Field Nation provides multiple ways for buyers to evaluate service providers, but traditional public rating systems, such as Field Nation’s Star Ratings and My Company Star Ratings, have significant limitations. Private Feedback offers buyers a more accurate, nuanced, and completely private method to assess provider quality and work order outcomes. For this reason, providers who have Private Feedback left by your company will now have Private Feedback displayed in Match instead of My Company Star Rating. 

This guide explores why buyers with great work order outcomes are shifting toward Private Feedback and how it can be leveraged effectively.

Star Rating limitations

1. Public star rating inflation

The concept of star rating inflation is not unique to Field Nation, but it has made it so that 94% of providers boast a marketplace-wide rating of 4.8+ stars. Many buyers default to giving high star ratings to avoid conflict or because they do not see a significant reason to lower them. When buyers have a poor experience with a provider, they often opt out of the star rating system completely, exacerbating the issue. Over time, this has resulted in a disproportionate number of 5-star ratings, making it difficult to distinguish between truly exceptional providers and those who simply met basic expectations.

If your company takes a similar approach of leaving five stars on nearly every work order, this makes it harder for you and your team to make informed decisions based on provider service quality.

2. Subjectivity and inconsistency

Traditional star ratings are prone to subjective interpretation. Buyer users often rate providers based on general impressions rather than specific criteria. Ratings often fluctuate from dispatcher to dispatcher, creating inconsistencies in provider assessments.

3. Fear of retaliation

Buyers may hesitate to leave low ratings due to concerns about backlash from providers. Providers sometimes dispute ratings, leading to tension and unnecessary disputes. Buyers may inflate ratings to maintain good relationships, which can compromise rating accuracy.

4. Limited insight into Work Order outcomes

Star ratings alone do not explain the reasoning behind a particular score. This lack of granularity makes it difficult to determine why a work order succeeded or failed. Providers with high ratings may still have performance issues that are not reflected in the system.

While buyer users can add notes to a separate section of the provider profile, they’re time-consuming to add. Since company notes are text-based, they can’t be easily summarized, which means that users need to spend time reading through a collection of notes when assigning providers.

Why Private Feedback?

Private Feedback was designed to address the gaps left by My Company Star Ratings, providing a more detailed, reliable, and actionable assessment of the quality of service you get from the providers you work with.

1. More accurate Work Order outcome measurement

Private Feedback enables buyers to categorize work order outcomes based on whether providers met buyers’ expectations, providing clarity on performance trends. Buyers can leave an assessment ranging from “far below expectations” to “far exceeds expectations.” Buyers can express whether they would work with a provider again without impacting the provider’s overall rating. This feedback contributes to a holistic performance assessment rather than being influenced by emotions or external factors.

2. Eliminates chance of a negative response

Since feedback is private, providers do not see specific ratings from individual buyers. Buyers can leave honest feedback without concerns about future disputes or backlash, fostering a more trustworthy and constructive evaluation system.

3. Provides valuable context

Unlike a simple star rating, Private Feedback allows buyers to quickly highlight specific reasons for their rating through Feedback Themes. Feedback themes provide actionable insights, helping both providers and platform managers improve service quality. Unlike company notes on providers’ profiles, these feedback themes are quick to leave and easy to summarize.

4. Enhances decision-making

Buyers can confidently assess whether they want to continue working with a provider based on past performance. The feedback data helps in improving provider selection processes.

How to use Private Feedback

Leaving Private Feedback only takes a few seconds, but proves highly valuable when it comes time to assign providers to additional work orders. Here’s how great buyers using Private Feedback to make sure the providers they assign are meeting their company’s expectations:

1. They use Private Feedback for honest and constructive reviews

• Always provide feedback on completed work orders, even when the experience is neutral.
• Be specific about what went well or what could be improved.
• Use Feedback Themes to categorize and clarify your reasoning.

2. Review Private Feedback data for future decisions

• Use past feedback to determine which providers to continue working with.
• Identify patterns in service quality to refine provider selection processes.
• Leverage Feedback Themes to determine if a provider’s strengths and weaknesses suit your particular work order. For example, a provider with great communication and technical skills but low timeliness performance could still be a good choice for a schedule-range work order taking place overnight.

3. Encourage internal consistency in feedback

• Standardize how your team leaves feedback to ensure data reliability.
• Train dispatch teams on how to use Private Feedback effectively, and ensure each work order’s primary contact is the one leaving Private Feedback even if they aren’t the person approving the work.

Conclusion

Private Feedback goes beyond star ratings to give you clearer, more dependable insights into how the providers you engage with are really performing—so you can make better decisions, faster.

By shifting from My Company Star Rating to Private Feedback, buyers can:

• Leverage more accurate service quality data.
• Eliminate retaliation concerns and encourage honest assessments.
• Make better work order assignment decisions based on reliable data.
• Contribute to an improved work order ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders.

Top buyers recognize that Private Feedback is not just an alternative — it is the better way forward. Start using it today to improve service provider quality and enhance your overall experience on the Field Nation platform.