Google Review Tap Card for Simple NFC Customer Feedback
Say goodbye to the age of lengthy hyperlinks. Say no more to numerous taps on your screen to get a better quality of the QR code. Gone are the days of confusion for elderly clients and customers to open the camera app just to capture the encrypted link. Google has introduced an advanced solution to the lengthy process of getting reviews from customers by adapting the use of NFC technology with a physical card.
Before we get to the technical part and jargon of this article, we should first better understand the transition of strategy. We need to learn why there is a need for change in a simple task such as getting a review from a customer.
Ratings and feedback are essential to one’s business. There are certain points that only customers and clients get to see and give. In order to seek improvements for a business, one must lend an ear to the suggestions and comments of their customers. Or, in these modern times, one must tap their phone to acquire a star from their customers.
History of Getting Reviews:
Flowery words
Back in the day, new business owners usually started conversations with their clients and cleverly maneuvered the conversation by asking for tips and suggestions from their valued clients. Most of the time, these tips and suggestions are sugar-coated to appease the business owners with pleasantries. Definitely, this is not a good thing for business owners who seek improvements rather than compliments. Striking a conversation was also difficult for other people who had anxiety and trouble with words. Only a selected few were given a talent to carefully lead a conversation and managed to get what they wanted to hear from their customers.
Emoticons
Another fun way to get reviews from customers is with the use of emoticon stickers. You can usually see round yellow faces arranged strategically besides the front desk or the entrance of the establishment. Some establishments even make it more fun by adding games or offering treats to encourage customers to partake. Customers are easily attracted to the vibrant color and the adorable mascots which then encourage them to leave a rating with the services they received from an establishment. But, a round yellow emoji is not enough to convey the right words for a suggestion.
The Rise of Hyperlinks
In 2008, Google released Google Forms which is widely used for business operations and planning, customer management and education. With this, business establishments get to include other factors that they could ask for improvements from their customers. They usually leave these links on menus and brochures, something customers usually see or take from the establishment. But, typing such long links is a great hassle for customers, leaving the prints on the paper ignored.
QR Codes
With the rise of the digital age, businesses acquired a QR code that could easily be scanned through the phone and inquire the honest remarks of their customers through a veil of privacy. By opening the camera app from a phone, customers have an easier time to go to the site to leave a review and suggestion. Yet, a tiny problem still arises from this solution. Some phones do not possess high-quality cameras that could easily capture the QR code. Some even had to tap on their phones to get a better quality to invoke the link. Soon, QR code was considered a hassle to leave a review, not because of the encrypted code but rather with the phone used.
And just like what business owners sought, digital advancement continues to continuously improve. It was entirely baffling how it transcends from a link encrypted in a QR code into a simple NFC card that customers can tap on their phone to leave comments about the business. Technology has equipped itself to be more accessible, more efficient and more hassle-free.
What are NFC Cards?
Now, in the technical part of this article, we are now bound to understand the jargon and terms that could answer the what’s and how’s that some of us wanted to ask. Maybe, after finishing this article, you could brag about your newfound knowledge to your family and friends that could easily impress them. NFC means Near Field Communication. Adding cards in that term brings us to understand that NFC Cards are physical cards that could communicate with devices when they are in close proximity.
For some curious readers with the big question of how’s, NFC cards work by generating a magnetic field when an NFC-enabled device, most likely smartphones, was near in their proximity. With this, the NFC tag from the physical card sends wireless waves to the recipient device with the information needed. In this article, the information that the NFC cards usually send to customers’ phones are the survey links.
Now, NFC Cards are not entirely new in the field of technology. If you look at your wallet, you will be surprised to find that you already had possession of it in the form of your public transportation ticket. With just a tap on ticketing gates, you were granted entry to the gate and even had the opportunity to see the balance on your ticket. It is also in the form of your credit and debit cards. With just a tap, you are able to buy that new released shoe or phone without the physical motion of swiping it in the register. Another example is the key in your hotel rooms. You get to enter your room and get that well-deserved rest without fumbling with keys and tapping on keycodes.
With this ease that was introduced to people, business owners were also allowed the effortlessness to get reviews from their customers with a tap. In just one tap on a customer’s phone, their customers are led to a survey link where they will be able to drop a rating and comment without a hassle. One tap and customers are already directed to the survey links.
This is much easier than having a lengthy request for reviews or watching a customer tap frustratedly on their phone, trying to get a good shot of the QR code. A good thing about NFC cards, survey links are not the only thing that it could transmit to the customers. Business owners could also include details about their business establishments which could be helpful to the flourish of one’s business.
As I write this article, it was truly amazing that a single card could solve miniscule problems in getting a review and suggestions that could help a business. And just like this one physical card, one comment or suggestion could also kick start the improvement that most small business owners sought after. To some of us, leaving a review could be considered as a hassle and a painstakingly process. Yet, there are times that an honest review not only helps those small businesses to improve and flourish but they could also help and assist other consumers and customers that are new. An honest word could help other people to understand the services that this business provides. In such a way, a single tap could also help other people.
