“I WANT TU B UR MSYTERY SHOPPR”
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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.
Because my company belongs to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, I get emails from people who want to be mystery shoppers and think I may be able to hire them. (Note: Regular MSPA membership is limited to companies actively providing mystery shopping services to clients. I am an Associate Member, because I provide services to the MSPA and member companies. Mystery shoppers are not currently eligible for MSPA membership.) Although many of these emails are written in proper business English, others are loaded with errors and are very difficult to read and understand.
Here is one email I received, in full, exactly as written:
I HAVE A VAST PAST EXPERIENCE IN THE RETAIL BUSINESS AND KNOW THE IMPROTANCE OF HAVE RETURNING CUSTOMERS AND MYSTERY SHOPPERS IS THE TOOL TO PROVIDE TO THE COMPANIES THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT THE EMPLOYEES ARE DOING AND WHAT YOU AS THE OWNER OR OPERATORE OF THE COMPNAY NEED TO DO TO GET SALES UP AND CUSTOMERS HAPPY.
Let’s see . . . could this use any improvement? Aside from the three spelling errors, the fact that it is one run-on sentence, and the poor grammar—oh yeah, it is written in ALL CAPS.
I have honestly been impressed with the quality of the comments I receive on this blog. They are not only thoughtful, but well-written. I know there are lots of mystery shoppers with excellent writing skills. However, you might be surprised by the number of emails I get that look like the one above.
Another common writing error is using sentence fragments:
“Any help you can provide. Would be appreciated.”
We all make writing errors from time to time. Yes, that means me, too. I hear the complaint that mystery shopping companies expect us to write well, but emails from schedulers often contain errors. That is not the point. Emails from schedulers to shoppers are not the same as reports we shoppers are submitting that will go to clients. And if you think I am too picky about errors such as the sentence fragment in the last example, you should know that an email that includes errors such as that one typically has several other errors, too.
Keep in mind that many of the errors I see are in emails where someone is asking me to hire them. I don’t know about you, but when I am seeking a job I try to put my best foot forward. That means wearing a nice, clean outfit to the interview, arriving on time, being responsive to the interviewer’s questions, and thanking them for considering me. If all the hiring company knows about me is what is on my application or in an email I sent, I will always make it my best work. People who are careless in writing an application are not going to be better writers when it is time to do a mystery shop report.
What is the reason for all of this bad writing? Well, the rise of texting and emailing is probably a factor. These casual forms of communication encourage speed and immediacy, not quality writing. Have educational standards declined? It has been said that we are graduating students who are unable to read their diplomas. If true, that is tragic.
Some people maintain that the language is evolving, and people who insist on proper spelling, grammar and sentence structure are behind the times. Language does evolve, and you can find proof by reading something that was written in American English 100 years ago. However, the standards for business writing have not yet evolved to, “C U L8R.” Or perhaps I should have said “devolved,” as I do not see text-speak as a forward progression.
If you believe your writing skills may not be up to par, take action to improve. Sign up for a business writing class at your community college. Take a one-day grammar workshop. Read books on grammar and writing.
Learning proper writing does not have to be deadly-dull. Listen to the Grammar Girl podcast for short, entertaining lessons that will make you a better speaker and writer. Or pick up one of the books listed below to laugh out loud while you learn about grammar, spelling and punctuation.
6 Responses to '“I WANT TU B UR MSYTERY SHOPPR”'
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on February 15th, 2008 at 10:03 am
I understand the schedulers concern regarding incomplete evaluations or those with poor grammar. I must comment on one thing she points out. The scheduler states, “I think in most cases we pay pretty well.” This is true to run in and do the shop ($9.00-$15.00 for a 10-20 minute task), however, when the evaluator is asked for written details for several questions (especially on a shop with a lot of negatives responses). The report can sometimes take an hour or more to put in the computer. That is not good pay. I love Mystery Shopping, but it does iritate me when people forget that are job does not end at the shop.
P.S. I didn’t check my grammar, hope it passes.
on February 15th, 2008 at 10:53 am
The comment I quoted at the beginning of the post came from the owner of a mystery shopping company. I do not believe that he was speaking for the industry as a whole, but for his company. I do not know what pay scale his company offers–it may in fact be higher than that offered by others.
Also, for most shoppers the time required to complete reports decreases with experience. I know that when I started it took me FOREVER to do a report. After doing them for a while, I got faster because I figured out what the heck I was doing. There are still reports that can take an hour or more, but most do not.
@JENSPYR, it is up to us as independent contractors to decide which assignments are worthwhile for us and which companies we want to work with. If a company does not offer pay that makes their shops worth it, dump ‘em. That is true of any work, including mystery shopping.
on February 15th, 2008 at 11:43 am
As a MSPA gold-certified shopper of 1 1/2 years and a faithful reader of this blog, I have found a topic that warrants my addressing. Without mentioning any company names, I am sure we have all received emails and shop instructions loaded with typos and just plain bad grammar. I often wonder what type of correspondence the client receives from the shopping company given the stringent set of guidelines to which we must adhere. I am also leery about the scheduler’s comment that they pay “pretty well.” We all have done shops where we must report comments in each section of the report that is sometimes pages long. In addition, there is also a request that we upload business cards, photos, etc. Often for these shops the shopper pay is $5 - $7 dollars for 1-2 hours of work. No offense to anyone, but you can make more money at the fast food joints flipping burgers for what we are sometimes paid.
on February 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I agree that some of those emails are appalling. Some are bad enough to make me question whether I want to work for a company that hires people who can not seem to write a decent sentence.
However, playing Devil’s advocate here, the skills required to be a good shopper are not necessarily the same ones required to be a good scheduler. Although some schedulers are also editors, most are not. Schedulers should have acceptable writing skills, but a scheduler sending an email with a typo is not a big deal to me. (I am not referring to the emails full of errors, but the occasional typo.)
As for pay rates, those $5 shops are why my computer keyboard has a “delete” key. Thanks but no thanks. What is even better is when a mystery shopping company wants you to spend time going through a testing process (for which you are not paid, of course) to have the chance to maybe get one of those $5 shops. Uh, no.
Just say no to companies that do not respect secret shoppers.
on February 15th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Just say no is a workable philosophy. I have found that most mystery shopping jobs pay far less than minimum wage and it simply doesn’t pay to do them. Instead, I have limited my mystery shopping activity to well paying assignments. Companies seem to realize that I am a business person who keeps my commitments and produces reports that are thorough and camera ready. The jobs roll into my email inbox. I guess my point is that if we offer quality then quality tends to be returned to us by the mystery shopping companies. (This philosophy works in life, not just in mystery shopping.) And there is real fun to be had when the shopping and writing are rewarded with fair payment. Thank you for allowing me this comment.
on February 15th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
@Powderpuff: You’ve got it! It can take some time and dues paying to get the point you are at, but mystery shopping companies LOVE to find shoppers upon whom they can rely, and they reward them.