The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

This is the latest post in my series about improving your mystery shopper report writing skills. Note that the rules for punctuation of quotations are different in the United Kingdom.

Adding direct quotations to your secret shopper reports provides a level of detail that will be appreciated by the mystery shopping company and the client. Which of the following do you think is better?

Maria smiled and said, “Welcome to Buck’s Steak House. Would you like to start with an appetizer? The Potato Poppers are delicious.”

Maria greeted me and smiled.

Pretty obvious, isn’t it? But what about those pesky punctuation marks? Do periods and commas go inside the quotation marks, or outside? What about question marks and exclamation points? And should you capitalize what is contained within the quotation marks? None of these will be a problem for you, once you understand a few basic rules. …continue reading Quotations in Your Mystery Shop Reports

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The latest post in my series about improving your mystery shopper report writing skills.

Restaurant mystery shops have a language of their own. Spell check software may not recognize a word and mark something spelled correctly as an error, or may lack suggestions for words you have misspelled. It is always a good idea to keep a dictionary handy for looking up those hard-to-spell words.

Do not rely on the spelling of a food item found on the itemized receipt. It may be wrong. Even menus can have errors and typos. If you are not sure how to spell something, look it up in your dictionary or through a reliable online resource. Often, just going to Google and entering a misspelled word will do the trick. Google often comes back with a response such as, “Did you mean . . .?”

To make writing my restaurant secret shopping reports easier, I created a list of words I found myself looking up time after time. Why is it that I have never learned to spell “broccoli”? I have added a number of words to my original list to create a more general list for anyone who mystery shops in restaurants. …continue reading Spelling Tips for Restaurant Mystery Shop Reports

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Sentence fragments can be confusing. When used in secret shopper reports.

Oops. That second sentence is actually a sentence fragment. A full sentence typically includes both a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. Imagine each of the first two sentences standing on their own:

Sentence fragments can be confusing.

When used in secret shopper reports.

Could each sentence stand on its own? The first could, but not the second. That makes the second sentence actually a fragment. Fortunately, the fix for sentence fragments is usually easy. Here are some tips on recognizing sentence fragments and eliminating them from your mystery shopper reports. …continue reading Sentence Fragments

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My post on Reverse Auctions and Secret Shopper Pay drew this comment from the owner of a mystery shopping company:

We have noticed a substantial increase in the number of evaluations we must return to shoppers because they are incomplete, have poor explanations, or just don’t make sense. I think in most cases we pay well, but we can’t seem to figure out why the quality has gone down - other than the influence of text messaging.

Do you think this is an exaggeration? Judging by the email I sometimes receive, I do not believe that it is. …continue reading “I WANT TU B UR MSYTERY SHOPPR”

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Do you struggle with describing employees in your mystery shopping reports? How tall was that guy anyway? Is that medium-length hair? Can I say the cashier had a mole on her chin?

Let’s take a look at some quick tips to make describing employees easier. …continue reading Writing Employee Descriptions

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It may seem that an easy way to describe something is to compare it to something else. For example, “The menu at Jim’s House of Steaks is much more varied than The Cow Corral’s.” Or, “The store was much cleaner than during my visit two weeks ago.” However, comparisons of the client to similar companies, one client location to another, or one visit to another do not belong in your reports. Why? …continue reading Secret Shopper Reports - Do Not Make Comparisons

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In surveys and other opinion research, you are asked for your opinions; however, as mystery shoppers we are asked for facts. Although some questions on a mystery shop report may ask for your opinion, such as, “Would you recommend this business to a friend?” most ask for the answers to objective questions: Were you greeted within 30 seconds? Did the server suggest a specific appetizer? Did the salesperson tell you about the extended warranty?

When writing comments on your reports, keep them objective. Here are some examples . . . …continue reading Keep Secret Shopper Reports Objective

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While doing some online surfing, I ran across some articles about mystery shopping written by a mystery shopper.

Almost every other sentence ended with an exclamation point! It was truly annoying! I mean it! Really!

Do you rely on exclamation points in your secret shopper reports? Read on to learn why you should not . . . …continue reading No More Exclamation Points!

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You are at your laptop, writing that report, and you need to look something up. Your reference books are across the room or across town. What do you do? Try one of these helpful online resources: …continue reading Writing Resources for Mystery Shoppers

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