Many mystery shopping providers use a number rating system as a way to rate your services as a mystery shopper. While the rating system is not used uniformly by all mystery shopping providers, the majority of mystery shopping providers do use the number rating system. Your rating as a mystery shopper can go up or down with each assignment you complete, and is typically given on a scale of 1 through 10 with 10 being the highest. Generally speaking, you will qualify for more and better assignments with a higher rating, so it pays to keep your rating up. There are a few key things you can do to ensure you have the highest rating possible.
Do The Job Right. Your assignment guidelines may be several pages long or just a few paragraphs. Either way, someone has taken the time to write them out for you because they are what is important to the client (the retailer, restaurant, or other business that you are “shopping”). Before you head out for your site visit, make sure that you understand what tasks you need to complete during the site visit. Leave yourself enough time before your site visit to contact the scheduler if you have any questions on the requirements. It is far better to ask a question and get the job done right than to read something into the requirements and risk the possibility of doing the job incorrectly.
What’s The Question? After you have completed your site visit, you have only done half of the job. The second half of your assignment is to complete and submit your report. Your shopper rating can be dinged for not answering questions on the report fully or accurately, and for submitting your report late. So after you answer all of the questions, take a few minutes to read through both the questions and the answers. Make sure your answers address the question as it was asked and that the answers contain the right amount of detail. Then make sure your answer to one question does not contradict (or seem to contradict) what you said in another question. Although all of the questions may be answered truthfully, some answers may seem to go against what you said in another section of the report. You may need to add another sentence or two to clarify any gray areas.
Learn The Provider’s Quirks. Every mystery shopping provider likes things done just a little differently from the rest. Some providers will ding your mystery shopper rating if you use contractions in your report while others will ding you for including too much or too little detail. Perhaps your writing style is too conversational and not professional enough. There are numerous nuances that fluctuate between mystery shopping providers. Pay attention to these little nuances and even keep some notes on what each provider likes and dislikes so that you can give them exactly what you are looking for on future reports.
Taking the time to pay attention to these important areas will help you keep your mystery shopper rating as high as possible!