So many mystery shoppers just love their jobs… that is, until it comes time to sit down and write their reports. Few people enjoy writing, and when you are a mystery shopper writing reports for a paycheck, you can feel some intense pressure to really get the details down right and to avoid grammatical and spelling issues. You know if you don’t get the report right, it could cost you. Issues with a report can, after all, affect your ability to get more assignments and may even result in not getting paid for the assignment you are working on. With this pressure on your shoulders, you will want to review these hot report writing tips so you can get your report written fast, easily, and accurately!
Take Notes. One of the biggest factors that throws many mystery shoppers for a loop with report writing is not being certain on the facts. You can, after all, go through your site visit step-by-step and completely cover all of the bases when it comes to following the shop guidelines and requirements. Yet when it comes time to sit down and write the report, you can draw a blank on key areas. Things like times when you entered the site or left the site, names of employees that helped you out, and so forth can really make you pause and think. Often these small but very important details can really cause you issues. One way you can combat this issue is by taking notes. Obviously you will have to take notes incognito, such as on your cell phone or by scribbling on a fake shopping list. However, often just a few quick notes here and there can really make report writing much easier.
Don’t Ramble. Many reports have you do a free-writing, narrative-style response to questions, and this is an area where many mystery shoppers struggle. It can be pretty difficult to write open-ended responses to questions without rambling on, but you will want to really focus on providing concise answers that respond to the question asked. Read through the question a few times before you start, and then take time to think about your response before you start typing. Then do a quick review of both the question and the answer to make sure they jive and that all information is accurate. Rambling on in your response only serves to confuse your reader, and this can cause some issues with you when your report is turned in.
Proofread. If you are not in the practice of proofreading your reports before you submit them, you absolutely should get into this routine starting today. Even the best writers and best mystery shoppers will make mistakes, strike the wrong key on the keyboard, and other silliness. Yet this silliness can cause your report to get bounced back to you, which can delay your payment on the assignment and cause you more work on a future date when you are forced to find time to correct the report in your busy day. Simply taking a few minutes to read through the report before you submit it can really save you a lot of headache and hassle later on.
As you can see, there are some pretty easy ways you can make your report-writing far easier and more successful for you. Take time to adopt these practices into your report writing today, and you will really start to see the difference!