Private Buyer Reviews should be compulsory for all buyers before they can download the product

[bethanyvo]

Buyer feedback is the most important metric Fiverr can collect. And of course, public reviews can be manipulated or may not be reflective of a buyers true feelings, so Fiverr is correctly trying to gather private feedback about the buyers experience.

However, the implementation of this feedback request from Fiverr is flawed and ONE bad private review for a seller who has few to zero positive private reviews can be devastating to their rank and business. 

Generally, a happy buyer does not bother with any emails requesting feedback that they aren’t required to be bothered with- and an unhappy buyer will want to shout from the rooftops- so the current feedback that is being collected is not an accurate representation of the sellers overall buyer satisfaction rate.

This flawed feedback collection approach hurts Fiverr’s revenue also.  Sellers are now afraid to politely insist on correct pricing for in order upgrades for fear of private feedback retribution - and are hesitant to take on “new to Fiverr buyers”- as their opinion is weighted more heavily.

All this would be solved by making each and every buyer click no more than 3-5 simple questions that are the most important to Fiverr before they can download their product. Easy.  
 

This way- Fiverr gets the extremely valuable information they need- but a sellers buyer feedback score is a total and complete representation of a sellers buyer satisfaction performance.

[visualstudios]

Interesting idea, but it goes against Fiverr's prime directive - frictionless experience for buyers. You can agree or disagree with that, but that's what it is. I highly doubt Fiverr will ever implement anything that forces buyers to do anything after payment for an order is made.

[bethanyvo]

5 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

I highly doubt Fiverr will ever implement anything that forces buyers to do anything after payment for an order is made.

Possibly- but it seems pretty basic e-commerce stuff to need to tick a few boxes to be able to download the product. 

[visualstudios]

It's not basic e-commerce stuff to have to give feedback in order to get what I paid for, sorry.

[bethanyvo]

7 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

It's not basic e-commerce stuff to have to give feedback in order to get what I paid for, sorry.

A buyer would definitely get what they paid for- right after they quickly tell Fiverr what they think of the experience😊

There needs to be SOME kind of change to the private feedback collection results- as it stands, it isn’t a fair representation of a sellers overall performance.

There may be other ways to collect from each and every buyer that I’m not thinking of- 

Edited April 30, 2023 by bethanyvo

[catwriter]

Sounds like a way to annoy even buyers who were otherwise happy.

Imagine buyers who order a lot, and are forced to answer several questions before they're allowed to download what they've already paid for. For a lot of different orders.

[bethanyvo]

3 minutes ago, catwriter said:

Sounds like a way to annoy even buyers who were otherwise happy.

Meh- it would be across the board, customary, and no big deal.  Instacart (a huge grocery store shopping app in the US) uses a similar tactic.  They make you speedily rate your prior order before starting a new one. 

[newsmike]

1 hour ago, bethanyvo said:

All this would be solved by making each and every buyer click no more than 3-5 simple questions that are the most important to Fiverr before they can download their product. Easy.

How would you react in you went into Starbucks, ordered and waited, then prior to getting what you paid for some kid behind the counter said "You can't have you drink till you answer the 5 questions on the iPad in front of you."  I think the majority would give 1 star because of the inconvenience and waste of time. This would backfire in a terrible way. I would end up trashing the seller because of a dumb time waster that Fiverr implemented.  

Edited April 30, 2023 by newsmike

[newsmike]

28 minutes ago, catwriter said:

Sounds like a way to annoy even buyers who were otherwise happy.

Imagine buyers who order a lot, and are forced to answer several questions before they're allowed to download what they've already paid for. For a lot of different orders.

Yep. Average checkout these days goes as follows:

Can I have your phone number?

NO

Would you like our join our loyalty club and get 10% off your next purchase?

NO, I wanna get out of here

Would you care to open a "Home Depot" charge account to get 15% off a singe item?

NO, and I'm seriously thinking of walking out right now without this POS

Would you like to round up your change for Ronald McDonald house?

NO, just shut up, and ring me out before the police arrive. 

[bethanyvo]

7 minutes ago, newsmike said:

How would you react in you went into Starbucks

I hear what you’re saying- but it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Fiverr is not a brick and mortar and people would not be standing there writing with a pencil at a counter.  And with e-commerce, ticking boxes about how you found us, how was your experience, etc. before you can get to the next page is normal.

