Do people really care about public reviews/ratings?
A good practice to improve one’s service is via feedbacks and reviews. They also provide a reliable source of information for new consumers. We see these review mechanisms daily, to mention a few, while ordering food from Zomato/Swiggy, while purchasing something from Amazon/Flipkart, after taking a ride from ola/uber, even after visiting a cafe. These feedbacks have become inherent to every other business or company whether service or goods based. I am not going to discuss whether they are important or not, they are. Read this, if you want to know more. Talking about the power of these reviews, they have helped individuals become influencers(food bloggers, movie reviewers, tech reviewers[please just google search net worth of Unbox Therapy/MKBHD]) or start a complete business on its own(TripAdvisor, Yelp, Glassdoor). But many a time it happens that there are no or very few reviews that we can’t make the decision based on that. And trust me this is frustrating. We can’t determine the quality of service, whether it will be a good choice or not.
I want to ask, what people think about these mechanisms. Do you as an individual check review/rating before getting something? Do you give feedback after using the service? If not, what is the main roadblock for not doing so? [This becomes an open-ended question, and I guess people just hate them, I will mention a few for your reference, but that might influence your honest opinion so please give it a thought and then answer it] and how these mechanisms can be improved?
Comments I got:
My Views
What I noticed from these above responses is:
1. People do check review/rating if available before paying for something and making a decision.
2. People tend to give reviews more consciously if there is some personal obligation(a request from delivery person, a thank you note) for them to do it.
3. If the rating process is very smooth and hassle-free, it increases the chances of getting feedbacks.
People feel that the seller must make them give feedback, the seller should include a note, the seller should request them, the seller should make feedback mechanism easier, the seller should sell the best product for them to write about it. In short, they are doing someone else’s promotion by giving them feedback. That’s why they also look for some incentive for doing the same. Well, that can help get more reviews but what about the credibility. And if there is no credibility then, what’s the point(Pointed out in one of the responses).
Well, not denying the fact that there is a scope of improvement in current feedback mechanisms, I feel in this marketplace, relevant data is of the almost same importance to sellers and buyers. If it is helping a seller sell something, it is also helping some buyers to get a good product or avoid something bad. This will make the whole community strong together.
Effort in this space has to be made by both parties. Improving the current feedback scenario and increasing engagement could be the next big thing in e-commerce and needs to be acknowledged. Till then, do your part for the community and happy shopping.
