We realise there is some concern around how Product reviews on our website get moderated, and around transparency (or lack thereof). We would like to clarify.
1. Our review policy and moderation process.
A general rule of thumb in moderating reviews is:
a) If a review consists only of a product review (Positive or negative): Approve
b) If a review consists only of a service feedback (Positive or negative): Reject.
c) If it’s a positive service feedback, mail back the customer thanking for his testimonial. If it’s negative, forward it to Customer Support (and follow up).
d) If a review consists of both product and service feedback: Given sufficient depth in product reviewed, with a mention about our service (positive or negative), Approve. Else, reject.
Refer to this for the complete guidelines.
2. What do we look for in Product Reviews?
Longevity & Product Focus.
Any review that contains transient information—details which won’t be relevant to users in the near-to-far future—gets rejected. These could be about price (which is subject to change over a period of time), or delivery times (which can vary from 2-3 business days to 8-10 business days at different times), and service reviews.
The most helpful product reviews list some context, both pros and cons of the product, and alternative product choices (if any).
Title: Smooth, Compact and Quality product
At first I was a bit confused coz from the image it seemed so large, but when I got it, it was so small and cute. The retractible cable works pretty well. Pull it to expand and pull again, it shrinks.
A good peice to carry around in laptop bag.
About durability.. its seems it will last long, lets see.. I just got mine day before yesterday.
Its pretty smooth and clicks are also good. I played 5 hours of Counter Strike countinuosly on the firstday itself.
There are others in this price range which is even small but won’t last long. So be cautious
Hope this one won’t give up soon.
http://www.flipkart.com/computers/mice/itmczbnkmgh8fptf?pid=acccyvmewre2w7hf#read-reviews
The same product also has a positive service reviews that we are yet to moderate:
Title: Brilliant product and superb Shipping
Ordered this product on 26th oct(Wed)and thought it would be delivered on Monday due to Diwali and Sunday. But surprisingly product delivered on Saturday. Even packing was so good and even product is nice with bill and totally nice piece Sealed Packed no doubt on its originality. Hope this work always goes on this way.
Title: GREAT SERVICE!
i am very happy to recieve my product on time and and such a sturdy packing….first i hesitated to buy this item….as i was making my first online purchase…i specially and will always prefer flipkart for further online purchases,also FLIPKART has won my trust in online shopping!…the product was perfectly delivered to my home.the mouse is as imagined but it was what i wanted(love the retractable thing in it!…:D
In all fairness, these two reviews (however genuine), add little or no information about the product that might be helpful to a potential customer.
3. Rejecting reviews that have Service Feedback / Delivery Concerns
The primary reason why we reject service reviews is because they are specific occurrences, and can be solved with troubleshooting at our end. Even in the case of positive experiences, this may deteriorate over time. Certain products as well as Cash-on-Delivery as a service may be available only in certain geographies, and is thus representative only of a subset of users. Hence, both positive and negative service reviews can be misinterpreted/misleading across our entire user base.
In all such cases where negative feedback is received, not only do we make it a point to communicate to the reviewer about the deletion, but also mention having escalated the issue to our Customer Support personnel for us to take corrective action. We in all instances aim for a resolution, and for the loop to be closed.
In most cases, users typically do both; email support as well as write a review. Subsequently, a lot of our users also want to amend service reviews (from negative to positive, and vice versa). Given the transient nature of such instances, it is in everyones best interests that we decide not to publish service reviews, neither positive nor negative.
Along similar lines, a significant number of our users have also expressed the need to demarcate product reviews from service ones. The majority of them refer to the reviews section to make an informed decision on the product … not as much the service. There are of course other forums where users are free to share their experiences, our Facebook reviews page and MouthShut being two examples.
4. Moderation: A Work In Progress
Of the ~65,000 reviews we have, 30% are yet to be moderated — and given the manual moderation process — there will be instances of reviews which aren’t ideal for at least some more time, perhaps a month or so. This includes reviews both positive and negative, like examples mentioned above.
There is inherent natural bias towards positive reviews, given that most people have positive experiences with us, and are thus more inclined to review our product/service. This is the kind of review for where we thank customers, but nonetheless delete:
Subj: Impeccable and Impressive Service
I ordered the card on 24th evening and recieved on 25th october afternoon. Just one word. Impressive.
Amazing..Impeccable service. A genuine product nonetheless. I am very happy dealing with Flipkart.
Amazing products with competetive rates.5 Stars all together.
All the same, people with bad experiences need to vent their frustration … across avenues. Some recent negative reviews yet to be moderated:
Non-Delivery by Flipkart
Flipkart has failed to deliver within the timeline mentioned on their website. Take extreme care while placing order especially if you are transacting with your credit card…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
http://www.flipkart.com/cameras/canon/itmczcqbhdhwhtd7?pid=camcvydjvzghzkp9#read-reviews
Please Do NOT Buy from here
felt cheated with the pricing of this headset after seeing the same stuff priced in the market at a much cheaper price.
http://www.flipkart.com/review/mobiles/bluetooth-headsets/itmczcrqtgxgfmwf?pid=acccz8de4vxuzak8
To add an air of neutrality, and for a moment look at things in a lighter vein, this same page also has “test review” by one of our developers. The test review hasn’t yet been deleted, and it has been close to 2 weeks.
