For the last three years, we’ve been collecting reviews for both year-round and summer ballet training programs. And, wow, have you all stepped up! We now have over 2,500 reviews in our database. Now that we have such a large amount of data, our CTO (Brett’s husband) decided that we needed to start getting a little more serious about how we store all of this.
The short nuts and bolts of this is that we’re moving everything to a database that we maintain. We’re also adding a layer of security that will now require you to verify your identity (to us) before filling out and submitting a review. In addition, our form is moving off of Google forms onto one that is web-based. Finally, you will also now be able to start a review, take a break, and come back to it later. So, let’s talk about each in a little more detail.
Collecting Email Addresses
At first, we required an email address. But, we weren’t getting very many year-round reviews, so we stopped requiring it hoping that it would increase the number of submissions. But, we didn’t see an increase when we eliminated it. What we did see, though, were reviews submitted that didn’t seem to be written by someone who had actually attended the program. Some even read like it was an employee who worked at the school and was doing a little back-door PR for the school. The problem was that, without a way to contact the person, we couldn’t reach back out to verify anything.
The bigger issue we faced was that some reviews contained information that was factually inaccurate. The most common mistake was when someone who attended an after-school program chose full-time and vice-versa. So we started collecting email addresses again.
Now, we are switching to a new process: before you begin filling out a review, you will enter your email address and we will send you a one-time link. You won’t need any sort of password, but this verification process lets us verify that each submission comes from a real person.
Each link works once and expires after use. However, once you have verified your identity, you will not need to do it again on future visits as long as you’re using the same device. Just like before, your email stays private and is only used to verify information if needed.
No More Google Form!
Yes, we are finally putting the Google form to bed and moving the review submission form onto our own site where everything is web-based. This means, as we mentioned before, that you can now start a review and come back later to finish it right where you left off. No need to keep the window open or start over. You can find the new submission forms on our reviews site.
We really hope these changes are helpful and please be sure to get your reviews in soon! As always, thanks to all of you for being a part of the Ballet Help Desk community!.