How Can I Ensure Feedback and Reviews are Objective and Unbiased

We all love to receive great feedback. It warms the heart and makes us genuinely feel good — however, feedback that’s unobjective or biased isn’t actually much help. In line with this thought, if you have been looking to take your business to the next level, ensuring your brand’s feedback is genuine and honest is essential, and we have outlined several key points as follows to help you ensure this is the case for your needs.

It’s not always easy to make sure that reviews are unbiased, but there are plenty of simple ways that you can help verify these. Some of the main steps you may want to take to ensure that your feedback is objective and unbiased include the following.

First of all, establishing clear and specific criteria is hugely important to help with evaluating performance and projects. Having well-defined standards helps both the reviewer and your brand focus on measurable topics rather than personal opinions and biased data. Furthermore, setting clearly defined criteria can also help reviewers tailor their answers and feedback based on questions you need answering, rather than getting responses that don’t really help.

One of the biggest issues when gathering feedback is qualitative data that are less based on hard facts and instead more focused on individual opinions and thoughts. While this type of information can be helpful, it can be limited as interpretations may vary. As such, whenever possible, try to incorporate quantifiable metrics into the feedback process; for example, use questions such as “On a scale of 1 to 10…” In addition, using key performance indicators (KPIs) where possible can help with measuring progress or success more effectively.

Often, if people think their feedback will be traced back to them, they may be less willing to offer unbiased data. As such, offering the option of anonymous feedback can encourage individuals to share their true thoughts and opinions without fear of repercussions. This can be particularly useful in situations where personal relationships might influence the feedback.

In order to increase the value of feedback, asking reviewers to provide specific examples can help support observations and reduce the risk of receiving unobjective or biased data. Specific examples provide context and clarity, making it easier to understand and address issues; furthermore, this helps reduce the likelihood of an individual giving a biased account, especially if someone else was present to witness the event.

At the end of the day, a lot of unbiased reviews will be because people are either positively or negatively biased towards your business. This can leave them giving less helpful feedback, often unknowingly. As such, taking the time to simply ask them for genuine feedback may help remind them to put their preconceived notions aside and give an honest, genuine response. Remind participants as well that you appreciate all feedback, including constructive criticism, to get a fair and balanced result.

It’s not easy to ensure that feedback is objective and unbiased. Indeed, those who are biased against your brand will likely give poor feedback regardless of how good your product might be. Meanwhile, those who know you or who don’t want to offend may give feedback that’s less open and honest — this will definitely help you feel good, but it’s not much use constructively to improve. As such, keeping today’s key points in mind could help you ascertain whether reviews are fair and honest, while simultaneously encouraging more useful feedback accordingly.