Mystery Shopper's Manual

  • Blog
  • About
    • Privacy/Disclosures
  • The Mystery Shopper’s Manual
  • Mystery Shopping Companies
You are here: Home / Dealing with Mystery Shopping Companies / How Do Mystery Shopping Companies Determine Shopper Ratings?

How Do Mystery Shopping Companies Determine Shopper Ratings?

May 7, 2012 by Cathy Stucker Leave a Comment

Most mystery shopping companies use a rating system to grade reports from secret shoppers, often a scale of 1 to 10. These ratings are used to identify the shoppers who produce the best work, and a low rating may keep you from getting the mystery shopper jobs you want.For example, some assignments may only be available to shoppers with an average rating of 8 or better, or shoppers with high ratings may be able to self-assign certain shops, without having to wait for a scheduler to award the shop to them.

Here is an explanation of how these ratings are typically determined, and how you can keep your ratings high.

Each company uses it own method, however, there are many similarities. If a company is using a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest, a 10 usually means that the report was exactly right. The report was complete, it was submitted on time, the editor did not have to follow up with the shopper because of questions or issues with the report, and there were no grammatical errors that required the editor to revise the report. In short, a “perfect” report.

Some companies may be a little flexible on this, and give a 10 to a report that had a spelling error or some other minor issue. However, in general, a 10 is a report where the editor does nothing but review it and verify that it is correct and complete.

Editors may deduct one or more points for each problem with the report. Although the editor may have some discretion in scoring, companies have policies about setting ratings. They want ratings to be consistent, no matter which editor reviews the reports. In reality, some editors (just like that tough teacher you had in 5th grade!) are tougher than others when it comes to rating reports. However, the difference should not be significant–maybe a point or two.

Points may be deducted for:

  • Submitting a late report
  • Not including all required comments
  • Spelling, grammar or punctuation errors
  • Failing to submit required documentation, such as a receipt
  • Inconsistent answers, unclear comments, or anything that requires the editor contact the shopper for clarification
  • Ratings may also be reduced for failing to follow the shop guidelines. Of course, failing to follow the guidelines may cause the client to reject your report. Not only will you receive a low rating, when a client rejects your report you will not be paid for the shop and you may not be eligible to complete future shops for that client.

You can earn high report ratings by:

  • Carefully reading and following all shop guidelines.
  • Completing your report as soon as possible after the shop visit.
  • Explaining anything in the report that the editor might possibly question.
  • Providing good details in your report.
  • Re-reading your report to make sure all answers and comments are consistent, and all comments clearly describe what occurred.
  • Proofreading to catch any grammatical errors.
  • Reviewing the report to be certain all required documentation has been submitted.

Do your best work and you will receive the shop ratings (and the great assignments) you deserve.

Filed Under: Dealing with Mystery Shopping Companies Tagged With: mystery shopper ratings, mystery shopper reports

« How to Avoid Spam
When Is It OK to Cancel a Shop? »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mystery Shopping Companies

Updated 4/20/18! Access my free curated list of more than 150 legitimate mystery shopping companies.

Scam Warning

If you received a check or money order with instructions to cash it and wire money to someone, DON'T DO IT! This is a scam.
Click here to learn more about
mystery shopper scams.

Get ‘The Mystery Shopper’s Manual’

NEW 7TH EDITION!

Get your personally autographed copy of The Mystery Shopper's Manual here.
mystery-shoppers-manual-3d

Connect with Cathy

Follow Me on FacebookFollow Me on Google+Follow Me on TwitterFollow Me on LinkedInFollow Me on YouTubeFollow Me on PinterestFollow Me on RSS

Recent Articles

  • Do Millionaires Mystery Shop?
  • Mystery Shopper Resolutions
  • Mystery Shopping for Mystery Shopper Pros
  • Keep the “Secret” in “Secret Shopper”
  • The McDonald’s Receipt Hack

Categories

Applying to Mystery Shopping Companies Customer Service Dealing with Mystery Shopping Companies Dealing with Shopping Emergencies Employees and Mystery Shopping Grammar and Spelling Green Mystery Shopping Hazards of Mystery Shopping Holiday Mystery Shopping How to Become a Mystery Shopper Identity Theft Independent Contractor Issues Industry News Make Money Online Memory Improvement Money and Mystery Shopping Mystery Shopper Certification Mystery Shopper Ethics Mystery Shopper Fun Mystery Shopper Jobs Mystery Shopper Scam Mystery Shopper Scheduling Companies Mystery Shopper Secrecy Mystery Shopper Taxes Mystery Shopper Tools Mystery Shopping Clients Mystery Shopping Company Mystery Shopping Pay Mystery Shopping Providers Association Mystery Shopping Recordkeeping Mystery Shopping Resources Online Security Opportunities for Mystery Shoppers Preparing for the Mystery Shop Profitable Mystery Shopping Secret Shopper How-To Secret Shopper Quick Tips Secret Shopping and the Law Secret Shopping Confidentiality Sticky Secret Shopper Situations Technology and Secret Shopping Types of Mystery Shops Video Mystery Shopping Working Online Writing Mystery Shopper Reports

Copyright © 2004 - 2022 · Cathy Stucker

Copyright © 2022 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in