Hi there fellow shoppers!

I've noticed a lot of you inquiring about the badges system, how it works, what is it for, etc. I'm creating this thread as an attempt to explain everything there is to know about the badge system, it's importance, and the different badges. I'll break it down in different sections, so it's easy to find what you're interested in.

Why badges? What's the real benefit?

There are multiple answers to this. The main reason and the simplest explanation is that the badges represent your shopper experience far better than any "score" system ever could. At a glance, you can keep track of your progress, and the schedulers of all MSPs can see the most important info they need when deciding on who to give a shop to - which shop types have you had experience with (and how much), what's your overall level of activity and experience, how long have you been a shopper in the system, etc.

There are more practical applications too - the Reputation badge (which I'll explain in more detail later) increases your self-assign limit. Higher levels of some specialty badges let you bypass the self-assign limit altogether and grab as many shops of that specialty as you'd like. Obtaining any specialty badge allows you to receive push notifications whenever a shop of that specialty becomes available.

Lastly - it's fun! Personally, I love keeping track of my progress, "leveling up" in anything I do, and this system lets me do just that, within the world of mystery shopping which we all obviously have interest in.

The badge types - what kinds of badges are there, and how do you get them?

I'd divide all badges into 3 general categories, and I'll explain each one:

1. System Badges - these are fully automated, unrelated to any specific shop type, and the only ones that are entirely the responsibility of the iSecretShop system and the great folks that maintain it.
2. Specialty Badges - These are the badges that are earned by completing shops of a specific category - for example completing a Fine Dining shop will grant you a Fine Dining specialty badge.
3. Awarded Badges - These are special badges that are awarded manually by schedulers and editors when they deem appropriate.

System badges

As I mentioned, these are automated, and awarded by the system when certain parameters are met. Here's what they are:

Reputation - THE badge. :) This badge is a direct replacement of the old "shopper score" - your overall shopper points are collected by the system and displayed in the form of your Reputation badge level, and it's progress towards the next one. Simply put, you increase it's level by gaining shopper points, which is done by successfully completing shops (every shop done gives you a fixed amount of points), by completing courses on iSSprep, and by doing Opinion Polls on iSecretShop. With every new level of this badge, your self-assign limit will increase, and it may be a small increase at first, but starts increasing exponentially at higher levels (after level 5), allowing you to self-assign over a dozen shops at a time. Higher levels do require a lot of time and shops done, so stay persistent!

Legacy - this badge is a representation of how long have you been an active shopper in the system, it's level corresponding with the number of years. Even if you only do one or two shops a year, this badge should still be increasing in level. However, it won't increase if you haven't done any shops in a year.

Reliability - this is a measurement that represents the ratio of the shops you've had assigned to you, to shop canceled. Basically, if you do a lot of shops and you never cancel them, this badge will stay at level 5, as a recognition of that. If cancellations start happening, its level drops.

Quality - similar to the previous one, this badge is a representation of the ratio of Approved vs. Declined shops - if all your reports get approved and you get no declines, it stays at level 5. If declines start happening, its level drops.

Diversity - this is awarded when you complete shops from a lot of different categories, therefore obtaining a lot of different specialty badges.

Globetrotter - this badge is awarded for completing shops far away from your listed home address (outside of your home state for example).

Poll Contributor - this badge is awarded for completing Opinion Polls on iSecretShop

Forum Contributor - this badge serves as recognition of your contributions to this forum, and is awarded when you post and people up-vote your posts.

Recruiter - this badge is awarded when you refer iSecretShop to your friends. When they use your referral link to sign up and start doing shops, you should receive this badge. If you don't, open a ticket for iSecretShop and let them know - you should get the badge soon after :)

#1 on Weekly Leader Board - you get this badge when you are number 1 on the weekly leader board for your area. Please note that you need to repeat this success several times to get a level 2 badge, even more times for level 3, and so on.

Age and ID Verified – This badge is awarded when the Age & Identification Verification process is successfully completed and the shopper gets verified. This process relies on verifying shopper’s public records, and requires a one-time fee to be done.

Specialty Badges

These are the most common badges, and most straightforward to get.

You do a shop of a specific category, and you get a level 1 badge for that category. You do more shops of that category (usually a dozen or so), and you get a level 2 badge. You do a lot more, and you get level 3 - and so on and so on. Level 5 is the maximum level of these, and it pretty much shows everyone that you've mastered doing shops in that category.

What's important to mention is that these are entirely the responsibility of the MSP who posted the shop(s). When posting shops, they need to set their shops in such a way that they award the appropriate specialty badge when completed, and every shop can only award one specialty badge (meaning that one shop cannot be in two specialty categories at once).

