Mystery Shopper's Manual

Spelling Tips for Mystery Shoppers

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alphabet.jpgAre there words that you can never seem to remember how to spell? Most of us struggle with at least a few words. Spell check may catch them for you, but you can not always rely on spell check. Sometimes your spelling is so far off that even spell check can not figure it out.

I keep a list of the words I can never remember how to spell (such as “occurred”–is it one ‘r’ or two?) near my computer so I can refer to it when needed. I have expanded the list here to create a reference tool with some of the most commonly misspelled words.

Keeping this list near your computer, and referring to it often, will save you time and reduce your spelling errors when writing mystery shopping reports.

Get a handy printable version (PDF) of Spelling Tips for Mystery Shop Reports here.

Note that this list is based on American spelling. There may be variations in the way some of these terms are spelled in other countries.Continue Reading

Writing Numbers in Mystery Shopper Reports

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numbers.jpgSecret shop reports use a lot of numbers. When you need to put a number into a sentence should you use the numerals, or spell it out?

There is no clear-cut answer to this one. It is largely a matter of style. If the mystery shopping company has a style guide they ask shoppers to use when writing reports, that will determine how you use numbers. However, in the absence of specific style guidelines, here are some suggestions for when to use the numerals and when to spell out numbers.Continue Reading

Run-on Sentences

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In an earlier post, I showed you how to identify and correct sentence fragments. Run-on sentences are the flip side of fragments. Where a fragment is not a complete sentence, a run-on sentence is two or more complete thoughts that are run together without punctuation. For example, this is a run-on sentence:

Ken asked if I wanted to schedule delivery of the desk he said delivery could be on Tuesday or Thursday.

There are two complete thoughts there. To eliminate the run-on sentence, you could write:Continue Reading

Don’t Use No Double Negatives

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A common writing error is the improper use of double negatives. Examples of double negatives include:

“I haven’t got no money.”

“He is not going nowhere.”

And, courtesy of Pink Floyd:

“We don’t need no education.”

Here is what you need to know about double negatives and why you shouldn’t never . . . uh, shouldn’t ever use them.Continue Reading

Commonly Confused Words

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commonly_confused_words.jpgEven the best writers get tripped up by certain words. When does “its” include an apostrophe? When should you use “farther” and when is “further” correct? Is it “less” people or “fewer” people? Did you “lose” your keys or “loose” them?

Sometimes even when my brain knows that correct word, my fingers are confused. I have often keyed “there” when I meant “their,” for example. We get in the flow of writing or keying, and enter the wrong word without realizing it. That is why proofreading is so important.

Even if you think you know the correct usage, here are some of the words you need to watch out for in your writing, along with some tips to help you remember which words to use in various contexts.Continue Reading

Using I or Me in a Sentence

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i.jpgOne of the grammar issues many people struggle with is the question of whether to use “I” or “me” in a sentence. And should you mix it up now and then by using “myself” instead of “I” or “me”?

Consult a grammar book and it will tell you that you should use “I” when the word you are using is the subject of the sentence and you should use “me” when the word is the object of the sentence. Well, that clears that up. If you learned to diagram sentences in school, that may answer the question for you. However, that answer does not help if you do not know the difference between a subject or object, or just do not want to translate that way. There is an easier way to know when to use “I” and when to use “me.” Continue Reading

Quotations in Your Mystery Shop Reports

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quotation-marks.jpgThis 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

Spelling Tips for Restaurant 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

Sentence Fragments

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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

“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.Continue Reading