Joys of Reviews

[JoJo Aurelia]

This is jusst a rant, nothing more. But if you want to chime in, cool.

Every once in a while I get a review that's ridiculous. Example. I sell a pair of boots for like nothing, not because they are bad boots, but because I just sell them cheap. Fine. Part one of story. Now, I have sold about a million of them. But I have 2 reviews. One is five star, and one is one star. The one star did not contact me, but posted that the item was not "pixilating" at a far distance. She also wrote this in Spanish so I had to use Google translator.

Now, I have no idea what viewer she is using, or what her settings are.

Future: I am going to include a notecard with some debug settings in my shoes (I don't make many and they have no extra prims, pretty basic).

Market Place needs a pop up that says, "Have you notified the merchant for help before you post this review?"

Give Peace a Chance

[Fayette Charron]

I don't have a shop on marketplace, but I've seen plenty of reviews of product that are similar to your own. I know I've contact the seller any time I've had that sort of issue, then only if I do not hear from them after having contacted them again will I post a negative review. People are too quick to publicly complain when it would take little effort in most cases to try having things resolved.

[Morgaine Christensen]

Wanted to give my two cents worth even though it may not be popular.  I guess maybe I am venting as well in a way.

It is not always easy to receive bad reviews, especially when customers don't contact you when they have a problem/issue or issue. I have had a number of bad reviewsover the years ranging from they didn't like my permissions and thought if they bought the no mod version they could talk me into giving a mod version...to mistakes I made in construction.  Each time, I learned something from the experience.  I know it is frustrating especially when you put your energies into creating something and then someone finds issues with it.  I have learned to take it in stride over the years.

You can't correct it if you don't know what the issue is. What if there is nothing wrong with the product?  Could be they just don't like the product, in that case, there is absolutely nothing you can do but agree to disagree. It can be frustrating when there is a language barrier.  Even if they don't speak English, they are still a paying and valuable customer.   My guess, is she is just as frustated with you and SL over the language barrier, as you are with her.  You can always ask some of the groups you are involved with if there are any bi/multilingual speakers that might assist you in translation and composing a reply.  Not to mention, it lets the customer know you do care about them and their hard earned money they chose to spend with you.

The way you treat her over this particular instance will directly impact your future revenue on some level.  How she is treated will determine if she will  spend her money with you in the future,but  more importantly, if her friends, or her friends friends spend money with you.  Doesn't matter if it is her viewer issue, it is how you try to resolve the issue with her that will really matter. Even after all these years, the Golden Rule really does apply.

I know with all the varying viewers around, it probably is simple like a viewer setting she isn't is aware of.  SL really is like RL, it doesn't come with a comprehensive, easy to read/use reference manual.   Maybe, the person is new and just  needs to vent her frustration and needs a little advice.  Take the extra step to assist her.

I try to include in my product such things as LOD information and how a particular door set works that I use in building.  I think it helps to keep customers informed, especially those who may be new or less experienced. I have a blank product bag/box ready to put my items for sale.  I update this box every so often with information I think the customer might need or would like to have. I also include my sales policy, how I can be reached if there is an issue etc.  While they may not read it, I know I provided this to them to the best of my ability. 

I doubt this would work for you since you sell "millions" of this product, but you could always contact a few of your recent customers to see how they like the product,  if they had any issues, how they might like to change the product, is it up to date enough, etc.?   Keeps you in touch with your customer base and adds a personal touch.  I know the merchants I go to first for items I need are the ones that show they do care about their customer base.

I know many will disagree with me, but I think the Marketplace is just fine and doesn't need a pop-up before a person rates my products.  A customer doesn't have a responsibility to contact a merchant for help before posting a review.  Honestly, it is to their benefit to contact the merchant first, but they do not have to.   I see the reviews as another source for a customer service opportunity.   A review can always be deleted and a new one posted once you have assisted a customer.  And, if they do not, you can always comment on their review for future customers..  A customer has a right to review a product they purchased without repurcussions from the person they purchased from. 

I think including a note card is a great idea and probably will save you some headaches in the long haul. Do the best you can.  Take things in stride.  Enjoy what you do.

 

[Sassy Romano]

If the LOD requires that she fixes it on her PC but everyone else sees it as a sculpty that collapses into a low LOD heap, does that show the product in a good light to everyone around?

I disagree that a customer should have to fix up their local settings to make something look right only to themselves because the build was inherently not optimal.

Yet again though this only highlights that LL really need to spend some time adding the 2 lines to the markeptlace submit event that will send an email when a review is left.

[Chelsea Malibu]

I feel your pain but for so much as problems with low ratings as much as that the entire system is misleading.  It's not a matter of who is right here, you or the customer but they system itself bypasses this while not sending you any notification of a problem.  When someone posted a review in the old SLX system, we got an email.

 

[JoJo Aurelia]

She doesn't want refund. She only wishes her review will help me be better. :0 erm ok. I don't see what she sees in her complaint so wish to refund her. She uses Singularity. This is only viewer I don't have loaded. I want customers to be happy...sometimes can't help them be so. Any customer who won't take help or refund is maybe not a customer...

