Every mystery shopper has been there at least a time or two. You complete your assignment and submit your report on time, and eagerly await your paycheck to arrive. Yet within days of submitting your report, your mystery shopping provider contacts you for revisions to your report. Perhaps you have a few too many typos, or perhaps the content of your report needs clarification. You happily make the changes and promptly re-submit the report, only to be contacted a few days later for additional revisions. After several rounds of this “question and answer” session with your provider, you have eaten up several days or even weeks, causing your paycheck to be delayed by at least that amount of time.
Everyone wants to get their paycheck as soon as possible. Here are some steps you can take to ensure your paycheck isn’t delayed by this vicious cycle of questions and answers with your provider:
Proofread Your Report. Aside from being annoying for anyone to read, typos can also change the content of your writing. Consider, for example, if you are quoting a salesperson who said, “This jacket sure is furry,” but instead you type that the salesperson said, “This jacket sure is funny.” The latter would surely throw red flags up about this salesperson’s ability to sell a jacket that she is ridiculous.
Punctuation errors can also cause some trouble for you. The mere location of a comma, period, or semi colon can entirely change the meaning of a sentence. If you aren’t not a grammatical expert, it may serve you well to brush up on grammar rules to ensure you are using punctuation properly. Then proofread your work to make sure your spelling and grammar aren’t going to cause issues after you submit your report.
Answer The Question. Following the line of being direct and to the point will not steer you wrong in mystery shopping. First, read through the question several times to ensure that you understand precisely what information is being asked for. Then answer the question exactly as it was asked, without providing too much detail. There is a fine line between providing too much detail and too little detail. Oftentimes, mystery shoppers who provide too much detail find that they have given their provider with additional details that may be confusing, misleading, or even seemingly contradictory. If you have had a problem with this in the past, pay attention on your next few reports to the amount of detail you provide in your answers. If you make a conscious mental note on your next few gigs of the amount of detail that worked versus what caused you issues down the line with the provider, you will soon enough learn how to answer the questions with just enough detail without going overboard.
Keep Your Opinion To Yourself. Some mystery shoppers, especially those new to the business, believe that mystery shopping is about telling retailers exactly what you think. This is not necessarily the case. Mystery shoppers are hired to be unbiased observers, reporting the details of their assignment in a way that is similar to a news story. You should stick to the facts of your site visit rather than offer your feelings and beliefs on your experiences unless they are otherwise asked for. With the details of your site visit and your observations, the retailer will be able to determine if you had a great experience or a less than par experience without you spelling it out word for word. Also, in most reports, you will be asked for your opinion at some point. So be sure to stick to the facts except where your opinion is directly requested.
These are the areas that cause mystery shoppers the most trouble with their reports. When you take the time to fine-tune your report-writing in these areas, you will find that vicious cycle of questions and answers with your provider happen less frequently and your paychecks arriving much sooner!
Sometime u need to go over board with info since they only reimburse u for only $5 and the meal cost $6.
fyi I don’t write my real name on this forum cuz google search engine index it adn i would in real life get a good paying job
“If you aren’t not a grammatical expert,” Do you proofread your articles?
Cheapskate: With writing like that I would never give my real name either!!!
Responding to questions promptly establishing good communication reflects professionalism. Proof reading can never be emphasized enough! There are software programs that help considerably and may speed up the proof reading process. “Word” has spelling and grammatical checks. “ieSpell” provides useful free software for web application. But when it comes down to hitting the submit button, nothing beats a final proofing scan with your own eyes!
Understanding the question and answering directly in a complete, concise manner is an essential skill for mystery shoppers. Some companies however absolutely require redundancy, and even go so far as to prescribe “many words” but also add, “no repetition of the foregoing, in the summary.” Now there is a challenge! It leads one to believe that they are accustomed to dealing with work that is consistently done in an unprofessional manner. I have made a choice to work with schedulers who allow me to enhance my skills, not diminish them. It takes much more skill to accurately get to the point with few words than to ramble. Being precise in answering directly will help where it comes to expressing opinion. Opinion is not mentioned unless asked for. Even when it is appropriate to express one’s opinion, it should be directly relevant to the questions or points under consideration. This sometimes necessitates curbing one’s emotions.
Nonetheless, when all is said and done, you can only control your own end. Misunderstanding can arise through no fault of your own. Some issues are worth pursuing, some are not. Occasionally the wise thing to do is to cut your losses and move on, our of consideration for your own emotional energy and time.