5. The Steps Ahead: What tools will we provide (apart from reviews) to discuss about Flipkart?
As rightly mentioned, we are selling an online experience. Some plans that are in the works to facilitate discussion and neutrality:
1. A “Verified Purchase” badge, to add credibility to reviewers/reviews.
2. A Q-&-A section, for doubts users may have with regards to products, policies and service.
3. An independent Forum, moderated equally by employees as well as users.
Whether positive or negative, we need to create a space for people to voice their opinions. Most things at Flipkart are far from being perfect and our intent is to work towards improving & making things better. We need to take feedback & constantly improve.
It happens to some extent but needs to be better.
23 Comments
I hope you address this one as well : http://twitter.com/#!/FAISALmouthshut/status/104332605775822849
What is the need to reject comments/feedback on Pricing?
If one feels the product is ridiculously priced as compared to same/similar products available in the market, the customer surely would like to know about it, so that he doesn’t get fooled by the one that’s being offered. Doesn’t that seem fair enough?
If you are making a market in india and not providing good service the people will fallback from buying online. Trust is the most important thing to take care of.
I donot agree with the bad service reviews deleted although you can correct it by making happy to particular customer by providing some good deal in case of your service failure
Flipkart,
I have not been a victim of deleted comments or of bad service from flipkart. My experience with flipkart has been rather good.So this comment is from a neutral standpoint of a customer and consumer.
I strongly feel that every customer should have the privilege to write about the product *and* service. In these days of stiff competition for online shopping, with minimal price differences in various online shops, a customer looks at customer service and overall buying experience of the purchase at the online shop. Product reviews on any product are easy to find on the internet, whereas service reviews about a particular online shop are tougher to find and a service review is often what a customer is looking at.
Flipkart, If you value your customers, service reviews by your customers should also be made available, good or bad. More so, these should be made visible to the thousands or lakhs of existing and potential new customers. If you claim that you make changes to your process or systems after a bad service experience, let the whole world know it. Gain customer respect by being transparent. If you have concerns about service reviews being mixed up with product reviews, please, by all means create a separate page for it. However, please don’t disrespect or discredit the customer by ‘deleting’ a comment. It only shows that you don’t care.
I like Flipkart and unwanted sites like Pluggd.in have written poor reviews and bad feedback about Flipcart
http://www.pluggd.in/flipkart-deleting-negative-reviews-297/
I think Pluggd.in takes a dig at anyone successful.Look where their own website has gone in so many years. Losers.
I think we all buy from a particular website because our overall service experience is good. To give you an example, i have been buying from Flipkart since quite a time & have had extremely good experience each of the time. Recently while wanting to buy 6 copies of Steve Jobs biography, i friend told me that Infibeam is offering the book for 45 rupees lesser than Flipkart. However, i didn’t go there as my overall service experience was good here. The product was really immaterial & for that sake even the small price difference.
However, i feel that none of the service reviews should be deleted / filtered / moderated. The solution i would look at would be options (two different buttons) to provide product review & service review. Product review should be static but the service review should be conversational where Flipkart can write about their action points / service reversal when the review is bad. But never never delete the comment. If a customer writes about service in product review, you can delete that. But a service review should not be deleted but should be responded to.
Perhaps you can find a middle ground by providing a checkbox ‘This is only service review’ which when clicked will disable the rating meter (or will not consider the rating in overall calculation).
By the way, I think you should make it mandatory to write a review when user wants to rate a product too low (1 or 2) or too high (5). For ex. Consider the Dell laptop at http://www.flipkart.com/computers/laptops/dell/itmdfhjwd5vzdewj?pid=comdfhjtczftyqkg
Someone rated it at 1. I can not think of any reason why anyone would want to rate the laptop at 1 and there is no review justifying the rating. On the other hand you can find at least two reviews justifying the high rating (one by me). I hope you get the point.
Hey ,
The policy is welcome and truly required as i dont like meaningless and unwanted stuff in Review section and i miss Tapan views on Blog if im not wrong . i think he is too busy in work..
Ciao
So…after a long time,there happens a blog post(inspite of introduction of many product lines in the mean time).
I am sure you are going to delete this comment as well as this is a negative comment.
But that just shows how conveniently you hide all your negative actions! Consumers have all rights know the problems faced by others as well! You are providing a very biased picture here.
The problem i faced:
First Flipkart charged me Extra on the purchase that i made.
Secondly, on pointing on the mistake, they offered me store credit ONLY on credit card payment.
