Clients tell us that when we share the behind-the-scenes process of our recruiting, it genuinely helps just to know how much work goes into finding the right shopper. Not the report, not the results — the recruiting itself, especially for a hard-to-reach market or a shop that comes with specific demographic requirements. So rather than describe that effort in the abstract, here's the actual protocol we run through, step by step, every time.
These steps run in order, and most shops get filled long before we reach the end of the list. But every step exists because, at some point, we've needed it.
Step 1: Reach out to shoppers we already have worked with
The first move is always the most personal one: we contact reliable evaluators near the property who we already have an established relationship with. This is the fastest and highest-confidence tier — these are people whose work we already trust, so if one of them is available, the search is often over before it really starts.
Step 2: Reach out to tried-and-true shoppers from nearby locations
If step one doesn't turn up someone available, we widen slightly to reliable, proven evaluators who've completed shops at nearby locations before. They're a known quantity from other assignments, which keeps quality high while expanding who's in play.
Step 3: Bulk email within a 25-mile radius, screened by reliability
Next, we send a broader call for availability to every registered shopper within a 25-mile radius of the property. This isn't a free-for-all: every response gets screened against the reliability score our shopper system tracks for each evaluator, so casting a wider net doesn't mean lowering the bar.
Most shops get filled in the first two or three steps. The rest of the protocol exists for the properties that don't — which is exactly where the real effort shows.
Step 4: Loop in the client, and offer a bonus if it makes sense
If we're still working on it at this point, we don't let a client wonder what's happening. We reach out with a direct update and, where it makes sense, ask about adding a bonus to the base pay to help incentivize a shopper to take on a harder-to-fill assignment. This step is as much about communication as it is about recruiting — a client should never be guessing why a shop hasn't posted yet.
Step 5: Geozones at nearby highway exits
In parallel, we place location-based Geozones at major highway exits near the property. When a registered shopper's phone enters one of these zones, they get a notification prompting them to check the app for a nearby shop — a passive net that catches evaluators who are simply passing through, not actively browsing for work in that market.
Step 6: Direct, individual outreach to qualifying shoppers
The last step is the most hands-on: individual emails, sent one at a time, to specific shoppers who meet our reliability criteria. This isn't a broadcast — it's a direct, personal ask to people we've identified as a genuinely good fit for that particular shop, and it's the step reserved for the properties that need the most attention to get covered.
Why we're comfortable showing this
None of this is a trade secret, and we don't treat it like one. We've written before about how this same effort applies to rural and remote markets and how we build in demographic variety and reliability requirements on top of it. This protocol is what actually makes those things possible — it's not a separate process; it's the same six steps, applied to whatever makes a given shop harder than average, whether that's geography, a demographic restriction, or just a market with a thin shopper pool.
If you've ever wondered what happens between placing an order and getting a completed shop back, this is it. If you want to see it work on a property of yours, that's exactly what we're here for.