2022
UPDATE 15/10 - @JanVanHaver interviewed me recently to discuss this very topic! You can listen to his podcast here but I am also including the video that I made just below here for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!!
Yes, this is Version 2 of the original post: Easy tips for rating venues and writing structured reviews! You should definitely check out the original post because this Version 2 builds on that post with some overlapping information.
Changelog
- The structure for doing your ratings is still the same but I’ve improved on the explanation of what 1-5 stars mean
- The structure of the review is now vastly simplified; my biggest advice is to focus on one or two important information rather than being excessively detailed and covering everything
- Added my take on what a good review should contain
- Added my take on best practices concerning photos, reviews and videos
Rating a place
The original post has more details but here’s the quick overview of the FAACTS methodology plus updated explanation of the 1-5 stars,
F = Food/Drinks
⭐ - Very poor
⭐⭐⭐ - Average
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Exceptional
A = Ambiance
⭐ - Very poor
⭐⭐⭐ - Average
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Exceptional
A = Accessibility
⭐ - Very poor: completely inaccessible by someone with mobility issues
⭐⭐⭐ - Some areas accessible but not all
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Exceptional: all areas are accessible
C = Cost
⭐ - Very expensive and/or poor value for money
⭐⭐⭐ - Affordable
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Bargain and/or good value for money
S = Service
⭐ - Very poor
⭐⭐⭐ - Average
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Exceptional
The rating scheme is now consistent for the majority of the categories with further explanations for Accessibility and Cost. Tips is not something used for rating but serves as a reminder for us to add useful information you may not find elsewhere (e.g. websites) and that you’ve only learned from actually being there.
This method helps you to easily remember how to rate a place by their categories which you would then use to calculate the overall average rating.
Writing the review
At Connect Live 2019, the key message that they showed during presentations on quality contributions was to keep it brief and contextual.
In my previous method, I would write 1-2 sentences for each of the categories, resulting in a very long review. Not a lot of folks want to or have the time to read long reviews. The advice I would give now is to focus on 1 (or 2, if you really have to) category that really stood out for you for better or worse and then write briefly about it.
The individual ratings provide a really good context to the public on what your opinions are of a place. Adding a few sentences to further explain the main highlight/disappointment is all you need.
Which leads me to…
What makes a good review
In my humble opinion, you can think of a good review as embodying the following:
- Concise = Make it short but understandable. Don’t go too short! Saying it’s good but not explain what exactly that makes it good is not entirely helpful.
- Informative = Provide useful information and make sure that they are accurate/correct.
- Contextual = Think of your fellow consumer/customer and what would they like to know about the place you’re reviewing. Also think about the main business of the venue: if you’re visiting a toy store, then talk about the toys.
- Objective = Avoid making personal attacks and ensure neutrality as much as possible. You may have had a bad experience but be fair and calm down before you post anything.
- Constructive = Explain why they were good/bad and what worked/didn't work. Constructive feedback helps businesses to know what they are doing right and where they need to improve.
Some general best practices
I would also like to mention a few general best practices about reviewing a place and this cover taking photos/videos too. These are my personal guidelines/understandings so they work for me but may not for others but hear me out:
📸 Photos
- Minimise the number of photos that you upload. Only upload photos that are essential and useful.
- If you have many photos of the same object but at slightly different angles, pick your best shot and upload just that one photo. If you post them all, you stand the risk of having your photos flagged as ‘near duplicates’ and that can be considered as spam. Do this too many times and you may get a suspension.
- Good examples of what photos to upload:
- Front of venue - show the main entrance, the doorway, the steps, and what the building looks like from the street.
- Accessibility points - parking bays, ramps, automatic doors, handrails, lifts.
- General view inside.
- Menu.
- Food/drinks.
- Try to avoid group photos/selfies. This is very subjective. Personally, selfies are a definite no. If I do group shots, I take them candidly and the folks are not posing for the camera. My goal is to capture the feel/vibe of the place and not to showcase the people itself. Also, in some places, privacy is super important which means that you should blur faces out so that rules out taking personal photos like selfies/groupies.
- Don't spend too much time taking photos: you're there to enjoy yourself so take it quickly and discreetly.
✏️ Reviews
- Try to write your review as soon as you can whilst the experience is still fresh in your mind. I almost always never write my review whilst I'm still at the place mainly because I don’t want the business owner to see my review until I’m gone. Mainly because of the next point.
- Avoid disclosing to the business that you're writing a review. You don't want to get any special treatment because that would be classed as conflict of interest. And you shouldn't be getting any! I've heard stories of folks getting a free service and that, to me, is just wrong. These businesses are there to make money for their livelihood. They shouldn't have to give away free/discounted stuff in return for a review especially when our work is voluntary and not for personal gains.
