Last reviewed: May 24, 2026. Reflects Perception Strategies operations as a healthcare-only patient experience firm, its selective shopper application, current MSPA membership, and its mix of phone, online, and on-site healthcare shops.
Perception Strategies is a mystery shopping company that works in one field only: healthcare. Founded in 1998 in Indianapolis, its mystery shopping studies the patient experience, measuring how people feel as they move through clinics, hospitals, and doctors’ offices. If you want shops with a real sense of purpose, this niche stands out.
The company has completed more than 300,000 healthcare mystery shops since 1998 (per company figures), every mystery shopping assignment focused on patient perception. Founders Kevin and Brooke Billingsley built Perception Strategies around a simple idea: you can’t improve a patient’s experience until you measure it from the patient’s side. Much of the work happens by phone or online, so a good share of it can be done from home.
This Perception Strategies review covers what healthcare mystery shopping really involves. We walk through the selective application, the unusual shop types (including overnight hospital stays), how pay works, and who the company fits. Use it alongside our best mystery shopping companies guide to decide where it belongs in your rotation.
Perception Strategies quick facts
- Founded
- 1998 by Kevin and Brooke Billingsley
- Headquarters
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Niche
- Healthcare only — patient experience research
- Coverage
- National (US); active areas vary over time
- Shops completed
- 300,000+ since 1998 (per company)
- Shopper application
- Two-step and selective, with a sample shop
- Platform
- Proprietary online back office
- Industry group
- MSPA member
- Pay model
- Per assignment; 1099 contractor work
- Best for
- Strong writers who want purposeful, mostly remote shops
A Healthcare Niche Since 1998
Perception Strategies has spent more than 25 years on a single mission. Kevin and Brooke Billingsley started the company in 1998 in Indianapolis, and it has focused on healthcare ever since. That long, narrow focus is rare in the mystery shopping business.
The numbers reflect that commitment. Perception Strategies reports more than 300,000 completed healthcare mystery shops since 1998 (per company figures). The founders even wrote a book on customer experience, a sign of how deeply they think about service and perception.
For a shopper, that mystery shopping focus signals stability and seriousness. It is not a general firm that dabbles in healthcare. It is a specialist that has refined its methods over decades, which shows up in how carefully it briefs shoppers and reviews their reports.
Healthcare Only: A Patient Experience Specialist
This single-industry focus is what sets Perception Strategies apart from nearly every other company in our directory. While most mystery shopping firms shop retail, restaurants, and gas stations, this healthcare specialist studies one thing: how patients experience healthcare.
That means evaluating the moments that shape how a person feels about a provider. Was the phone answered with care? Was the waiting room clean and calm? Did staff make eye contact and give clear directions? The company turns those moments into data that hospitals and clinics use to improve.
What healthcare-only means for shoppers
The upside of this mystery shopping niche is purpose. Your mystery shopping reports help real healthcare organizations treat patients better. For many shoppers, that meaning makes the detailed work feel worthwhile in a way a fast-food shop never could.
The trade-off is volume and access. Because the firm works only in healthcare, and because it matches shops by location and shopper profile, assignments come and go. Some areas have steady work, others have little. This is specialized, intermittent mystery shopping work, not a high-volume income stream.
Types of Perception Strategies Shops
Perception Strategies runs a wider range of healthcare mystery shopping than you might expect. The main mystery shopping types include:
- Phone shops — calling to schedule appointments, ask about pricing, or test telephone customer service against the client’s standards
- Competitor price shops — calling competing providers to gather pricing on specific services
- In-person informational shops — visiting a facility to test wayfinding, helpfulness, and eye contact, sometimes covering up to three locations in one visit
- Observation shops — measuring wait times and staff interactions in a clinic, lobby, department, or emergency department
- Website shops — evaluating the online experience patients have before they ever arrive
- 24-hour inpatient stays — documenting a full overnight hospital stay from a patient’s point of view
Most mystery shopping assignments are informational. You don’t pose as a real patient needing treatment, and you don’t hand over personal medical details. You act as a typical consumer or visitor, take careful notes, and write a clear report afterward.
Unusual shops: the 24-hour inpatient stay
Most mystery shopping is over in an hour. Perception Strategies also runs 24-hour inpatient stays, where a shopper documents an entire overnight hospital experience. These are rare, in-depth mystery shopping assignments that capture everything from admission to discharge. They take real commitment and sharp observation, but they’re unlike anything you’ll find at a typical mystery shopping company.
