Sears paying people to write reviews?

It's too bad Sears doesn't sell unassembled houses anymore. AdamO would have a mansion by know, even at just $5 a shot.

We are just wanting to get folks on the MySears site to check out all it has to offer.  The $5 gift card is just an extra incentive to get customers on the site to see what it is all about, and offer their knowledge on a few products they have purchased from Sears.

Keeping that all in mind, your feedback is important, too.  This is the first time MySears has offered something like this, and we love to hear what members have to say about this kind of a promotion.

There are also certain rules you have to follow to be eligible to win the gift card. Most of them comply with the terms of service already set on MySears (it has to be an actual product, it has to be at least 250 characters, etc).

For more information, check out our blog post. But I would definitely give it a shot if I were you!

Posters have been ASKING for financial incentive.

Here it are...

Sears offers a 4000 dollar gift card drawing quarterly to people who fill out CSAT Surveys.

Not many nibbles there, either.

Suddenly, Customers don't need the money?

I think the main idea is to get as many people over the "learning curve" of authoring a review...

Me.

I guess I'm lazy.

:)

Hi, pepsilvr. I work for Sears, and i wanted to reach out to you about the 5 for $5.  As Julie said above, we are hoping this promotion will encourage Sears customers to help other customers by writing product reviews.  

 

We sincerely appreciate your feedback on this promotion.  It is the first time we are doing something like this, and if it doesn't work - or if our customers don't like it - we definitely want to know!  

 

i am very sorry you are disappointed by this effort.  Please let us know if you have other ideas, or if there is anything else you would like to see us doing! Our customers come first .

I always like to see reviews on products I'm thinking about purchasing and find them very helpful but I believe too many people will just review anything and say anything to get the $5. 

Having said that, I'm not sure what will work to get people to write reviews.  I personally don't think a quantity [of reviews] for quantity [of money] incentive is the best way to go.   If there were a way to verify [the reviewer] actually purchased the item, that would be better. 

I think the best way would be a pin code on a receipt to go and write reviews about your purchases for money off your next purchase or possibly link the sears community website to the craftsman club card to verify past purchases.

Proof of purchase, a timeframe of use for the product, and grammar, as well as diction should be in the "rulebook". And when I say grammar, I mean the King's English, not a bunch of LOLs, and ROLMAOs.

I recently  made  2 major purchases, one of them I just wasn't sure about and then I read the reviews which mentioned the exact particulars that concerned me and I returned the item. I find that alot of people who read reviews are also the same ones who like to write reviews.

I shop at 2 stores that have a pin code on the receipt and shoppers are offered money off their next purchase but with both of those stores you have to call to give your review. I know I'd be more inclined to follow through on the code idea if it was online

Over all I like the  Sears incentive, you have to start somewhere.

....now let me find the 5 for $5.00 so I can review some of the things I bought yesterday!

Hi pepsilvr and myviews, 

 

Thanks for your feedback! I will definitely take note of your idea of the pin code and pass it along.  I agree, myviews, the pin code should be able to let you write rewiews online, which is what we want from our customers!  

 

Hopefully you will find the reviews helpful, and at least for now, you can take advantage of the 5 for $5 offer.  

Oh please, Amazon and every other retailer out there has done this already.  When Amazon first got started they paid people left and right to write reviews.  Even today the incentive is to write more reviews so you can ranked and invited to their "Vine" program to get free stuff.

I see absolutely no problem with this.

Any time you give people what they ask for, they're dissatisfied. Then, if you take it away, you're a miserly jerk. There's no way to win!

myviews said…

I recently  made  2 major purchases, one of them I just wasn't sure about and then I read the reviews which mentioned the exact particulars that concerned me and I returned the item. I find that alot of people who read reviews are also the same ones who like to write reviews.

I shop at 2 stores that have a pin code on the receipt and shoppers are offered money off their next purchase but with both of those stores you have to call to give your review. I know I'd be more inclined to follow through on the code idea if it was online

Over all I like the  Sears incentive, you have to start somewhere.

....now let me find the 5 for $5.00 so I can review some of the things I bought yesterday!

---

Hi MyViews - anyone who writes 5 reviews within the timeframe is eligible for the gift card (until they are gone, anyway!). For more details you can read the rules on our blog: http://blogs.mysears.com/2009/11/111109-111709-sears-review-writing-gift-card-giveaway-official-rules.html

We also offer a "helpful" button - whenever you read a review that you think its "helpful" (and you can include a preference for grammar/ spelling consideration in your voting!) the total number of "helpful" votes appears next to that review, and you reward the writer additional points toward their MySears reputation status. 

What do you think makes a helpful review?

I think the incentive is a good idea.  I have used the reviews from others to help in my purchases, or to convince me to rethink what I wanted to buy.  Many other businesses offer incentives that work and some don't.  Just by the fact that Sears encourages reviews, both good and not so good, I feel, is an indicator that they are trying to promote their products and receive honest feedback.

All publishing of reviews are pending and go through a moderation process before being released. 

I'm not a Sears employee, but do value their products.  If Sears wants to try incentives or think "outside the box" I support their efforts.

golly gee whiz - I write reviews quite often just cause I enjoy having people read them and hopefully buy or not buy depending on what I write.  I have seen many options to write a review to get something, but that is not what I write about.  I want folks to know what is good and not so good - not to personally benefit from that.  This site is just too much fun to bicker about a few dollars.  That is just my 2 cents worth on this subject:)

I like to write about the really good stuff.

I think the people willing to tear down a product are prolific "enough", without any help from me.

AdamO said…

Posters have been ASKING for financial incentive.

Here it are...

Sears offers a 4000 dollar gift card drawing quarterly to people who fill out CSAT Surveys.

Not many nibbles there, either.

Suddenly, Customers don't need the money?

I think the main idea is to get as many people over the "learning curve" of authoring a review...

Me.

I guess I'm lazy.

:)

---

so did CSAT respones go up or down when they went from a for sure $5 off your next purchace to a slim chance at $4k?

They went way up.

I think people need to know they are appreciated. LaurelS has been helping me in my fight against diet soda addiction. I am currently preparing for surgery because I had what drs call "massive weight loss".

One of the associates at Super K noticed I had recently lost a little more weight from my Leaderboard picture and she bought one of the lemons in my cart to for me to put in my drinking water. We got a picture together. I have been camera shy for years. 

 Such a small gesture, right? But  I will NEVER forget Associate Sonji at Concord Super K for her thoughtfulness. My life has changed for the better because of this community.

Okay sorry, I didn''t mention reviews directly. But it was the fact that I shop almost exclusively KMart and review everything I buy, that I found the community and it means a lot to me.