Suggested change to review criteria

[Magnet Homewood]

Hi, it's me again.

I was going to tag this idea on the end of the discussion about the beta search thing, but it isnt really relevant apart from perhaps suggesting a way the review system would affect the search results.

So let me describe my idea.

In the rules about the MP, it is acceptable to give a review about the customer service the merchant has offered, but in my opinion, NO customer service needed after a sale means THE BEST customer service, because, I hope you will agree, when the customer has no reason to contact the selller about any problems, then the seller has done the job as best they can.

I get annoyed when I see 5 star reviews about customer service when I am getting it right first time - packing a box with all the right items, making sure scripts work as intended, and making sure all the other things that might go wrong are fixed before I post it.

(I sometimes spend up to an hour with a customer to sort out things like: the scripts in the sim are turned off, or the lag is so bad that they rezzed multiple copies and now the script doesnt seem to communicate with the right part, or they rezzed the wrong part so the intended action of the script does not happen. I don't usually get reviews for this use of my time, because it isn't my product that is faulty, but the customers experience of SL.)

My idea is this - change the rules for the reviews so they have to specifically be about that one product that has been bought. Then add a review system for the merchant, specifically concerned with customer service (but it doesnt have to be limited to that), so that customers can rate how they feel their interaction with the merchant went, kind of like Flickr offers a 'testimony' on a photographers profile.

The assumption is, that the merchant will treat customers over time in a similar way, so the merchant rating can affect this, and either go down or up over time as the merchant gets feedback from customers, but they may mess up with one product, and be penalized (or praised) when they fix that one product.

The customers, in turn, can quickly see how a merchant is rated by customers in general, without having to wade through a number of reviews over a number of products, which may or may not adress the issue of their customer service.

 

[Darrius Gothly]

If I understand you correctly Magnet, what you are proposing is an expansion of the existing review system so that it's more like a Customer Satisfaction Survey. At the very least it would be divided into "Product Review" and "Seller Review" responses? Am I getting that right?

I've had some very positive sessions with customers, both resolving my issues and theirs. Many times after those the customer has returned to the Marketplace and left a review. (Happily it's always been positive .. so far. *crosses fingers*)

I am confident enough in my approach to customer service that I'd give a nod to Seller Reviews too. But only on the proviso that the reviewer's name and full comment be posted. And it needs to include a link back to the product that earned the Seller the review given.

If I had my wishes fulfilled though, I'd wish for a simple "after sale reminder" from SLM with a link to leave a review. It would also be nice to have a "Purchased but not reviewed" page like was on XStreet.

Reviews are important. They can be the deciding factor for customers and sellers alike. But only if they are an integral part of the purchase process. As they are implemented now, they are the red-headed stepchild .. living out back in the shed .. on the property across town.

[HunniHope]

 

 

I like and agree with these points but I'd like to see the review ratings work both ways, for buyer & for seller. 

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I'd wish for a simple "after sale reminder" from SLM with a link to leave a review. It would also be nice to have a "Purchased but not reviewed" page

 

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Unfortunately many ppl use throw away email accounts or never check spam/trash folders in emails so they prolly wouldnt see it anyway, but it would be nice to see this. A week after purchase is a good time for a reminder, its given the buyer plenty of time to try and test their purchase. But the reminder should be sent to the recipient of the product in the case of gifting.

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Reviews are important. They can be the deciding factor for customers and sellers alike

 

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Magnet Homewood wrote:

change the rules for the reviews so they have to

specifically

be about that one product that has been bought. Then add a review system for the

merchant

, specifically concerned with customer service (but it doesnt have to be limited to that), so that customers can rate how they feel their interaction with the merchant went,

 

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I'd like to see some default radio options come into play. For example; where a buyer leaves a rating of 3 or less and selects that they have NOT contacted the seller then the review itself is placed in stasis until further action by buyer or seller. Other defauts can include things like "was the product as described" "was it as per the image" etc and so forth. These rankings could then be combined into an overall ranking system against our merchant profile on the marketplace to give a guide as to our customer service, product display etc. 

