When I ship out an order I email my customers with shipping update via Etsy and also via PayPal - 2 emails. Few days later I get customer asking if I already shipped out his/her order. Obviously the emails Etsy and PayPal sent, ended up in their Spam/Junk folder. With so many emails and spam out there, we use filters, and so do our clients. You think Etsy is sending them reminders to leave feedback, yet many customers are not getting any emails.
Other issue I have is, I ship fast, and when my client receives my product, he/she goes to leave me a feedback and apparently she can not. Etsy has time restrictions, and only after X amount of days since the purchase date, a customer can leave feedback. My clients tell me that they will have to return later to write the feedback, and half forget and go on about their lives.
I believe customer feedbacks are VERY important! And a store should try to get as many as possible. I know when I shop online, as a buyer I like to know ahead what quality of product I'm buying, if there are any issues with it, what customer service I should expect and so on.
Buying online is limited because I can not see the item in person, and I can not touch it physically. Also it is one thing for a store to write out its policy and advertise customer satisfaction and good service, but it doesn't necessary mean the the store will follow through once I make purchase and I'm not happy with the item. Customer feedback will tell me a lot.
I'm an avid shopper 10+ years on eBay and Amazon, and first thing I do is when I'm interest in a product, I go to read store feedbacks. If a store has small amount of feedbacks and not much to go on, I hold off on a purchase. Opposite happens when a store has lots of feedbacks and they are mostly positive, even thou I'm not 100% sure about the purchase, I give in and buy. Because I'm convinced and motivated by the feedbacks.
On Etsy one has to make a purchase to leave a feedback. But there are so many sites out there like Amazon, Google and so on, where anyone can just create and account and leave a feedback for a product he/she didn't even buy. And this has turned into business itself. There are companies who pay people to leave "fake" feedbacks about their products. And I've seen on kijiji people posting adds that they will review and leave positive feedbacks for products for a small fee/ payment. Paid feedback is a huge business. Google it and see.
So please don't dismiss the importance of customer feedback, and don't assume that customers will remember, or that Etsy reminders are getting through to them.
Don't be pushy asking repeatably for a feedback, but mentioned it once in a polite manner.