How to Apply to Perception Strategies
Joining Perception Strategies takes more than filling out a form. The mystery shopping application is selective, and a sample shop is part of it. Here’s how the process works:
- Go to the Perception Strategies shopper application. Find the mystery shopper application form on perstrat.com and start the process. It’s free to apply.
- Enter your standard details. Provide your contact information, location, date of birth, and the basics the company needs to match you with shops.
- Complete a sample shop. You’ll write a sample telephone shop or writing sample. This shows whether you can write clearly, concisely, and with strong detail.
- Wait for review. The company reviews your sample and profile. Approval is not automatic, since the company chooses shoppers who can deliver high-quality reports.
- Get matched to your area. If approved, you’re added to the shopper pool. The company contacts you as healthcare mystery shopping work opens near you.
- Accept and complete shops. Follow the detailed instructions for each assignment, then submit your report through the online back office.
Basic Requirements
This mystery shopping company looks for capable, reliable shoppers. The requirements line up with what most legitimate mystery shopping companies expect, with a heavier emphasis on writing:
- At least 18 years old and able to sign a contract
- Strong, detailed writing skills, since reports drive the whole business
- Reliable internet access and a private email you check often
- A phone for phone shops and, for some jobs, the ability to travel locally
- Professionalism and discretion in healthcare settings
- The focus to follow detailed instructions and meet deadlines
Writing carries more weight here than at many mystery shopping firms. Healthcare reports demand clear, specific detail, so the company screens for it up front through the sample shop.
Pro tip: your sample shop is the gate
The sample shop decides whether Perception Strategies brings you on. Treat it like the most important report you’ll ever write. Be specific, organized, and concrete, describing exactly what you observed rather than how you felt. A strong sample gets you into the pool; a vague one ends the process there.
How Perception Strategies Pays
Perception Strategies pays per assignment, and the work is 1099 independent contractor income. The company doesn’t publish a fixed pay schedule, and rates depend on the shop type and how much time and detail it requires. Longer or more involved mystery shopping jobs, like inpatient stays, pay more than a quick phone call.
Recent shopper accounts describe pay as reliable and processed on time, with professional communication and no fees to apply or participate. As with any mystery shopping company, the exact pay and any reimbursement are spelled out on each assignment before you accept it.
Treat Perception Strategies as supplemental income rather than a paycheck. Mystery shopping work here is intermittent and matched to your area, so earnings vary month to month. Run scenarios through our mystery shopping income estimator, and because this is contractor work, track everything for taxes with our guide to mystery shopper tax deductions.
Much of the work is remote
A big draw here is that a good share of Perception Strategies work can be done from home. Phone shops and website shops don’t require you to leave the house, which makes this a solid option for shoppers with limited mobility or tight schedules. On-site and inpatient shops do need travel, but the remote shops give you a way to contribute and earn without going anywhere. It fits neatly into a flexible mystery shopping routine.
Working in Healthcare Settings
Healthcare mystery shopping calls for more care than a typical retail visit. You’re moving through clinics, lobbies, and hospitals where real patients are receiving care. The company expects shoppers to be professional, discreet, and respectful at all times.
The shops are informational by design. Your mystery shopping gathers observations about service, wait times, and communication without disrupting care or misrepresenting a medical need. You won’t be asked to fake symptoms or provide personal health information you’re not comfortable sharing.
That professionalism is part of why Perception Strategies screens shoppers so carefully. The company is trusted inside real healthcare organizations, and every shopper represents that trust in the field. Take the role seriously and you’ll fit right in.
Working on the Perception Strategies Platform
Perception Strategies uses its own online back office rather than a shared industry platform. Once you’re in the shopper pool, you receive mystery shopping assignments, read instructions, and submit your reports through that system.
Each mystery shopping assignment comes with detailed instructions tailored to the client’s standards. You act as a typical patient or visitor, take notes during the interaction, and then write up a thorough report. A laptop or desktop makes the writing easier, since the reports reward detail and clarity.
Because it is a smaller, focused firm, shoppers often describe the communication as personal and professional. You’re not lost in a database of hundreds of thousands of agents the way you might be at a giant general company.
MSPA Standing
Perception Strategies is a member of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA), the main trade group for the industry. Membership signals that the firm follows recognized ethics and professional standards.
For a shopper, that membership is a useful credibility check. It places the company on the same mystery shopping association roster you can review before joining any firm. If you want to build credentials of your own, our MSPA certification guide walks through the options.