On the flipside to this I'd like it for sellers to review against buyers in return. They may not have a merchant profile against their name but they can have a buyer profile, showing the reviews they have left and for what products. Reviews would only be left in response to a review from the buyer. If there is a publicly visable at-a-glance record of what they say in a review then maybe, just maybe, we can start to see some more genuine and credible comments & reviews, and less of the "im gonna give it 1 star cos you wont dumped me" kind of review.

Reviews and ratings need to drop off after a time too. Product rankings by rating should be limited to the previous 3 months. The 20 ratings of a product 3 years ago, or even 9 months ago, has no relevance on how the product or seller performs today.

[Sassy Romano]

I don't agree that no customer service needed after a sale is the best. That just means that the product worked as described.

 

There's plenty of opportunity for enhancements but feature requests should be entered into the JIRA system so that they can be triaged and ignored in favour of faffing around with other elements that aren't requested by those who should be the major stakeholders.

 

Have you learned nothing yet about how this place works Magnet?

[Amethyst Jetaime]

I don't agree with the best customer service is when none is needed.  What about people that contact sellers asking for help setting up a product or explanations of things they don't understand not because instructions were not  clear but they are missing some basic SL skills or understanding of how things work?  Many merchants go above and beyond what is really required.

I also would agree with rating sellers, separate from products, if buyer could be rated by sellers too.  It would cut back some on unreasonable requests, complaints such as a product is not copy when it clearly stated it was transfer only or personal attacks against a seller because they won't comply with either of these.

Lastly I think it must be required that a buyer purchased the product on the Marketplace since there is no way for anyone other than the seller to know if the customer actually bought the product.

[Dresden]

I'm glad you posted this, because I have a few things to say about the rating/review system on MP.

I think it's absolutely insane that customers can't rate something without writing a review about it.  I guarantee you that if we could just rate things, you'd have a whole hell of a lot more feedback to apply to relevance than you do now.  There's simply not enough feedback right now to tell what's decent and what's not.  Most things on MP don't have even one review.

As far as I'm concerned, rating systems are meant so that customers can inform other customers about the products they've tried.  Go ahead and use it to calculate relevance all you want, but that's not the main point of it all.

I tend to buy lots of things on the MP and the thought of having to write reviews for every one of them is overwhelming, in which case, I'm likely never going to want to think about writing even one.  But, if I could simply click a star to leave a rating, it's highly likely that I'd do just that for most if not everything I've bought.  I can't fathom that I'm all that much different than the majority of users in SL or anywhere else for that matter. Consequently, being relieved of the pressure of having to write all those reviews, I may very well leave some on the things for which I've got something actually relevant to say.

Anyway... thanks for letting me rant.

...Dres

[Magnet Homewood]

Thanks for your responses. I will make a fuller response to you all once I have a bit more time to write it all down. And get ready, because I am gonna own you all on this

 

[Dresden]

OMG!  Once you own me, what the hell are you gonna do with me?

...Dres  (Would like to be dipped in chocolate first, regardless.)

[Rya Nitely]

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Dresden wrote:

I'm glad you posted this, because I have a few things to say about the rating/review system on MP.

I think it's absolutely insane that customers can't rate something without writing a review about it.  I guarantee you that if we could just rate things, you'd have a whole hell of a lot more feedback to apply to relevance than you do now.  There's simply not enough feedback right now to tell what's decent and what's not.  Most things on MP don't have even one review.

As far as I'm concerned, rating systems are meant so that customers can inform other customers about the products they've tried.  Go ahead and use it to calculate relevance all you want, but that's not the main point of it all.

I tend to buy lots of things on the MP and the thought of having to write reviews for every one of them is overwhelming, in which case, I'm likely never going to want to think about writing even one.  But, if I could simply click a star to leave a rating, it's highly likely that I'd do just that for most if not everything I've bought.  I can't fathom that I'm all that much different than the majority of users in SL or anywhere else for that matter. Consequently, being relieved of the pressure of having to write all those reviews, I may very well leave some on the things for which I've got something actually relevant to say.

Anyway... thanks for letting me rant.

...Dres

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This is seeing it from just one angle - the angle of the person rating the item. There are other things to consider.

