I remember the anticipation of my first review when I started my Etsy shop. Would it be 5 stars, or would they hate it and leave me 1 star? I know when you first start it's like a customer please just hurry up and leave a review to put me out of my misery. Then you get the ping sound on your phone as we have every notification switched on so we don't miss anything, your heart is in your mouth as you press the notification….and it is a ….. I'll leave that there as that's your story.
I never chase reviews. Never have, never will. As a buyer, I know Etsy sends me an email to leave a review so if any shops send me a message asking for a review as well it is the quickest way for me not to leave a review. Unless I know the shop is new and I like to pass the karma forward.
One bit of advice – don't sweat the reviews. They will happen and even after many years the ping sound still sends my heart racing.
If a customer leaves a low star and no words I may reach out but I don't expect a reply. If they can't muster the strength for words on a review I doubt they can reply to an email. Also, note that on some app/phone versions, they can leave 5 stars but it shows as 4.
If a customer leaves a bad review I of course rectify, if humanly possible, the issue. However, I struggle with the crystal ball a bit and can't tell them where the download is on their computer.
If a low star review can't be rectified be it because the customer won't reply to my message etc and it can't be removed by Etsy then I will reply to the review. But I wait for a few days till I'm not angry and reply with the next potential customer who might be reading it in mind.
But there are times I do just shake my head in disbelief. Below are some of the messages and reviews I have had, I won't, of course, divulge customer's names to spare their dignity.
A digital downloadable printable invite that has a glitter effect – how does the glitter get onto the invite? I think this is my favorite one and I wish I owned a printer that spayed glitter
Gnome clipart – it was bigger than I thought it would be.
A digital downloadable printable invite – can you add an animated clip to my invite before I download and print it? And no they were not after the digital version, the printed version
An editable downloadable printable invite – is the text editable?
Gnome clipart – I have downloaded the files but I can't find them on my computer, where are they?
Gnome clipart – I can't download the files on my phone…..Etsy doesn't allow downloads via their app so I have it in the description, in an image, and a link to Etsys post about how to download. Customers don't read
A digital downloadable printable invite – I haven't got my invite just the instructions download. So maybe read the instructions? I so want to reply with this but never have
Digital invite – Never received it. This one is quite common but with Corjl I can see if they have logged in and also if they have edited it and downloaded it. Most times they have done both hours before leaving their review.
The best way to deal with anything like these, after checking there isn't anything amiss, is to use them to make sure the listing is clear. You will find that a majority of customers don't read.
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