# A bird’s-eye view of one check. Five stops, from the first page the bird opens to the report it writes. Dr. Canary is a secret shopper for websites. It arrives on your site like a customer, uses the tools it finds and, with monitoring, sends a test inquiry if its shopper is set to, reads the emails and texts that come back, and writes a report with a capture of what it saw. ## One check, five stops 1. **Arrives like a customer** It opens your site in an ordinary browser and follows its public links, the way a customer’s visit begins. 2. **Uses the tools it finds** It tries the search, forms, calculators, schedulers and chat the way a customer would, and keeps captures as it goes. 3. **Sends a test inquiry** With monitoring, a shopper set to submit sends a test inquiry that names itself as an automated Dr. Canary site test. A shopper set to look only stops at the last step before anything is sent. 4. **Reads what comes back** It reads the emails and texts the business sends back after the inquiry and sees whether the store called. It keeps each email and text with the check. 5. **Writes the report** The check lands in a graded report dated the day of the inspection: each finding with the screen or message a customer saw and the page it happened on. ## Three things it checks 1. **User experience** The bird uses the tools on your site the way a customer does and keeps captures as it goes. 2. **Lead engagement** With monitoring, the bird sends a test inquiry and reads the emails and texts that come back. 3. **Consent** Added to a shopper on demand: the bird compares what loads after Reject all with what loads after Accept. - [User experience testing](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/user-experience-testing/) - [Lead engagement testing](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/lead-engagement-testing/) - [Consent testing](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/consent-testing/) ## Who does the shopping A saved secret shopper. It has a name, the departments it shops, whether it submits inquiries or looks only, how often it runs, and areas of focus: things you ask it to try. - [Secret shoppers](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/secret-shoppers/) ## What you get A report with a letter grade, the tools the bird found and whether each one worked, and every finding with an annotated capture of the screen a customer saw. - [Reading a report](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/reports/) ## Two ways to buy it A one-time checkup is $150 per location, once. It sends no test inquiries. Monitoring shops your site again on a schedule, monthly, biweekly (every 14 days) or weekly, from $249 a month per location. It carries a monthly allowance of test inquiries per location, and it is what lets you edit saved shoppers and request re-checks. - · Monthly: $249 / mo · 10 test inquiries / mo - · Biweekly: $349 / mo · 15 test inquiries / mo - · Weekly: $399 / mo · 30 test inquiries / mo - [Compare plans](https://www.drcanary.com/pricing/) ## How a site owner knows it was us Checks come from a short list of IP addresses published on our crawler page, and a site can let them through by allowing those addresses. The page also says what the crawler does and does not do, and how to opt out through `robots.txt`. - [The crawler policy](https://www.drcanary.com/bot/) ## Which businesses it shops - · Sales: It shops your site like a customer and follows each inquiry to the reply. - · Fixed ops: It books service on your site like a customer, from the scheduler to the reply. - · Loan officers: It shops your site like a borrower, from pre-qual to the reply. - · Providers: It uses your site like a patient, so the experience online matches the one in your clinic. - · B2B software: A secret shopper for sign-up, onboarding and the first task. - · Consumer apps: A secret shopper for sign-up, setup and the first use. - · CPG: A secret shopper for your cart, checkout and sign-ups. It stops before it pays. - [Sales](https://www.drcanary.com/for/sales/) - [Fixed ops](https://www.drcanary.com/for/fixed-ops/) - [Loan officers](https://www.drcanary.com/for/loan-officers/) - [Providers](https://www.drcanary.com/for/providers/) - [B2B software](https://www.drcanary.com/for/software/) - [Consumer apps](https://www.drcanary.com/for/consumer-apps/) - [CPG](https://www.drcanary.com/for/cpg/) ## What it does not do - It does not visit a showroom, and it does not place phone calls. If the store calls, it sees that a call came in, and nothing more. - It is not an uptime monitor, a speed test, an SEO audit or an A/B test. It asks whether each tool works when a customer uses it. - A one-time checkup sends no test inquiries. Test inquiries belong to monitoring and count against its monthly allowance. - On a public or unclaimed site it stops before a consequential submission: no leads, messages, bookings, purchases or accounts. - A check is automated and point-in-time. It can miss things and it can be wrong. A report is not a security audit or a compliance certification. - Coverage is adaptive, not a complete crawl. A page that challenges the bird is reported as unverified, not as a fault. ## Ask your assistant - “Which of my sites are connected, and what are their saved shoppers set to do?” Uses `list_sites`, `list_assignments`. - “What did the latest published report find on my site?” Uses `list_reports`, `get_report`. - “Is the check I asked for still running?” Uses `list_runs`, `get_run`. A queued check is not a finished one, and a finished check is not yet a published report. More examples: https://www.drcanary.com/mcp/examples/ ## Questions ### What is Dr. Canary? A secret shopper for websites. It uses your site the way a customer does and, with monitoring, sends a test inquiry if its shopper is set to, reads what comes back, and writes a report with a capture of each finding. ### Is it a person or software? Software. Each check is automated and runs in an ordinary browser, and it does not place phone calls. ### Does it visit the showroom? No. It shops the digital journey up to the front door: the website, its tools, its forms and the replies that come back. Its test customer never arrives in person. ### Does it send real leads? Only with monitoring, and only when the shopper is set to submit inquiries. The inquiry names itself as an automated Dr. Canary site test. A one-time checkup sends none, and on a public or unclaimed site the bird stops before anything is sent. ### How often does it check? A checkup is one check. Monitoring checks monthly, biweekly (every 14 days) or weekly, and you choose which. ### What do I get? A graded report dated the day of the inspection. Each finding carries the screen or message a customer saw and the page it happened on. Monitoring also sends an alert the morning something breaks. ### How is this different from uptime monitoring or a speed test? An uptime monitor checks that a page answers, and a speed test times how fast it loads. Neither one fills in a form or values a trade. Dr. Canary uses the tool on the page the way a customer would, so it can see a working page with a broken tool on it. ## Related - [User experience](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/user-experience-testing/) · [markdown](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/user-experience-testing.md) - [Lead engagement](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/lead-engagement-testing/) · [markdown](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/lead-engagement-testing.md) - [Consent](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/consent-testing/) · [markdown](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/consent-testing.md) - [Secret shoppers](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/secret-shoppers/) · [markdown](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/secret-shoppers.md) - [Reports](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/reports/) · [markdown](https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/reports.md) - https://www.drcanary.com/pricing/ https://www.drcanary.com/capabilities/ · updated 2026-11-11