A Mystery Shopper is a person who poses as a real customer whilst assessing product and customer service levels provided.

Mystery shopping is a method used by companies that wish to measure quality of sales and service, job performance, regulatory compliance, or to gather specific information about a market or competitors, including products and services.

Examples of things that may be assessed include:

• Levels of customer service
• Quality of food
• Waiting times
• Whether staff followed company procedures
• Staff presentation i.e. name tags, uniform store layout and presentation
• Staff communication skills

A Mystery Shopper can also be called a Mystery Guest, Mystery Customer, Mystery Consumer or a Secret Shopper.

We conduct mystery visits all over the UK each and every month to some of your favourite shops, pubs, restaurants, bars and hotels.

We are looking for people with a good eye for detail and the ability to write well to help us complete these visits.

We’ll ask you to visit a location, buy something, have a drink or something to eat. You’ll need to look out for some key pointers during your visit and after you’re done you’ll need to fill out an online questionnaire to tell us about your experience.

In most cases an experience is for 2 people, so you get the chance to go to places you would normally choose to visit a little more often.

The information you provide is used by our clients to help improve the experience for the customer and reward well-performing staff.

You need to be aged 18 or over to become a Mystery Shopper but we do have some family-friendly visits available.

Our Mystery Shoppers are reimbursed for the costs of their visit and therefore it is not possible to support yourself by becoming a Mystery Shopper for us. The visits are designed to give clients feedback from real customers and for you to visit your favourite venues!

No formal qualifications are required, but you must have a good command of written and spoken English, and access to the internet, email and a phone capable of taking pictures.

We are looking for people with a good eye for detail and the ability to write well.

Fill out our contact form here.

Yes, definitely. We have visits available all over the country and Mystery Shoppers are recruited for visits based on their proximity to a site and their preferences for how far they wish to travel.

The vast majority of our work is based in the UK but we do carry out some assignments overseas, mainly in Ireland.

Our recruitment process is fully inclusive, and we value all of our Mystery Shoppers. Please make a member of our team aware of any limitations you might have and we will offer suitable visits.

Anyone aged 18 or over can join our Mystery Sheopper database.

Unlike many other Mystery Shopper companies, we are not looking for professional investigators – we send you to places you would normally visit so we can gather feedback from real customers. Our team will contact you directly with visits that we think might suit you via your preferred method of contact.

The assignment durations vary from a couple of hours for a pub/restaurant visit to a whole day for an overnight hotel stay.

We never guarantee regular assignments to our mystery shoppers because the available work depends completely on our clients’ needs and requirements.

A member of our team will confirm your visit with you and you will receive an email with a link to the survey that you will need to fill out after you visit. You will also receive a set of briefing notes and an example questionnaire that you will need to familiarise yourself with before the visit.

If you develop symptoms or have a positive test result for COVID-19 within 14 days of your visit, please contact us immediately.

If you or a member of your household have symptoms of COVID-19 or have received a positive COVID-19 test result, you must follow government guidelines and not complete this visit. If you are scheduled to complete a visit for us, please contact us as soon as possible.

In your visit confirmation email, you will receive a link to access the online survey. At the end of the survey, you will have the chance to upload any photos of your visit.

In your visit confirmation email you will find a link to your survey. The survey will save your progress so you won’t lose the questions you already answered if you get interrupted filling it out.

We expect all questionnaires to be filled out within 24 hours of completing the visit. The less time has passed, the more details you will remember about your visit.

As soon as you realise you can’t complete the visit, please call us on 01442 877957 or email your recruiter. This will allow us to either re-book you for the visit or find a substitute if you can’t visit at all.

Yes, you can keep any purchase we ask you to make.

Please make sure that you upload a photo of your receipt, using the uploader at the end of the survey, and that the photo is clear and shows the date and price paid. This will help us verify both your visit your reimbursement.

We do not pay you for the visit, but instead reimburse you the cost of any purchases that were required as per the visit specification.

We will transfer the disbursement to your bank account.

Payment will be made within 14 days of the visit completion date, assuming that the questionnaire has been completed and photos have been submitted. In order to avoid any delays, please provide us with all the required information as soon as possible after your visit.

When you register with us, you are agreeing that any assignments will be undertaken as a self-employed contractor (and once registered, you will then choose whether to take on each piece of work individually). Any activities you undertake for Service Monitor are not classed as employment.

Mystery shopping is an activity that is carried out on a self-employed basis. Under current HMRC guidance (February 2021) you do not pay tax on the first £1,000 of income from self-employment, for which the vast majority of our shoppers will not exceed.

You are responsible for declaring your income to HM Revenue and Customs, and for paying any income tax that may be due. We recommend that you obtain advice from a qualified accountant if you are at all unsure of the processes and relevant requirements. Service Monitor cannot provide assistance with the preparation of accounts or any HMRC paperwork.

We require your bank details solely for the purpose of reimbursement. To avoid any payment delays, please make sure the details you provide are correct.

Travel expenses are not reimbursed under normal circumstances, but can be claimed for certain visits. If applicable, a member of our booking team will discuss this with you prior to your visit.

If you would like to leave our Mystery Shopper database, please email us on support@servicemonitor.co.uk or call us on 01442 877957.

Drop us an email on suppport@servicemonitor.co.uk or call us on 01442 877957 and we’d be happy to help.

We never share your personal information with our clients or any other third parties and they do not have access to see who exactly carried out each visit. We are fully GDPR compliant.

All the information we ask for is designed to help allocate as many visits to you as possible. Our client might request that a visit should be carried out by a person from a certain age group or a family unit.