I am a student, hence cannot make credit card payments. I chose to purchase from Flipkart BECAUSE they offered Cash On Delivery.
On telling them the same, they REFUSED to offer me the store credit on C-O-D. Hence indirectly forcing me to use the Credit Card mode of payment! Which i will most certainly NOT!
So what happens to the amount I ended up paying extra?
I found this extremely unethical! Does your company policy allow you to Cheat your Customers??
-Priyam Datta
Dude, You are messing it up BIG TIME.. Please take a note of it.. Ur service is impeccable no doubt, but the pricing has been on the rise recently!
Day by day you are charging more for a product than decreasing it.. Come on! For e.g NOKIA C2-03 was selling at 4450 at the beginning, today when I checked it, it was 4850!!
There is no point in deleting the negative feedbacks.. U have come up by word of mouth publicity and it doesn’t take much time to go down too.. Now free shipping is only above 200 Rs instead of 100..!! So where s the ethic? U charge more because U R famous now?
Dont become greedy.. Wake up before U complete digging ur own grave.. This is just the beginning..
I was a true admirer of flipkart and have suggested many of my friends.. But the path U have chosen is clearly not the way to go.. Now I have started telling them to be careful and check other websites and even local stores before buying something.. For e.g., I get NOKIA C2-03 for Rs 250 less in local store here.. Whats the point of buying goods in Flipkart?
I know still many things are cheaper on flipkart, but by the way things are moving, I doubt they ll remain so in the near future..
–
Previously sincere customer of Flipkart
HI
I am a great admirer of flipkart . But there is one thing thats not going good on flipkart. You have increased the home dleivery cap too Rs 200/-.
There is a possibility that number of people puchasing at flipkart to get reduced.
There is every chance of it. The previous offer was a great deal. Once you revert it back to that…custmers will flock to buy from flipkart. I dont know what is the problem. This offer is not good as there are a number of items in the range of 100-200. the number of items is equal half of the items priced above 200.
My review was rejected and I was asked to change the title of my review since I was praising flipkart instead of the product i had bought
It is great move from Filpcart. Before purchasing any new product it is good to have quick review on products so that we will be knowing the good and bad of the product we are purchasing. Allowing negetive product review is a great advantage.
Excellent job by Flipkart. Thank you for updating about those fake reviews
My experience with Flipkart has been amazing. I simply love the service these guys provide. Great customer service, never had any issues with Flipkart. However recently I bought my Galaxy S2 only to find out that it was 2k more expensive on here.
I think there is an extent I would pay extra but at some point price starts to matter. In my free time I decided to hack up a site that can compare prices and gave access to my friends. They are kind of liking it already.
I still think Flipkart is the next amazon but it doesn’t hurt to check the prices on other sites as well.
I have been using the flipkart service for past few months and it is really good. But, they have to traet the customers very well to gain the trust among the customers.
So…after a long time,there happens a blog post(inspite of introduction of many product lines in the mean time).
this is a complaint of ur custoemr care dept. n ur courier.i ahd
ordered an alcatel mobile THREE TIMES but on all occasions the
courier fixed appointment for delievery but FAILED TO TURN UP AT
APPOINTED TIME on all 3 ocassions.when i smsed the courier boy
shailder no. that i will give his complaint to u,he told me-”do what u
want,we don’t care”.i had to give this phone as a gift to my neice on
the 1st of jan on her birthday n had placed first order on 27 th
december but till date the phone hasnt been deleievrd to me even
though i was promised by someone from ur no.- that it will be sent
on 1st jan,2012 in time to be given as a birthday present.i cant
explain to my neice whos only 10 yrs the sheer
negligence,carelessness of ur companyn utter lack of responsibilty of
ur customer care and courier in attending to my numerous
complaints sent to u by e-mails.u’v spoiled the birthday present of
my neice n i want u to give me e-mail,mobile/offcie no. of ur
CEO/MD so i can complaint to them how theri employees,courier r
runing the image of their company.
Like everyone else on this board i logic behind selective censoring of comments is weak and unbecoming of the Flipkart story. But then again, once you have 30+ million USD in the bank from investors, you can do whatever you want!
Hey Flipkart, It’s high time you guys stopped playing Content Nazi and stopped dictating what customers should/shouldn’t write about the product/service. I agree the reviews should be moderated for profanity and plagiarism, but saying stuff like “hey be creative” “please educate your users” “stay concise” blah blah..is taking it too far. Nothing wins a customer like Trust & Transparency and you have managed to utterly decimate the latter with your questionable review screening.
PS : Tapas, If you are reading this, I miss your writing, Please come back.
One of the trust factor of flipkart is proper reviews new changes will make it evan more accurate. I am amazed the way flipkart is getting better day by day .
best regards
These are good set of open guidelines which every site should follow. Getting and managing comments/reviews is a daunting task and its good way to curb spams and unnecessary comments. Being open is good thing , but moderating too much data , negative reviews which are trying to improve services should be published. My once cents here !!