Currently, the buyer satisfaction rate is not an accurate representation of a sellers performance and it is really hurting some otherwise fantastic sellers. Since Fiverr will not get rid of the private feedback metric- having all buyers rate their experience is the only logical solution.

[newsmike]

9 minutes ago, bethanyvo said:

I hear what you’re saying- but it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Fiverr is not a brick and mortar and people would not be standing there writing with a pencil at a counter.  And with e-commerce, ticking boxes about how you found us, how was your experience, etc. before you can get to the next page is normal.

Currently, the buyer satisfaction rate is not an accurate representation of a sellers performance and it is really hurting some otherwise fantastic sellers. Since Fiverr will not get rid of the private feedback metric- having all buyers rate their experience is the only logical solution.

I understand that you really feel that it is not fair, nor accurate. But do you really think that otherwise satisfied or busy people will not take the opportunity to bash the entire process, thereby trashing a seller? I can assure you that if you delivered a great VO to me, I would happily consider filling out a review, however if you tried to force me by telling me that you plan to withhold what I had paid for and now legally own, until I completed mandatory tasks centered around you, I would be sure to make sure you understood in the review  that I think you have the client/seller relationship reversed.  We owe them nothing but what they paid for. They pay us, and we perform at their behest.  We can request, we cannot dictate to customers. If you think doing so will get you glowing reviews, I think you would be surprised.

Edited April 30, 2023 by newsmike

[newsmike]

1 hour ago, visualstudios said:

It's not basic e-commerce stuff to have to give feedback in order to get what I paid for, sorry.

Agree. Imagine Amazon placing your delivery on hold because you didn't review the last thing you ordered?  Would you give in to their demand, or tell them where to shove it while you open a credit card dispute and cancel for "non delivery"? Absolutely non client centered thinking. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by newsmike

[bethanyvo]

1 minute ago, newsmike said:

But do you really think that otherwise satisfied or busy people will not take the opportunity to bash the entire process, thereby trashing a seller?

No- I don’t think that. 

 

3 minutes ago, newsmike said:

however if you tried to force me by telling me that you plan to withhold what I had paid for and now legally own, until I completed mandatory tasks centered around you, I would be sure to make sure you understood in the review  that I think you have the client/seller relationship reversed.

People are generally understanding of e-commerce ways of working- which includes ticking boxes before moving on to the next page. And I also do not feel they would associate the questions with that specific seller asking the questions- but just as the process of doing business on online.

Fiverr already has a pop up in place that asks questions about their experience- so it would be simple to have it compulsory.

I’d love to hear any suggestions or thoughts on alternative ways to make the private feedback better😊

[catwriter]

3 minutes ago, bethanyvo said:

And I also do not feel they would associate the questions with that specific seller asking the questions

Oh, they might. I had buyers who were annoyed because Fiverr was buggy and was giving them trouble, and they gave me a lower review. Even though I did my best to encourage them and help them.

If all the freelancing platforms had those mandatory questions, perhaps your suggestion would work. But Fiverr is already annoying buyers with some stuff, and if your suggestion was implemented, they might choose to move their business elsewhere.

Edited April 30, 2023 by catwriter
typo

[bethanyvo]

2 minutes ago, catwriter said:

Oh, they might. I had buyers who were annoyed because Fiverr was buggy and was giving them trouble, and they gave me a lower review. Even though I did my best to encourage them and help them.

That’s no fun that that happened to you- and there are some not very nice buyers out there…which is also why having more private reviews from ALL of your buyers would balance out these one offs and give an accurate representation of your ALL buyers experiences.

 

5 minutes ago, catwriter said:

But Fiverr is already annoying buyers with some stuff, and if your suggestion was implemented, they might chose to move their business elsewhere.

An eye roll from a buyer as they click a few boxes- and the other possible occasional buyer who says “forget you” because of a few boxes that need to be ticked- would be far outweighed by the huge increase in overall revenue from sellers not being afraid to charge the correct prices ‘in order’ because they know that while “this” buyer may be mad that they had to pay an additional amount for the next revision (or whatever the ‘in order’ up charge may be) the other happy buyers they had that week will more than make up for it.

