RateNow FAQ
Can't find your question below? Contact us.
Q: What is RateNow?
A revolutionary way to hear your customers.
RateNow is a system that gives your customers the ability to communicate with you through SMS texting.
Wtih RateNow, your customers participate in automated six-question surveys via SMS text. Customers opt-in to respond and typically receive some type of incentive for their participation.
RateNow gives you total control of the whole system, and the system is remarkably simple to use.
Q: How do customers know about the survey?
From Call to Action Cards provided by RateNow.
For further details, see How.
Q: How do I get started with RateNow?
Easy. First, you sign up for an account.
Your account gives you access to a Control Panel, where you can create and control questions to ask your customers, view realtime results of your customers’ feedback, access our How To Guides and Tips, and manage your account information.
When you create your questions, the RateNow system automatically generates a unique telephone number based on an Area Code you select. You then select a Key Word. Your customers opt-in to answer your questions by texting your Key Word to your unique telephone number.
Customer responses are updated immediately, and your realtime \results are always available through your Control Panel.
That’s it.
Q: How long does it take to get started?
No time at all.
In fact, you can have your first questions created within 15 minutes of creating your account.
Q: How frequently can my company change the questions that we are asking customers?
As frequently as you'd like.
With RateNow, you have total control over the questions you ask. You can change, modify, delete, or add questions every day. For best results, most users update questions on a monthly or quarterly basis.
Q: How many questions can I ask?
Six.
Or fewer than that if you’d like.
Q: Can a customer take the survey more than once?
No.
Your customers are limited to one response per 30 days.
Q: What questions should my company ask?
Whatever you want.
Most RateNow users monitor in-the-moment customer experiences, gauge customer satisfaction with specific parts of their visit, or measure the effectiveness of specific advertising or marketing. We have plenty of tips and best practices, a question library, and your own RateNow Rep to make sure you get all of the support you need to ask the right questions.
Q: What do results look like?
Clean and easy to read.
For rating questions, results are presented in a pie chart and line graph for each question. For open-ended questions, all comments received are shown in a list, exactly as they are received. In addition, there’s a one-click export to get all of the raw data and responses in a .csv format (Excel).
To see a sample, visit Results.
Q: Do I need any special equipment to use RateNow?
No.
You need access to the Internet to create and manage your questions and to view your results. Your customers need a cell phone that can send and receive texts.
Q: How do I get help?
We've got more help than you'll ever need.
The RateNow system is simple. In fact, it couldn’t be easier. Almost all users are able to manage the system with ease within 15 minutes of creating their account. However, to make sure that every user is proficient, we have developed How To Guides that are available in both .pdf and video format. After you create an account, all of these Guides are available from your Control Panel.
In addition, you will be assigned a RateNow Rep. Your RateNow Rep is a living, breathing human being – not an electronic voice – that is always available to you for any reason. You will know this person’s name, email address, phone number, and the best way to get in touch with them.
Once you get up to speed, we don’t anticipate that you’ll need much help to use RateNow. But if you do, we’ve provided training and people to help you.
Q: What incentive should I use?
Anything that helps you get customers to respond.
The incentive doesn’t need to be expensive. It is simply a tool to encourage participation and, if possible, to fuel future customer purchases.
Many RateNow users design their incentive as a sales tool to encourage future visits. Therefore, incentives are typically discounts, free products, or services to be provided at a future visit. Other possible incentives could include an entry into giveaways or drawings.
Q: Do I have to provide an incentive?
No.
However, customers participate much more frequently if provided a simple incentive.
Q: How do my customers use the incentive?
Like a coupon.
After customers answer your questions, the final text they receive confirms their participation and information they need to redeem the incentive. For example, if a retail outlet offers a 10% discount on the customer’s next visit, the final text could read:
"Thanks for participating. On your next visit, simply show this text to our sales associate and you will be given 10% off of your purchase. This offer must be used within 15 days."
On their next visit, the customer shows the text to your employee and receives the incentive.