feefo question

[PartiesinaBox]

Further info from Google

Latest response from Google (supposedly following a Technical investigation):

"I am sorry to inform that AdWords seller ratings are differently rated
from feefo.com. Hence the ratings on feefo.com will not appear on the
AdWords seller ratings.

If you want to display seller ratings on your ads using Google AdWords,
you must:

- Be opted in to Google search.
- The user must be searching on Google.com, Google.co.uk, Google.de,
Google.fr, or Google.nl.
- You must be an advertiser that provides users with paid goods or
services, or one that enables the buying or selling of products or
services via a marketplace.
- Your business must have at least 30 unique reviews and a rating of four
stars or above on Google Product Search.
- At least 10 of these reviews must be in the user's Google interface
language.
Google Product Search seller ratings consist of an aggregate ratings score
with snippets of customer reviews from third-party sites and Google
Checkout.
- You don't need to have a Google Merchant Center account for your ads to
be eligible for seller ratings."


Needless to say, I have asked for an explanation of the 1st paragraph (i.e. in what way are Feefo reviews differently rated"

Does anybody know if Feefo are actually working on this, and a timescale - their website says nothing at all.

Grahame
Parties in a Box
www.partiesinabox.co.uk
Birthday Party Supplies

[PartiesinaBox]

Got to the crux of the matter at last!

Latest response from Google:

"As I had stated yesterday, the seller ratings are different on feefo.com
as opposed to Google.com.

As you may have noticed, Google seller ratings have five stars beside
them. Google seller ratings display ratings based on a 5-star system
whereas feefo.com has a system of 4 levels - Excellent, Good, Poor and
Bad. This conflicts with the format we show users.

If you are still looking to get the ratings of feefo.com on seller
ratings, then the website must comply to our rating system and then their
ratings may be shown on Google seller ratings."

So, over to you Feefo - what are you doing about solving this important customer issue???

Grahame
Parties in a Box
http://www.partiesinabox.co.uk
Birthday Party Supplies

[Duncan Rounding]

Seems like Feefo may have to add 'Average' into the middle of the ratings then...

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Whay have Feefo not found this out themselves and changed to suit Google's requirements, as having Google use the ratings is an important feature.

[FEEFO - Andrew]

Feefo - Stars and Google

I would like to respond. Feefo have no issue in converting our results to star ratings anymore, and we have had a number of customers request this during the course of the year (see www.swshoes.co.uk as an example). Whilst the scoring method is exactly the same and we will never revert to having an “average”, the ratings are only different from the point of view of the image actually shown (stars rather than % score). We are happy to work with you in delivering star ratings for those who wish to display using this method. Actinic will shortly have a choice of Star Rated logos for you to use. selected from the Control Panel.

Regarding Google’s other comment that Feefo need to comply with Google’s rating system, we have done some thorough checks and we do comply with their rating system! However, there is another hurdle to overcome, which is to be formally recognised by Google as a review platform. We have recently had some meetings with Google directly in order to achieve this. Infact a couple of our significant direct clients have approached Google with the same requests that Feefo reviews be formally recognised and here is a recent response that has been sent by Google:

“I've spoken to our reviews-team and there already have been conversations with Feefo. But there is currently no timeline for when we will be able to implement with them to include their reviews. In short - we'd like to show them as soon as possible and the team is working on it. Thanks for raising it with me - they seem a great platform.”

We are working on this as much as we can but can only go as fast as Google will allow us. We have had positive discussions BUT one thing we would be very willing to do is work with Parties in a Box, give them the star ratings as per Google’s response and then, simply if they still do not get the recognition on Google, Grahame at Parties In A Box has every right to challenge the Google response!

It is very frustrating for Feefo that we see one of our client site's displayed in Google shopping with 75 reviews on Dooyou.co.uk (or similar) and the very same client has 100,000 reviews on Feefo and they are not even acknowledged! The more pressure we apply to Google, the better as far as I am concerned. It is in all our interests and many of you already pay Google for Adwords etc, so they should take notice of what you want !

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Would the star rating be out of 5 or out of 4 as the current plus & minus system is.

[Mike Hughes]

we will never revert to having an “average”

hmm. I think 'never' is quite a brave statement in this context. It was pointed out here on the forum almost 2 years ago that everyone knows and understands the 5 star ratings system and that Feefo's 4 levels were a mistake.

I still believe it's a mistake and it looks as if Feefo are now paying the penalty. To blindly carry on with a poor rating system is just bad business and a dis-service to all those who use Feefo. It would be so much better if it made the change.

How can I put it more clearly? The Feefo 4 level system (--,-,+,++) is worse than the 5 star ratings. It's harder to understand, less meaningful, doesn't generate good averages and can't be nicely displayed graphically. It doesn't match with what people are used to nor with the systems that others such as google want to use. The rest of the world isn't going to change to the system Feefo use so feefo really should change to give people what they want. If you don't believe me go run a focus group and ask the general public.

Dare to be different, yes. But do it in a way that is better and meaningful. Not worse in pretty much every aspect.

Mike

[Duncan Rounding]

The specific icons used is not the issue - although it does then match peoples expectations across sites. The swshoes site is has 5 stars but it looks like the ratings are still split into 4 and then the percentage used to create 1 out of five stars - this is not what it seems Google want to see. Why not just make a mid position - call it what you want - and then be done with it. Google and everyone will be happy.