[vickieito]

As a buyer, I think Fiverr's current private review is spammy and annoying with the 2 private reviews, public review, and multiple alerts to leave reviews. So I agree with @bethanyvo that reviews should be a part of the order.

I know I've mentioned it several times on the forum, but as a buyer, I'd like to see three buttons at the bottom of the delivery:

• 1) Yes, I'm satisfied with the delivery, 2) This order could've been better, but I approve the delivery, 3) I'm not ready yet
• The first option could automatically give the buyer 5 stars (privately).
• The second option could give the buyer an option to choose the star amount on a slider scale (also privately).
• This would then make the private reviews mandatory (but very easy to do).

Quote

Then, I'd like Fiverr to get rid of the spammy notification to leave reviews and tips and just leave the tip option and public review option available at the top of the order screen. Maybe we can include @miiila's suggestion to split up seller/Fiverr reviews in that top section because sometimes negative buyer experiences are the result of buggy issues on the platform. There are so many times I wanted to leave negative private reviews but they were more because of how spammy Fiverr was making the experience.

Streamlining it this way would better achieve what @visualstudios was mentioning:

1 hour ago, visualstudios said:

Fiverr's prime directive - frictionless experience for buyers.

There are soooo many ways that the buyer experience is NOT frictionless (I don't like how Fiverr added more questions in the order requirements and now are endorsing spammy custom offers straight to my inbox from newbie sellers that I've never had previous contact with). But that rant's for another thread. 😊

Edit: I just saw the title - I don't think buyers need to leave feedback in order to download the product. Orders can still auto-close without any feedback/buyer acceptance of the order.

Edited April 30, 2023 by vickieito

[newsmike]

13 minutes ago, bethanyvo said:

so it would be simple to have it compulsory.

You are missing the point. Yes, you can force people to do something by with withholding something they paid for and have a legal right to. I find it odd that you think people will praise you for that. 

[bethanyvo]

5 minutes ago, vickieito said:

• 1) Yes, I'm satisfied with the delivery, 2) This order could've been better, but I approve the delivery, 3) I'm not ready yet
• The first option could automatically give the buyer 5 stars (privately).
• The second option could give the buyer an option to choose the star amount on a slider scale (also privately).
• This would then make the private reviews mandatory (but very easy to do)

This is a great idea and possibly easy for Fiverr to implement 😊

[bethanyvo]

17 minutes ago, vickieito said:

Maybe we can include @miiila's suggestion to split up seller/Fiverr reviews in that top section because sometimes negative buyer experiences are the result of buggy issues on the platform. There are so many times I wanted to leave negative private reviews but they were more because of how spammy Fiverr was making the experience.

Genius 😊

Edited April 30, 2023 by bethanyvo

[bethanyvo]

1 hour ago, vickieito said:

Edit: I just saw the title - I don't think buyers need to leave feedback in order to download the product. Orders can still auto-close without any feedback/buyer acceptance of the order.

This would definitely be a happy medium- I really like your 3 box idea with the sliding scale on the existing delivery pop up- and get rid of the spammy messages.

…And the order could still auto complete- maybe a pop up to rate your last order before moving on like Instacart does.

I totally understand Fiverrs need for the feedback.  e-commerce can be a little like the Wild West and as an online shopper myself,  I appreciate a platform trying to be sure that the experiences I have are the best possible- and the only way of having a buyers experience the best possible is to know what an overall sellers buyer satisfaction is.  So if I need to click some opinion buttons before moving on- it only benefits me as a shopper- so I personally am not bothered by it.
It’s a bit of a circle- but one that benefits both buyers and sellers.
 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by bethanyvo

[clarkcaseyvo]

2 hours ago, vickieito said:

 

I know I've mentioned it several times on the forum, but as a buyer, I'd like to see three buttons at the bottom of the delivery:

• 1) Yes, I'm satisfied with the delivery, 2) This order could've been better, but I approve the delivery, 3) I'm not ready yet
• The first option could automatically give the buyer 5 stars (privately).
• The second option could give the buyer an option to choose the star amount on a slider scale (also privately).
• This would then make the private reviews mandatory (but very easy to do).

