The Information Era, which started with World Wide Web (the Internet) in the early 1990s, came to an end with technological advancements and changing conditions. Today, we are going through the Experiment Era in a world integrated with smartphones that almost everyone has, and high-speed Internet network that is available almost everywhere. What exactly is the Experiment Era?
The philosophy of the Experiment Era is based on sharing ideas and feelings correlatively. The ideas and the ratings of anonymous users who we don't know at all may affect our decisions while shopping on the Internet. When we decide to order food on the Internet, we generally choose a restaurant which has a high rating.
We want to share our remarks regarding all of our experiences, and rate these experiences. What if we were rated over the experiences that we provide or our personal relationships? Yes, now, we are all thinking about this famous episode of Black Mirror. As you know, there is a sentence at the end of every episode of the series which offers different dystopias from a world under technological sovereignty: "Fortunately, it is not real." It seems that this sentence gradually looses it validity.
A Better Rating For A Better Life
The citizens of the People's Republic of China, the most populated country of the world, will be evaluated over the ratings they have in the near future. The system to be implemented in the whole country in 2020 is now implemented in Suzhou which is selected as the pilot city. The residents of the city which has a population of approximately 11 million people are evaluated over the ratings they have.
With this system; everyone starts with 100 ratings assigned to their identity cards or social media accounts. While some of your activities in the system increase your total rating, some of them decrease it. Here are some activities for a person to increase their total ratings:
- Blood donation.
- Work as a volunteer for charities or donating to these charities.
- Be a loved person among friends.
- Send positive posts about the country on social media accounts.
Some of the activities decreasing the total rating are as follows:
- Violate traffic rules.
- Cancel any reservations that you have made.
- Send negative posts about the country or a different subject.
- Be in a close relationship with people who have low ratings on social media or in real life.
Citizens who have high ratings have some privileges. Some of these privileges are:
- Free fitness center membership.
- Discounted public transportation fees.
- Shorter waiting time at hospitals and public enterprises.
- High-speed Internet.
If you live in Suzhou and have a low rating, life gets a little harder for you. Some of the challenges you may face are as:
- Travel restriction.
- Low-speed Internet.
- Prohibition of entry to certain restaurants.
One of the most striking implementations of the system is the fact that 50.000 people were restricted to travel as they had low ratings last year.
Naturally, the system brings about arguments. While there are some people defending that the system implemented to maintain the order in a populated country like People's Republic of China (1.4 billion people) is reasonable, there are some others defending that the system violates the human rights.
Think that you live in a city where you are rated by your school mates, neighbors or anyone you meet on the street, and evaluated over the rating you have. It's quite likely for you to think twice when turning up the volume of music at night.
As a matter of fact; having some privileges or being exposed to sanctions based upon the ratings has been a part of our lives for a long time. You may have many privileges according to your e-commerce rating at some e-commerce sites. For example; if you have a high rating, you have the chance of deciding whether to buy a product or not by trying it for 2 weeks, without any charge.
The examples that we have seen up to here are the examples of the rewards given in consideration of having a high rating. What if no rewards were given in consideration of having a high rating? At this point, we may examine the Uber example.
Are You a Good Enough Passenger?
Uber, one of the most favorite enterprises of the recent times, allows drivers to rate passengers just like passengers rate drivers. Drivers rate passengers over 5 stars after every travel, and each passenger has an average rate. No information is given regarding the rewards provided to you in consideration of having a high rating. A better car? A shorter waiting time? Lower prices for the travels? We cannot give an exact answer to these questions. However, having a low rating has some disadvantages for you. What Jon Hoos, an Uber driver in America for 2 years, tells about this issue verifies the situation.
"When your rating is low, the driver will likely take a second or two and think to themselves, ''This rider has a 3.2 star rating. I don't know if I want them in my car.'' I have not accepted rides because of a poor passenger rating, and I know that I will do it again."
If you want to be an Uber passenger with 5 stars, there is a great deal of content that may help you with that. For being an Uber passenger with 5 stars, 5 points to be taken into consideration are summarized as follows:
- Communicating with the driver all the time and being good-humored. You may simply ask the driver how he is. Even that may help you alone.
- Allow drivers to select the music.
- Leave a tip. We think, there is not much need to explain that. :)
- Try not to cancel your travels as much as you can and abide by the reservations you make.
- Rate drivers with 5 stars.
Passengers are not excluded from the system as they have low ratings. However, the situation is a little different for drivers. Drivers having a rating lower than 4.3 are warned by the system in the first place. If total rating continues to decrease, the driver will be opted out of the system.
All these ratings performed in the Experience Era constitute a "Rating Economy". Now, we all want to eat at the most rated restaurants, have our holidays at the most rated hotels, and buy the most rated products. What lies behind these ratings is a nice experience. The words of Brad Rencher, Adobe Digital Marketing General Manager, verifies this situation: "We are selling experiences. This is our new reality." Taking the recent conditions and the fact that the features of the provided services and products are nearly the same into consideration, providing a nice experience is the golden formula for drawing attention in the crowd.
This article is based on Userspots Founder Mustafa Dalcı’s presentation titled ‘’Customer Experience Economy’’.