If I was considering buying an item and I saw a one star rating with no written review, I would be wondering why the one star. It may be revenge, or by a customer who just didn't know how to use the product or didn't read the description. But I wouldn't know this, and the merchant wouldn't know and the Commerce Team wouldn't know. A written review with a low rating gives the merchant the opportunity to make a comment - this is also useful for any potential customer.

Remember that a one star rating can potentially destroy the success of a product, and this is well known everywhere on the internet. SL is no different. i know people say they take no notice of a bad rating - but many do. I do, unless the written review and merchant comment reassures me that the review is not justified.

Perhaps only the low ratings should be made to leave a review -  this is fair to all. 

Edit to add: I remember Xstreet. You could rate without reviewing or even leaving a name, plus you had reminders whenever you logged in to rate the items you purchased. It did increase the amount of ratings but not enough to significantly reduce the impact of 1 star ratings. There were so many threads in the merchant forums back then complaining about the problem of 1 star ratings with no feedback. So when we had our meeting with Pink (the Commerce Team representative back then), many merchants asked for the system we have now. And now people are asking for it to be turned back again. This is what the Commerce Team means when they say you won't satisfy everyone.

[DartAgain]

"Perhaps only the low ratings should be made to leave a review -  this is fair to all."

Or eliminate low ratings altogether and replace ratings with something like "likes"? If something has many likes and good reviews, it's good. If it doesn't have any, you'd look for reviews. With reasonable restrictions on reviews. There's a certain degree of redundancy between ratings and reviews.

[Rya Nitely]

I like likes

[Pamela Galli]

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Rya Nitely wrote:

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Dresden wrote:

I'm glad you posted this, because I have a few things to say about the rating/review system on MP.

I think it's absolutely insane that customers can't rate something without writing a review about it.  I guarantee you that if we could just rate things, you'd have a whole hell of a lot more feedback to apply to relevance than you do now.  There's simply not enough feedback right now to tell what's decent and what's not.  Most things on MP don't have even one review.

As far as I'm concerned, rating systems are meant so that customers can inform other customers about the products they've tried.  Go ahead and use it to calculate relevance all you want, but that's not the main point of it all.

I tend to buy lots of things on the MP and the thought of having to write reviews for every one of them is overwhelming, in which case, I'm likely never going to want to think about writing even one.  But, if I could simply click a star to leave a rating, it's highly likely that I'd do just that for most if not everything I've bought.  I can't fathom that I'm all that much different than the majority of users in SL or anywhere else for that matter. Consequently, being relieved of the pressure of having to write all those reviews, I may very well leave some on the things for which I've got something actually relevant to say.

Anyway... thanks for letting me rant.

...Dres

---

This is seeing it from just one angle - the angle of the person rating the item. There are other things to consider.

If I was considering buying an item and I saw a one star rating with no written review, I would be wondering why the one star. It may be revenge, or by a customer who just didn't know how to use the product or didn't read the description. But I wouldn't know this, and the merchant wouldn't know and the Commerce Team wouldn't know. A written review with a low rating gives the merchant the opportunity to make a comment - this is also useful for any potential customer.

Remember that a one star rating can potentially destroy the success of a product, and this is well known everywhere on the internet. SL is no different. i know people say they take no notice of a bad rating - but many do. I do, unless the written review and merchant comment reassures me that the review is not justified.

Perhaps only the low ratings should be made to leave a review -  this is fair to all. 

Edit to add: I remember Xstreet. You could rate without reviewing or even leaving a name, plus you had reminders whenever you logged in to rate the items you purchased. It did increase the amount of ratings but not enough to significantly reduce the impact of 1 star ratings. There were so many threads in the merchant forums back then complaining about the problem of 1 star ratings with no feedback. So when we had our meeting with Pink (the Commerce Team representative back then), many merchants asked for the system we have now. And now people are asking for it to be turned back again. This is what the Commerce Team means when they say you won't satisfy everyone.

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Agree -- when I see a low rating, I want to know what it is for.  I know that five stars means everything is as described in the listing, but one star, I have no clue. Ratings are for the purpose of providing useful info to prospective buyers. They have no other purpose (such as punishing merchants who will not accede to the demands of irrational buyers). If one star alone does not fullfill this purpose, it is useless and should not be allowed.