The Mystery Shopper’s Manual

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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 . . .

The exclamation point is a way to show emphasis or surprise, but it should not be overused. After all, if everything is emphasized, nothing is.

F. Scott Fitzgerald compared using exclamation points in your writing to laughing at your own jokes. He also is reported to have said that you should not use an exclamation point more than once per century. That might be extreme, but the fact remains that the exclamation point does not belong in formal business writing.

That means it should not be used in mystery shopper reports.

Many of us use a lot of exclamation points in email. Although you should not overdo them, using exclamation points in email is generally acceptable, as email is a more casual form of communication than other forms of business writing.

And, of course, you should never use multiple exclamation points!!!! Ever!!!!

Punctuation is an important part of writing. Use it properly.