 

I can certainly see where bethanyvo is coming from with the issues that stem from the private reviews and I do agree with some of the counterarguments presented as well. Vivkieito's suggestion seems like a fantastic solution to a lot of the problems

[visualstudios]

3 hours ago, bethanyvo said:

I’d love to hear any suggestions or thoughts on alternative ways to make the private feedback better

Get rid off it. Public reviews are all that's needed.

Rework it completely - the way it's worded right now is extremely punitive. The top rating being "perfect" makes no sense - nothing is ever "perfect". Perfection does not exist.

When I buy something, it should meet my expectations, it's not reasonable to expect services will always "exceed expectations". Etc. Right now, the private feedback form is built in a way that is fishing for dissatisfaction.

Also, leave private feedback only before you leave a public review. I'm responsible for the product I deliver, I'm not responsible for results I don't promise. Let's say I deliver a video for a YouTuber. Client is happy with it, leaves a 5 star public review. Then, a week later, he gets asked for private feedback... and the video happened to not do well on YouTube, and got fewer views than he was expecting. That's not my responsibility. That's not my job. I don't promise that. I can't control that, and there could be a million reasons for that that have nothing to do with the work I did. Yet, he will likely leave a less than perfect private review, since he was unhappy with the results he got. Which, again, have nothing to do with me.

Finally, focus the private feedback on the overall buyer experience, which is only partly controlled by the seller. If I was Fiverr, I would want buyer feedback on the platform itself, as much if not more than on the particular seller. Yet that doesn't happen. Why are sellers under strict scrutiny, but never the platform? I've never seen private feedback asking a buyer about the way the site itself is designed, the order flow, the features, etc. Those are all Fiverr's responsibility, they designed the system. If I, as a buyer, end up going with a seller that isn't a good fit for me... why did Fiverr match me with that seller, instead of matching me with one that is? They should want feedback on it.

Edited April 30, 2023 by visualstudios

[bethanyvo]

26 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

Get rid off it. Public reviews are all that's needed.

That would be easier 😊 

 

[nickkold]

22 hours ago, bethanyvo said:

Buyer feedback is the most important metric Fiverr can collect. And of course, public reviews can be manipulated or may not be reflective of a buyers true feelings, so Fiverr is correctly trying to gather private feedback about the buyers experience.

However, the implementation of this feedback request from Fiverr is flawed and ONE bad private review for a seller who has few to zero positive private reviews can be devastating to their rank and business. 

Generally, a happy buyer does not bother with any emails requesting feedback that they aren’t required to be bothered with- and an unhappy buyer will want to shout from the rooftops- so the current feedback that is being collected is not an accurate representation of the sellers overall buyer satisfaction rate.

This flawed feedback collection approach hurts Fiverr’s revenue also.  Sellers are now afraid to politely insist on correct pricing for in order upgrades for fear of private feedback retribution - and are hesitant to take on “new to Fiverr buyers”- as their opinion is weighted more heavily.

I feel like this is a problem as well, I don't know what the solution is, but I've had to message clients about possibly leaving private feedback (my success manager recommended me doing this, because my private review rating had dropped recently). Something I outside of Fiverr would never do (bother the client with things to do for me), but I sorta had to - to make my private rating more correct in happy vs. unsatisfied customers, because as you say, you are more likely to spend time leaving a bad review than a good one. It's a shame, because I don't think this system works and is as fair as it should be, at least not for the seller.

Edited May 1, 2023 by nickkold

[leannelrivers]

On 4/30/2023 at 9:02 PM, visualstudios said:

Finally, focus the private feedback on the overall buyer experience, which is only partly controlled by the seller. If I was Fiverr, I would want buyer feedback on the platform itself, as much if not more than on the particular seller. Yet that doesn't happen. Why are sellers under strict scrutiny, but never the platform? I've never seen private feedback asking a buyer about the way the site itself is designed, the order flow, the features, etc.

This is my main issue with private reviews. Three vague questions that make no distinction between the experience with the seller and the experience with the platform. If the private review is bad because a client was dissatisfied with the way the platforms works, the seller is punished. Sellers should be held accountable for the service they deliver, that is in our hands, we shouldn't be held responsible for the way the platform works. I don't agree with forcing buyers to review before they can download their product. This would rub me up the wrong way as a buyer. It's irritating enough that buyers get multiple emails about this after their purchase.