This categorization can sometimes cause confusion - for example, if you are doing a telephone shop to evaluate the operator and admission process of a healthcare facility, you could receive a badge for Telephone/Web OR Healthcare. The shop may be a phone shop that requires no knowledge or experience with insurance, and is simply to evaluate the process. Or you can have a phone shop that requires you to have experience in a specific area to complete, and does not require call experience. MSPs try to be as specific as possible when choosing the shop category/specialty and iSecretShop cannot dictate which badge it would be as this is completely up to the MSP and how they categorize the shop. If you have questions regarding a specific badge awarded for a completed shop, you will want to contact the MSP to inquire about the badge credit received.

These are all the different specialty badges currently in the system, and in time there will probably be more:

Automotive, Adults Only, Alcohol/Tobacco Age Verification, Audits, Bar, Banking/Financial, Bowling, Casino/Gaming, Entertainment, Education, Fast Food, Gas Station/C-store, Grocery, Healthcare, Home/Apartment, Insurance, Interviewer, Lodging, Market Research, Parking, Price Audit, Restaurant - Family and Casual Dining, Restaurant - Fine Dining, Retail, Service, Shipping/Freight/Postal, Storage, Telephone/Web, Transportation, Video.

Awarded Badges:

These are a special kind of badges, they aren't automatically earned or deserved by any specific action. They are instead awarded manually by editors and schedulers when they recognize a specific quality or value in you as a shopper, for something you did, or are repeatedly doing.

Here are the different types:

Last Minute Assist - this badge is awarded to those shoppers who accept and complete shops at the last minute, against tight deadlines, and significantly help schedulers achieve their goals of having the shops completed on time.

Grammarian - this badge is awarded to shoppers whose shop report quality and writing skills, attention to details and answer completeness are exceptional, on a constant basis.

Hero - this badge is awarded to in recognition of exceptionally good behavior that the editors/schedulers/admins want to reward. It may be given to shoppers who demonstrate exceptional professional ethics and integrity in the course of performing shops, or shoppers who work closely with the admins and MSPs on making improvements to a project or the system in general, or shoppers who simply display a very positive, “reward-worthy” behavior.

These are the rarest badges, and getting one makes you really stand out, and you can be sure that you are truly appreciated as a shopper, and someone who makes the schedulers' and editors' job easier and more pleasurable.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

-The specific parameters that define at which time System and Specialty badges are awarded, are the proprietary information of the iSecretShop system, and are not revealed to shoppers, nor to schedulers or editors, as that is susceptible to change, and is tweaked to improve the user experience. This includes information such as how many points (or completed shops) it takes for a specific Reputation badge level, how many shops of a specific category you need to complete to level up that specialty badge, what's the self-assign limit for each level of the Reputation badge, how many posts or up-votes on the Forum you need to have to get which level of the Forum Contributor Badge, etc.

-If you have questions about the badge system in general or any of the System Badges, open a support ticket for iSecretShop and feel free to ask. If you have questions about any specific Specialty badge and/or the shops that you completed that should award it, contact the MSP that posted the shop(s) and ask them.

I hope this helps provide some clarification, and if you have any questions or suggestions about the Badges or anything I've listed above, feel free to comment bellow :)

Cheers!

Ivan,

     Thanks for the explanation. It cleared up a lot of questions.

Dave K.

You're most welcome!

I like the fact that all of the criteria which Ivan explains above is not known. Look at it as another facet of secret shopping. If iSS revealed everything, then it wouldn't be fun. There's nothing like a guessing game when it comes to the badges. Hey, if it means that much to you then you can do the math. There is a way to guess ta mate the things above, but as Ivan states, it changes often, so you might be wasting your time. What's important is you work with a reputable company, iSS, to complete your shops. There are a lot of scams out there, so shopper beware, outside of iSS. Other posts on this forum contain information if you desire to find it. For now, put on your uniform, and give yourself a badge, a Badge of Courage, as you go shopping! Ha! Happy shopping

I went to the flea market(which has a concession stand)and got badges or badge levels for retail and diversity but not fast food.LOL

I live in Northern California and I think it is going to take me a long time to get badges!

Ivan - Thank you for the detailed descriptions. I have been inactive for some time so I am looking forward to being active again. When/how often are the opinion polls open for participation? Thanks, Denise

Thanks Ivan! It's always helpful to know what's out there.

You're welcome guys!

Denise - the Opinion Polls open up whenever a client requests them, so there aren't any rules or indicators of what that may be, but lately it hasn't been that often. I like doing those myself, so I hope more pop up soon :)

Thank you for this post. I was just reviewing each one in the app but a breakdown with details is always welcomed.