To Solicit Feedback or Not

[newspoet]

It has occurred to me that the new “Contacts” feature makes it easier for a Seller to go back to clients who declined to leave feedback and request they revisit the task. I even came up with a form letter to send them:



Dear ______________,



I am writing to you as a valued client of mine on Fiverr. The new “Contacts” feature in Fiverr’s website interface gives me the opportunity to reach out to you based on the business we have done together. In the past year, I have completed one or more gigs for you on Fiverr. You are receiving this notice because you did not leave feedback upon completion of one or more of your orders. If you were not pleased with your order but spared me the negative review, then I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your discretion. While I have had many satisfied clients on Fiverr, I am sorry that you were unsatisfied with my service. I would gratefully welcome a private message with your criticisms. If you were pleased with your service but maybe missed the chance to leave positive feedback, I would encourage you to do so now. Positive reviews help my Fiverr business grow, and I would really like to add your positive feedback to that of my other satisfied clients.



Warm Regards,



________________



I guess my questions would be:

1. Should I reach out to clients who declined to leave feedback or take their lack of response as a hint to leave them alone?
   
   
2. Is there a web address I can send them which will take them straight to their previous order? I seem to recall being able to do this at one point but am now having trouble finding it.

[david388]

Hi @newspoet!



I like how you’re thinking here, but I don’t think that would be the best execution. I think your proposed message is so long that it’s going to alienate people who were pleased to begin with. In addition, sending a blanket note to people who may not have been happy is more likely to push them to just leave a negative review and get on with their day, rather than dialoging with you about it.



What I’d recommend is this: decide who your best Buyers were from this group - when I say this I mean those who were great at communicating, were responsive, and MOST importantly, were appreciative of you. This means that they’re very likely to leave positive feedback.



Once you decide who those people were, I’d send them a SHORT note - maybe just a sentence double-checking to see if they got their delivery. If they never write back, then they would have ignored any other message from you. But if they do, you can make sure they were pleased with your service, and if they were, you can ask them if they’d mind taking a minute to leave that in a quick review.



Anyway, just my two cents. Hope this is helpful!

David

[emasonwrites]

I agree with David–I’d only send a very short note to the buyers that you are absolutely sure would leave you positive feedback. The last thing I’d want to do is annoy a marginally-satisfied or unsatisfied buyer with a message that reminds them they can leave a review on my gig.

[david388]

@emasonwrites - look at you saying it so much better than I did, in about 10% of the space! Talk about a true TRS 🙂

[newspoet]

Thank you for the responses thus far. In less than three hours, you have validated my hesitation, expressed the very concerns I was mulling, and informed me of something I didn’t know! Thankfully, I waited for your responses before I began spamming out my form letter to my unresponsive clients. 🙂 And I am actually glad they have limited feedback opportunity to one month, a limitation of which I was previously unaware. But seriously, how many of your buyers don’t bother to leave feedback? I would say it is close to 22% of my clients…

[emasonwrites]

Reply to @david388: Wow, thanks! I thought your post was great and just wanted to echo it and emphasize the “don’t prod a sleeping bear” sentiment.

[renflowergrapx]

Many customers doesnt leave a feedback because they dont want the preview in the portfolio, Since i warn them that they can leave it by their own, i got less “empty” ratings,

But i ve noticed also, that some customers wait to come with new work, or to ask for external edits, before leave a feedback.



It is kinda scary, like being pressed for a rating that would be left based on ur person more than on your work.

Fortunately im more than happy to follow customers even after their purchase, but sometimes it is frustrating =)