened up a little bit. We drove through a section of town that featured a bunch of gentleman's clubs. The salesman started talking about his favorite places and where I can find the best girls. For some reason, he was going on and on about it.I asked him a question about the car and get him away from this conversation. I was smiling on the outside, but inside, I was screaming at him to shut up. When the client has the video in hand, they will sometimes show the sales person the video for training purposes. I don't know what happened to this salesman, but he could have lost his job over what he said to me. How To Get Started To get started with video mystery shopping costs no money to invest. You log in to several companies that offer this kind of work and fill out an application. Once you submit your FREE application, many companies will have you start training for the video equipment. - Learn what equipment is available. - Learn how to assemble and use the equipment. - Learn the proper upkeep of the equipment. - Learn how to ship it back when your assignments have been completed. Once you complete this training, you will be given a test that you must pass. A company representative will call you and interview you by phone. That interview is very important. It will determine if the representative wants to take a chance with you to become a video mystery shopper. If the company does have assignments in your area, and the representative feels you are a good candidate to do this kind of work, he or she may take a chance with you and ship you video equipment. The video mystery shopping company will pay all shipping costs. They will also give you further training once you have the equipment in hand. You will be required to test the equipment around the house and may have to upload a one-minute sample of it. I have run across some mystery shop companies that want a deposit before shipping you equipment. They do this to see how serious you are about doing assignments. Plus, they can recover some losses if the equipment doesn't come back to them or is damaged. The key to making a lot of money is to register with several video mystery shop companies. The assignments come in cycles. You may have 8 assignments one month and none the next. Plus, once you visit a location, you won’t be able to shop that place again for at least a year, if at all. If you do a search for video mystery shopping companies, you’re going to get several million matches. I can save you a little time by letting you know which companies I’ve had a lot of success with. Fill out the form below to get this free information. Once you do a few video shops and feel comfortable with doing more, you may want to consider buying your own equipment. You can get more assignments that way and bonuses for doing a shop with a quick deadline. Payment for completed assignments is between 3 to 7 weeks. A few can be direct deposits to a bank account or PayPal, but the majority will be paid by check in the mail. |