[Zanara Zenovka]

I have to agree with Morgaine here. Every bad review is a chance to learn something, even if on the odd occasion that 'something' may be "yes, there are nutcases out there" or "i seem to have a vindictive competitor who feels threatened".

I get the odd one-star review from out of the blue, and apart from the above situations, it can usually be sorted out after contacting the person politely and fixing a misunderstanding or explaining how something works. I find if i can work out what they're trying to do (because I sell scripted tools, people are buying them for some particular purpose) and advise them on their options, we can work it out. After talking to people, I've also had one-star reviews generate custom jobs or good ideas for extra features.

I take customer feedback seriously because it helps me make better things better. My products are full of features and are easy to use not just because I design that way, but because I have a particularly vocal subsection of a loyal customer base who have no qualms in contacting me and saying " i like your new x, but to be really useful to me I want it to do x, y, and is there any way you can get rid of the z?"

I also sometimes do surveys on new products and the feedback is invaluable, and at times leads to a new version with enhanced features, and also tends to generate some great quotes from happy customers which is always nice. But you do hear complaints and requests that you would never know about unless you'd asked.

People aren't always comfortable talking to a creator one-on-one, or they want to get something off their chest *now*, and without reviews we wouldn't get that feedback at all, and instead some buyers would just circulate complaints that we never hear about.

[Rya Nitely]

I understand how you feel and I'd feel the same way too. You were being generous to your customers by offering a good quality item at a very low price, and someone **bleep** on it.

I've been there. That's why I don't have freebies or sell anything cheap. It's more of a slap in the face when I get a bad review when I saw it as a gift. So I don't do it anymore.

I guarantee you that if your item wasn't so cheap or free it would never have got that 1 star review.

 

[JoJo Aurelia]

I take all feedback very seriously. And of course we can learn things. Yet, if they don't wish to be helped, then what can anyone do? Nothing. Move on.

She said to me that she was "helping me," but the item was beautiful? Seems contradictory. A 3 star maybe would be more reasonable to her responses back to me, now in English... Anyways... 

I examined the item in her viewer. Singularity was totally borked on my system. The graphics were pixelated.

I noted that the boots were higher on my leg since I made them, since I made my avi taller, but they could be repositioned. There is a sizer in them (tho I am not using the extra scripts these days), so over all, they could be adjusted. The texture is just white. They are patent leather boots, white. Not much I can do with a shiny texture. Patent leather is, well patent leather.

Never ever would I not  appreciate customers. My rant was the retarded review. From a 5 to a 1 from a customer who didn't want a refund or any help, just wanted to "help me be better."  Just strange and that is what I was in the mood to rant, nothing more. We all have those ranting days. and Rya, you are RIGHT.

Once I was selling very nicely done T shirts, 2 for 10 Lindens. Ok, so I get a complaint that she wanted them in both layers, jacket and shirt. Then she preached to me that "better designers" offered both. Grrr. I made her the shirt layer, but for 10 Lindens they were a steal at the jacket layer. 

I believe, honestly, that some customers just don't realize the time involved in the design and implementing process. Like this lady who wants to "help" me as if she's any idea the complexity of making boots in SL. 

Thanks all for tips and trades. Blessings. 

[Tiffy Vella]

/me comes in at the end just to add some sympathy. It's a frustrating situation.

 

 

 

[Pamela Galli]

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Sassy Romano wrote:

I disagree that a customer should have to fix up their local settings to make something look right only to themselves because the build was inherently not optimal.

 

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It sounds to me like some people want to pay little or nothing but expect the quality to be top notch. If the boots were almost freebies, maybe potential customers should consider the possibility that the quality is not going to be optimal.

 

[Zanara Zenovka]

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Faye Feldragonne wrote:

 

Once I was selling very nicely done T shirts, 2 for 10 Lindens. Ok, so I get a complaint that she wanted them in both layers, jacket and shirt. Then she preached to me that "better designers" offered both. Grrr. I made her the shirt layer, but for 10 Lindens they were a steal at the jacket layer. 

I believe, honestly, that some customers just don't realize the time involved in the design and implementing process. Like this lady who wants to "help" me as if she's any idea the complexity of making boots in SL. 

 

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Look I don't mean to pick on you here - but this is a perfect example.

(1) Jacket is not a logical layer for a t-shirt - people might want to wear it with...a jacket?

(2) Yes, better designers, or at least successful ones, do give people layer options

(3) It doesn't matter how much something costs, if a buyer finds something unusable - whether 10, 1000 or 0 linden - it's still unusable, and they make a mental note not to buy from you again. It's never a steal if it's worthless to you.

There should be no "grrr" here - it's good feedback, and stuff you need to pay attention to if you ever want to get anywhere in business.

Sure, give yourself a "how dare they?" moment if you must, then suck it up and make the extra layers in everything in future. It's hardly much more work and your products will be more sellable for it.