[FEEFO - Andrew]

Stars are fine...

Feefo's ratings are primarily based on seeing a clear distinction between being satisfied by either service and product, or being dissatisfied with either. This is why we use our rating system, and it is also why, when we produce aggregrate ratings, they are based on the proportion of people satisfied. The key feature of our offering is the proportion of people satisfied (as used by eBay, which has worked for them for a few years now).

We believe that our rating system is more informative that a five-star system. If a product is rated one star out of five, that indicates simply that the product is not very good. Feefo's rating says that it is "bad". Also, the majority of our customers believe that being scored "Average" (3 out of 5 stars) is not what they want to see or hear. It doesnt help improve business or products. Average, if your passionate about your business, is actually "poor".

Contrary to your comments Olderscot, Feefo most certainly isnt a poor rating system and I guess that 800% growth in a year is a fair reflection of this. We agree though that those people who believe Average is acceptable for their business would probably not find Feefo suitable for themselves.

We are working closely with Google currently. Our ratings and methods of scoring meets the standards for rich snippet testing tools within Google. It is now a case of being formally approved by Google as a review platform.

One of our customers recently tested their conversion rates by putting just the Feefo logo and the % rating next to the 'Add to Basket' button on their website. They achieved a 6% increase in conversions over about 10,000 'clicks' (giving a confidence level that the increase is certainly between 5.5% and 6.5%). So, both rating systems have their benefits. However, if you want stars, we can give you stars but it will be a summary aggregate.

[leehack]

There is a pretty large void in between poor and good from a rating point of view IMO. As a business anyone rating you (on a 5 tier scale) as bad, poor or average (the worst 3) would be of concern. You're very wrongly assuming that an average label would be ignored, if that were the case why bother paying for a review system in the first place? I'm yet to meet a client who wants a review system, who would also be happy with an average rating off a customer.

The counter to your argument could be that every rating that would have been 'average' that is actually rated as 'good' flies under the service radar. Whereas, on a 5 tier rating system, that transaction would be rated as average and thus raise up a flag of concern. What's your stance on these transactions?

You could surely simplify your stance much further and simply have 'useless' or 'out of this world' and ask people to rate accordingly. As a review system if anything other than 'out of this world' was reported, surely you'd want to show the site owner they need a kick up the backside and not put any positive spin out there at all?

It's all about opinions and we can all grab onto stats to cement our positions, let me give you one from the same angle as yours:

Since Feefo was launched, i have worked on around 50 actinic sites. Feefo is on 2 of them, Codepath review system is on 7 of them, 3 sites do their own, 1 is looking at the revoo system. These are sites that have considerable money spent on them, what I would call your target audience or people who invest in their sites more to the point. I think you're leaving some money on the table personally and could clean up more of these potential customers.

Bearing in mind your stance and ideals laid out in your post, why would you differentiate between 'poor' and 'bad' - that seems every bit as crazy as the need for an 'average' rating that you so willingly refute?

PS - You quote ebay, do they not have a 'bad, neutral or good' system, ie one of those measures right in the middle that is neither good or bad? Given your stance I'd have thought a 2 or 3 measure system would be better, there really is no difference between poor and bad, as ebay proves, there clearly is a requirement for that middle ground.

[PartiesinaBox]

The star icon rating system is clearly becoming the norm, so it makes sense to use it.

As for the 4 or 5 rating system; the Google response to my query makes it very clear that the 4 star system is not compatible with their system. I think Feefo have been coming out with the same message for some time now - "we're working on it"... frankly I'm not convinced. If Google wanted to accept a 4 star system they could just pro-rata the %ages - they could have done that months ago.

I don't care whether the 4 star or 5 star system is theoretically best, if my ratings don't get displayed in Google Adwords etc then my conversion rate falls and I have to pay more for my sales.

Grahame
Parties in a Box
http://www.partiesinabox.co.uk

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

I have never understood Feefo's fascination with eBay, just because ebay used to base their feedback system on a positive, neutral, negative system doesn't mean it should be copied.
ebay have for the last 2-3 years based their system on a 5 star system, although they do still run the +ve, -ve system in tandem.

The main consideration should be getting the reviews accepted by Google even if that means changing the current system. I don't really care what symbols you use, stars, crowns or little green martians.

[PartiesinaBox]

Message to Andrew @ Feefo:
Google want 5 levels not 5 stars, so I don't think giving me stars will make a difference.

You've already done this for www.swshoes.co.uk - what was the effect? Is their feedback now rated in Google Products and Adwords?

Grahame
Parties in a Box
http://www.partiesinabox.co.uk

[Duncan Rounding]

sw shoes does not have a five grade system it still has four grades but it looks like it is then 'calculated' to give rating from 1 to five stars. I don't see any rated listings in Google Shopping for sw shoes.

[leehack]

I find it quite strange that Andrew says Google should listen to its customers as they are already paying them via adwords, but he completely disregards customer comments for over 2 years regarding the services of his company.

Can anyone believe that existing Feefo customers would all have breakdowns and jump ship if a 5 tier system was installed, I just don't buy that. Even if you did lose a few, you will gain far more potential customers and more importantly get Google on side.

Defending a system that Google do not like and a lot of customers would like changed, seems like a square wheel argument to me. No point being different just to say we're different.