No escape from the rating epidemic

AS you alight from the cab, the driver pleads: “Please give me a five-star rating”. He is not seeking a tip but a validation of his service. While the request in itself is harmless and you are happy to oblige, you wonder why this pervasive need for feedback and review, not just by an app-based cab service but every store, healthcare provider, airline, bank, credit card company, salon, hotel and car dealer, and food aggregator? Sometimes, the request for feedback and favourable rating is thrust in your face, even before you have completed partaking of the service.

It does not end there. The feedback epidemic is so rampant that if you think you can ignore it or put it off till later, you are sadly mistaken. Such is this obsessive overdrive to get customer validation that the reminders to fill feedback/survey forms and give ratings continue throughout the day, not freeing you from its clutches till you have obliged. In case you have given four stars out of five, a pop-up cheekily asks you why you have not given a five-star rating. Moreover, you are not allowed to exit the platform till you have completed the survey.

In the not-so-distant past, if you were at a restaurant and waiting for the bill to be presented, the waiter politely requested you to fill a feedback form that asked you to rate the ambience, service, food, promptness of delivery, and suggestions, if any. If there was a column for your name, mobile number, date of birth or anniversary, it was your choice to fill or leave it blank. Any negative comment actually got the manager on the scene, concerned and keen to know the reason. This seemed fair enough and something most of us did sportingly. But today, the surge in such pleas and requests makes you wonder since when did discharging your normal day-to-day official duties merit the dire need for immediate validation, recognition and appreciation.

Marketers argue that we live in a world spoilt for choice and riddled with stiff competition and fickle customer loyalties. Proactive marketing helps people make informed choices and serves as social proof. Turning into a psychological and social phenomenon, it allows them to rely on other’s actions and opinions to determine their own behaviour and decisions. Essentially, the phenomenon works on the assumption that if the majority believes or follows or does a particular thing, it becomes a correct or desirable course of action.

One sees this play out in other spheres of our lives too where people spend hours seeking fellow netizens’ approval. So many of our routine decisions are based on this new kind of ‘research’ which entails doing a rapid read of what others have to say about using a product or service and what their recommendations are. The entire game of optimising search engine algorithms, enhancing visibility and higher click-through rates is aiding social media aggregators, e-commerce giants and services which are heavily dependent on user feedback for recommendations, suggestions and ratings.

While serious feedback mechanisms have a major role to play in countering fake news and formulating strategies for humanitarian and health emergencies, their potency gets diminished when users are constantly barraged for feedback. The pressure on an individual’s time has to be considered, as also the legitimacy and uniqueness of user experience.