📽 Videos
- Don't forget to capture videos! Generally, you only need one to pan around to show the general vibe of the place. Again, be conscious about privacy laws in your area.
- Should you do a video of your food? Not necessarily especially if you already have a photo of it. The only time when it warrants a video if the food is presented in a very elaborate manner (dry ice, sparklers etc) or if you're showing how the food is getting prepared. Obviously, do ask in advance if it's okay to take any video of staff members (or just avoid capturing their faces).
Examples
Here are a couple of reviews that I wrote recently. I still struggle with being concise: I always have so much to say! But I am trying my best to keep it short, sweet but still useful and impactful.
Update (05/10): If you're wondering why I put the text "(Detailed review below)" at the start of my review, it's because Maps will truncate long reviews and usually only the star ratings are showing. Viewers won't know that there is actually more info below the star ratings so this is me giving them the heads up!
Well, I hope that you’ve found this post and the original post useful! And I certainly hope that it helps you to be better at rating/reviewing. I still think having the 5 separate categories to rate a place is very useful as it really highlights the strengths and weaknesses of a venue. And yes, always be concise, informative, objective, contextual and constructive!! I welcome your feedback, thoughts and ideas about this! See you in the comments section below! 😎
Hello @AdrianLunsong
This is a very good and informative post. I followed the first article so its easy to continue up from ther,thank you for sharing with us..
I hope my reviews have improved really. We have a major problem at hand here in west Africa, accessibility is still a major challenge so it's hard to rate most places when it comes to accessibility. Rating for services and prices are okay.
I have mentioned once in a post here on connect about what measure does Google have in place to check if reviews are true or not? I came across a hotel that was reviewed to say nice swimming pool once,whereas it wasn't true when I got there.
There are also a good amount of wrong photos like selfies and group picture etc on the maps these days. Wonder can the system be programmed to reject such,as well as duplicate photos!!! Anyway keep up the good work.
Cheers
@TheRealKristin @SholaIB @SilvyC
I've made a minor addition to my post since you've replied:
Update (05/10): If you're wondering why I put the text "(Detailed review below)" at the start of my review, it's because Maps will truncate long reviews and usually only the star ratings are showing. Viewers won't know that there is actually more info below the star ratings so this is me giving them the heads up!
Just so you know about it! 😊
@TheRealKristin Thanks 😁 Do give it a try and it'll be interesting to see how you get on with it. For me, it feels more time consuming because it's quite thorough and I really struggle with being concise. I can waffle on forever.. and a short review feels so incomplete to me but I have to trust that the star ratings will do most of the talking for me and my text review will just expand on different points where necessary! Well, that's the hope!
@SholaIB Do share your reviews in the comments here if you want any of us to give you feedback on them. We all have to learn and improve and what better way than to get the community to help out 😎. With regards to accessibility, I also have the same issue. UK is pretty good at incorporating accessibility features but it's a very mixed pot anywhere else in the world including Malaysia so I understand where you're coming from. I have also debated this internally on whether it's fair to rate so many businesses (usually) a one star for accessibility but here's how I've reasoned it out.
Accessibility is an important factor regardless of where we are in the world because it's an issue that affects everyone. It's not something that only affects people born with it but includes folks who have temporary/permanent physical damage as well as the elderly with reduced capabilities. That's actually quite a significant portion of the population. And having accessibility features benefits everyone.
So even though it affects the overall rating score of the business, by having separate categories to rank (food/drinks, ambiance, accessibility, cost and service) people can see that a business may score a 5 star for all but accessibility and it gives them a better understanding of your rating/review. So, they may choose to focus on the food rating if that's all they care about. Or if accessibility is important to them, then they would want to find a place that has a good rating score for it.
Plus, it explains to the business what they are lacking and hopefully encourages them to go the extra mile to include accessibility features.
Oh, by the way, if you come across poor quality reviews/photos/videos, do report them on Maps. You can flag them up with different reasons to explain why you think they should be removed.
Hello @AdrianLunsong
That's a good suggestion will try to do that sometime. Will paste in a review of a place I have done. Will love to hear the comments and corrections and criticism as well.
Thank you for the offer. I suppose you could also check on them on my profile as well🙂
Cheers
@SilvyC I also always forget to add my videos! 😅 So let's try to encourage each other (and others) to always remember to add videos! What are you using to take your 360 photos? I've done a few but it's very time consuming and sometimes after spending an hour of walking around taking 360 photos, when I go home to review them, I find that the quality is quite poor so I can't upload them! That's the frustrating bit for me! 😑
