Food delivery, hairdresser, taxi, bank, car service — why all want feedback, all the time

The feedback forms you fill, and star ratings you are pestered for by drivers, delivery personnel and sales staff, have a purpose. They can help you, the personnel and businesses.

Illustration by Manisha Yadav | ThePrint

New Delhi: Those walking by the Punjab Grill restaurant in Delhi’s Connaught Place between October and December would have probably noticed three men distributing free gift coupons outside the restaurant. If you had one of those coupons, you could have claimed a free dish at the fine-dining restaurant. All you had to do to get one of the coupons was give feedback about the restaurant.

There’s a constant demand for feedback — from cab services, food delivery apps, the salon where you go for haircuts, the restaurant down the road, and the service centre where you send your car for maintenance.

The push for sales is understandable. But ever wondered what happens to all the feedback forms that you fill, the star ratings that you are pestered for by drivers, delivery personnel and sales staff? Why the calls for feedback continue even months after you have had your vehicle serviced? Why a restaurant like Punjab Grill — with 21 outlets across the country — is willing to offer free food just to know whether you enjoyed your previous experience there, or how it could make it better for you?

Mostly, what businesses want is your loyalty as customers, and feedback helps them understand your preferences better and improve the experience they offer you. For this, companies are ready to offer incentives to the service staff (such as drivers or food delivery personnel), based on your feedback.

Higher sales, more incentives

You must have noticed how Zomato and Swiggy are ready with a list of restaurants you may want to order from as soon as you open the app. Part of that is drawn from your past activities on the app. But feedback also plays a major role.

“Social media aggregators, e-commerce giants and services, are heavily dependent on user feedback for recommendations, suggestions and ratings,” says technology analyst Prasanto Kumar Roy. “It also translates to more sales for better-rated products. That’s why people are often incentivised to give feedback. In tech, the feedback is utilised very well. However, it’s difficult to comment on what happens to user feedback in smaller set ups.”

Genuine customer feedback can also help businesses market their products or services better.

“Look at the liquor bottles displayed at the restaurant window,” says Anil Sharma, operational manager of Punjab Grill. “This was done following feedback from a customer, who told us that there are no high-end bars in the area, and that people looking for a drink along with a fine-dining experience are more likely to walk in if they see the liquor display. So we moved our display from the back of the restaurant to the front, and it has worked wonderfully for us.”

The feedback form handed out after a meal by the smiling servers is not just a courtesy practice, says Sharma, adding that changes in operation have been brought about depending on customer feedback.

For those working for a cab service provider or food delivery service, poor feedback — in the form of a bad rating — can cost them their jobs or staff incentives.

Roop Singh, an auto driver registered with both Ola and Uber and operating in the Indirapuram area of Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region (NCR) told ThePrint that he is always careful about both maintaining his own rating and giving good ratings to passengers, since he has actually seen both companies communicating with him over poor feedback from either party and acting on his grievances, if any.

“I have seen both customers and drivers getting blocked by both Uber and Ola if they get consistent negative feedback,” Singh says.

“A driver’s incentives are not affected by his ratings, however. For example, it doesn’t matter if I have 4.5 stars and my co-drivers have less, we get similar incentives for our rides. Neither are the number of notifications we receive about new rides impacted.”

According to Roy, however, “higher rated drivers get preference on the platform when it comes to getting more rides, and higher rated customers also get preferential treatment”, though the technology analyst said he is also “not sure of the precise mechanism through which this happens”.

Responding to an email sent by ThePrint, a spokesperson from Uber says they revoke access to their app to both drivers and riders if their feedback is below a certain average.

“Our community guidelines have details on factors that constitute appropriate behavior by riders and drivers. To maintain a high-quality experience, every city has a minimum average rating for riders and drivers. We encourage them to achieve and maintain the highest ratings and share information to improve ratings in case they are being rated poorly,” the spokesperson says. “In some cases, if riders and drivers are rated poorly continuously, with no improvement, they may lose access to the Uber app.”

The cab service provider does not, however, specify what the minimum average mark is.

ThePrint also reached Ola over email, but there was no response till the publication of this report.

How it works at food delivery apps 

Star ratings are even more strictly monitored for those working for food delivery apps.

Abhishek Sahi, a delivery partner (a term used for those delivering orders received through the apps) with Swiggy says at the end of every week, those working for the app are paid an incentive of Rs 800 over their regular earnings, if they are able to maintain an average rating of 4.7.

“If average rating falls to even 4.69 at the end of the week, we don’t get the incentive. I too have missed it in the past because at times customers forget to rate us, or downgrade us if the delivery is delayed,” says Sahi.

A poor rating also affects a restaurant’s visibility on the search pages of restaurant aggregators, according to Punjab Grill’s Sharma. “Nowadays people’s choice of eating is highly dependent on a restaurant’s ratings on Swiggy or Zomato. The better the rating, the more the number of customers received. Your visibility on these apps is affected if your average rating is poor,” he says.

ThePrint reached both Swiggy and Zomato for comment through email. While Swiggy declined to comment, a spokesperson from Zomato says: “Star reviews allow restaurants and delivery partners to get feedback for their service. We use this in-house mechanism to enhance our algorithm and make the customer experience better. In case of negative feedback, we work alongside each of them, to re-train and solve for active concerns so they can serve the customer to the best of their ability.”

Data security concerns

The first fear that many of us have when asked to share our preferences and personal details is that of unwanted and uncontrolled data sharing.

Feedback forms at salons, restaurants, hotels, also often seek personal details like age, mobile number and email address.

According to Roy, information sought by big tech companies is not for sale to third party users, but data breach by smaller establishments remains a concern.

“Information shared with smaller set ups, say apartment buildings while entering, or feedback forms filled out at restaurants, could be abused and shared outside, since there’s no privacy policy in India. However, big tech companies like Amazon, Zomato etc. already have your personal details, so feedback isn’t a way for them to seek such information. Plus they have strict privacy guidelines in place that prevents any data abuse,” says Roy.

“To prevent any communication by sellers (those using the platform to sell their product) e-commerce giants mask your personal information, such as address, so as to protect a customer’s identity in case she chooses to rate the seller negatively,” he adds.

So the next time a vendor or a delivery person or a driver asks you for a rating or feedback, don’t ignore. It can make a difference to them, and you.

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)