Field Agent vs Mystery Management

Field Agent connects brands and retailers with people who gather information while shopping in stores or online. Its app offers audits, surveys, Buy & Trys, ratings and reviews, Eye Spys, scavenger hunts, and mystery shops. Agents reserve and complete a job, submit it for review, and receive cash after approval. Listed retail locations include Walgreens, 7-Eleven, Dollar General, Albertsons, McDonald's, Best Buy, Kroger, Target, Kohl's, Publix, Costco, and CVS. Supported countries include Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States. Field Agent provides Android, iOS, web, and API access; the API can create jobs, manage templates, launch projects, retrieve results, and optionally use webhooks. The app plan is listed at free. Registration is limited to people aged 18 or older. Field Agent says it encrypts information in transmission and does not sell users' personal information. It may use Plaid to verify bank information and Dwolla to send credit transfers to agents' financial-institution accounts. Denied submissions are not paid.

Mystery Management runs tailored mystery shopping and customer experience programs for businesses, measuring customer journeys and service standards. Its evaluations include customer satisfaction surveys, compliance audits, price verification, website and telephone mystery shopping, and merchandising and promotion inspections. Programs, questionnaires, and reporting are tailored to each client, from single locations to large national programs. The company lists clients in retail, hospitality, transport, pharmacy, government, and other customer-facing sectors, and says it has more than 9,000 active shoppers across metropolitan and regional Australia.

Approved shoppers use an app to view assignments, check in and out, submit reports and photos, review payment history, and receive updates. Clients can use a dashboard to see results, scorecards, benchmarks, and trends, with views from network-wide results down to individual reports. Mystery shop results are described as available within 24 hours, with tailored monthly summaries. Operational tools include Fix It for tracking maintenance or other issues, and checklists for operational and compliance standards. Pricing is by tailored quote, with fees invoiced under a client agreement.