A 25-plus-year history, a clear healthcare specialty, and MSPA membership place Perception Strategies among the established mystery shopping companies rather than the scams that prey on new shoppers.
What Shoppers Say About Perception Strategies
What shoppers often note
- Purposeful work that helps improve real patient care
- Much of the work can be done from home by phone or online
- Reliable, on-time pay reported by recent shoppers
- Free to apply, with no startup fees
- Personal, professional communication from a smaller firm
- Unusual, in-depth shops like 24-hour inpatient stays
Common concerns
- Selective application with a required sample shop
- Intermittent work matched by area and profile
- Specialized niche means lower overall volume than general firms
- Reports are detailed and demand strong writing
- Pay rates aren’t published before you apply
- Best treated as supplemental income, not a steady paycheck
Tips for Working With Perception Strategies
A few habits help you get into the Perception Strategies pool and stay active once you’re there:
- Nail the sample shop. It’s the gate to everything. Make it specific, organized, and detailed.
- Write like a reporter. Describe what you observed, not how you felt. Healthcare reports reward concrete detail.
- Apply even if your area looks quiet. Work opens over time, and being in the pool means you’re ready when it does.
- Lean into remote shops. Phone and website shops let you stay active between on-site assignments.
- Be professional on-site. Discretion in healthcare settings protects your standing and future work.
- Track your income. This is 1099 work, so log mileage and keep a simple business setup for tax time.
Scam alert: spotting fake Perception Strategies offers
Scammers borrow the names of real companies, so stay alert. Genuine Perception Strategies work only comes after you apply through perstrat.com and are accepted. Watch for these red flags:
- Checks before work. The real company never sends a check in advance. A check before any shop is a scam.
- Cold offers out of nowhere. Unsolicited texts or emails offering Perception Strategies jobs are fake.
- Requests for money or gift cards. No legitimate assignment asks you to wire money or buy gift cards.
- Pressure to act immediately. Urgency from a stranger is a warning sign, not an opportunity.
If you get a suspicious message using the company’s name, report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Also read our guide to spotting mystery shopping scams.
Perception Strategies Contact Information
| Company | Perception Strategies, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Location | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Founders | Kevin and Brooke Billingsley |
| Website | perstrat.com |
| Shopper sign-up | Mystery Shopper Application Form on perstrat.com |
| Contact | Through the website; no public phone line listed |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Perception Strategies a legitimate mystery shopping company?
Yes. Perception Strategies has operated since 1998, focuses entirely on healthcare patient experience, and is an MSPA member. It reports more than 300,000 completed shops and works with healthcare organizations across the US. Always apply through perstrat.com and never trust a check or job offer that arrives unsolicited.
What kind of shops does Perception Strategies offer?
All of them are healthcare related. They include phone shops, competitor price calls, in-person informational visits, observation shops measuring wait times, website shops, and 24-hour inpatient stays. Most are informational, so you act as a typical consumer or visitor rather than a real patient seeking treatment.
How does Perception Strategies pay, and how much?
Pay is per assignment as 1099 contractor income, and the company doesn’t publish set rates. Longer, detailed shops pay more than quick phone calls. Recent shoppers describe pay as reliable and on time. Treat it as supplemental income, since shops are intermittent and matched to your area.
Is it hard to get accepted as a shopper?
It’s selective. Beyond standard details, you complete a sample shop that tests your writing, and the company chooses shoppers who can deliver clear, detailed reports. Approval is not automatic. A strong, specific sample is the single best thing you can do to get in.
Can I do Perception Strategies shops from home?
Often, yes. A good share of the work is phone and website shops you can complete from home. On-site informational shops, observation shops, and inpatient stays require travel, but the remote options make this a flexible choice for many shoppers.
Deciding If Perception Strategies Fits Your Setup
Perception Strategies makes sense if you write well and like the idea of work with purpose. You’re comfortable in healthcare settings, you don’t mind a selective mystery shopping application, and you value remote shops you can do from home. For that kind of shopper, few companies offer this mix of meaning and flexibility.
The trade-offs are honest. The application is selective, the mystery shopping work is intermittent, and a single healthcare niche means lower volume than a general mystery shopping firm. Pay isn’t published up front, and earnings will swing month to month based on what opens near you.
For most people, Perception Strategies works best as a meaningful supplement to a broader rotation. Apply, put real effort into the sample shop, and lean on the remote work between on-site jobs. Applying is free, so it costs only your time to get into the pool. For more, see our guide to how much secret shoppers actually make and our full mystery shopping company directory.