(‘F’ word… the dreaded ‘feedback’)
I’ve thought long and hard about this blog, but have come to the conclusion it’s time to finally deal with the ‘F’ word…the dreaded ‘feedback’, before you judge me for swearing in a professional post.
Yet I’m sure many of you will have resorted to a few expletives when asked to provide a review for a service. Because, let’s face it, if we are the authentic self we’re always told to be, we need to be honest and say some services out there stink, to put not too fine a point on it.
It seems to me that the review industry has gathered a life of its own. Last Friday I had 136 emails in one day and 19% of them were from companies asking me to post a review for them.
Perhaps it’s the unusual situation I find myself in where I am dealing with so many trades and suppliers but I am getting sick to death with the world and his wife asking me for a review. Seriously, if I were to actually sit down and do the reviews I wouldn’t have any time to get on with my own work.
The other reason I am finding it galling is that, in general, at the moment there are no trades or suppliers who are giving a good service to customers (refer to previous article in Tales from Wales – the exceptions, in my experience, being Brita and, believe it or not, BT).
If I get exemplary service or someone goes above and beyond what I expect then I do take the time to review. But I am firmly of the opinion such positive feedback should come unsolicited from me, because I want to highlight the positives and believe the organisation/individual is worthy of praise and my opinion might actually reach them rather than sit on some anonymous third party review site.
I appreciate the value of good client feedback myself. It has a valuable place in marketing and raising standards in service delivery. I, like most people, take a look at company reviews before deciding whether or not to engage them. And, of course, as a provider of a particular kind of service, I also welcome people’s opinions of the product I deliver and hearing that I’ve hit the mark when clients are satisfied – safe in the knowledge that the next potential customer will undoubtedly be reading their review too…and round we go.
But please, let’s try to keep it to one request for ‘your opinion matters to us,’ request. It really makes me livid when companies who are very well aware they have not given a good service – the clue is in my complaints to them – bombard me with reminders to review.
The whole review process reminds me forcibly of the whole business of tipping, especially in the US. Now I know there’s an etiquette surrounding it across the pond, but there’s something about it that’s always grieved me…notably the expectation that a tip will be paid. Long gone are the days where exceptional service was recognised with a discretionary payment. The straw that broke that particular camel’s back was when I sat in a multinational chain restaurant only to read a ‘polite note’ on the table advising diners that tips of a minimum 15% were expected. And if the service had been distinctly average…or worse still? No surprise – no mention.
If the service I receive is woeful and I’m asked for a review then, dependant on my mood, I might leave my honest review (ie. don’t use them) or I choose to say nothing following the old adage of ‘if you can’t say anything good about someone then don’t bother saying it at all’.
Therefore, my view is, great service I’m going to leave a review – bad service I choose whether to say something or just avoid ever using that service provider again. If it’s ‘meh’ service, or just OK, then I’ll probably delete the review request.
What have you found and what do you do with review requests?
your opinion matters to us
