A thought about purchase rating?

[BarryDavidson]

I do have to agree with Celeste. I'll add another few ingredients to the mix.

1. Word of mouth works.

2. There's a saying. "A penal system where the ultimate punishment is death, no matter how careful, will eventually execute an innocent."

The reason I mention these is because all it takes is one error, and a potential valuable customer tells six of his colleagues that CC isn't worth checking into. Four to five of those six people will take the person's word, and not bother to check out CC in the future.

On the other hand, what about those perfectionists out there? I can sometimes read ten-plus articles on a single subject, and not one of them will appeal to me in the slightest (not talking about articles here since I'm not a buyer). Eventually they might buy something, but they're waiting for a writer to step out from the crowd and show themselves as that buyer's personal writing messiah.

Remember, writing is never wasted. Even if no one ever buys a particular article, the writing of it was a teaching experience.

[canywriter]

Celeste,

I'm not thinking about potential customers with zero purchase rating - I'm asking about potential customers with repeated requests and no purchase. I don't understand why it is so wrong for us to know this information? It would be just one more element in the mix which helps me decide to write or not to write for a request.

Barry,

I get your point about word of mouth, there is a danger, I guess, that no one will write for that request. But if I am not mistaken, that happens even now?

I agree with you that writing an article is always an education, and have done many spec articles thanks to that view. But there are times when a quick sale will bring in some necessary income, and then this could influence my decision.

Anyway, I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest! And since seasoned and successful writers like you - Celeste and Barry - are not for it, I guess there's something to look at there.

[BarryDavidson]

Not at all. I was just adding my two (perhaps ten) cents worth. I don't often write for public requests anymore since the site changes a while back. I made more money last year off writing for three-plus month old requests than I did answering newer ones. That was also when articles were reviewed pretty much in the order they were received.

I'm not that successful in regard to number of articles sold. Hell, I haven't submitted many articles at all in the past six months. Part of that is because I haven't had the time to write well since I moved. I've written quite a few, but my scattered-brain keeps missing little mistakes.

I only wanted to point out that it takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole bunch. In this case it's more like one disgruntled person to deprive writers on this site of potentially dozens of sales.

[Celeste Stewart]

Cany,
I don't object to it so much as think this information is not really necessary. Then when the question of a customer potentially being banned for not making purchases came up, I became a bit more opinionated about it. I know that CC screens requests before they are posted so I assume there's a judgment call that's made with each one. If CC feels a request is bogus, I imagine that they won't approve it. I think that each request needs to stand on its own merits not just a customer's past purchase history.

[Debbi]

I don't think customers should be banned unless they do something aggregious or violate CC rules, but I do think that those requesters that ask for articles repeatedly and then never buy (or even look at) a single article, erode the confidence writers have in the Requested Content list. If writers stop writing articles for anyone with a 0 purchase rating, no new customer will ever gain a foothold. Hopefully, there are only a few of these requesters but how can you tell? I know I have become extremely selective in writing for public requests and won't write for a 0 PR unless I think the article will have a good chance of selling anyway. This is a shame because if we all do that, new customers may go away thinking that CC has little to offer.

Cany, do you think that perhaps these non-buyers are asking for articles they intend to bootleg later? I shudder to think of that possibility but I guess it could happen........

[canywriter]

Celeste,

I wasn't aware of the screening process. That does make things look different. Having said that, if I write for a public and it doesn't even get read and there is no related sale, and this happens a couple of times, then my confidence does get eroded. But, no, we certainly don't want to penalise or send away potential customers, so I guess we'll depend on cc to do the screening. But we don't want the one bad egg to spoil the basket, as Barry says.

Debbi, it's a thought that I shudder to think of, but I guess the cc screening should take care of that.
And congrats on the frisbee sale!

Cany

[Lysis]

They must monitor a request AFTER it goes up. I think we all remember the guy who posted a request that was spam. LOL

[Celeste Stewart]

No, they monitor requests before they are posted. That one slipped by CC's initial screening.

[Celeste Stewart]

Debbi,
When few writers are writing for public requests with a 0 PR, guess what that means for the few that do? Several of my best customers were ignored by other CC writers way back when they were new to the site!

It's always a risk writing for any public request but so is writing what we want and posting it to the general population. If a public request is for a topic that interests me and has enough appeal to sell to someone else, then it's a risk I'll take regardless of whether or not the requester has purchased 0 articles or 500. Sometimes I'll go for the ones with less appeal if the topic is something I'd enjoy writing about.

[Constant]

We agree with Celeste.

[Amy W]

My computer was acting wonky, so half of my post about "banning customers" got cut. So here's the rest of it. I was just wondering what checks CC has in place to protect the writers. If a customer does request 50 articles annd never buys one, obviously CC shouldn't go and ban the customer, except in the case of stolen content. If it turns out this customer had stolen content that was written for his public request, would he then be banned?

Also, does Support follow up with the customer about why he didn't make any purchases? Like Barry said, word of mouth counts. If this customer turned around and told ten people that he made 50 requests and never found a single article he liked, that too would erode customer confidence in the site.

[Debbi]

Good point, Amy! As a business person I would want to know why a customer was not buying anything. Did he get no submissions? Inferior submissions? Submissions that didn't quite match what he wanted? Perhaps he isn't being explicit enough about what he wants and that is eliciting poor results? Maybe he's offering too little for too much? Maybe his request is titled something off the mark or so generic that writers aren't even looking, like "Articles needed" or "I need stuff written" like they do on those $1 an article sites.

There could be a million reasons, some of them good and some of them misunderstandings. But you'll never know if you don't ask.

Constant, I'm not clear on what your agreeing with. Celeste made a lot of different points in this thread.

I'm extra-special happy because I sold two articles today and have an offer on a third! Woohoo! I love this web site

[Celeste Stewart]

Constant, I'm not clear on what your agreeing with. Celeste made a lot of different points in this thread.

Debbi, I did make a few different points but none are contradictory - they're all interconnected. I think if you look at them in summary, you will see that they're all pretty valid. I'm assuming Constant agrees with them all.

To summarize my points:
• Additional purchase rating info isn’t really necessary

• Write for requests that interest you and have wide appeal regardless of purchase rating

• Pay attention to what’s hot (that’s a better gauge than a single requester’s history)

• Use your sense of good judgment when deciding what request or topic to write for

• Customers should not be banned for not buying

• A customer repeatedly requesting content and never buying is likely a minor issue if it’s an issue at all

• CC screens requests and uses their good judgment when approving requests

• Writing for CC has its risks and it can be rewarding to write for requests that other writers are shying away from

[Celeste Stewart]

Also, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to slam the idea or stifle suggestions at all. We all need ideas and need to be able to express them freely here. So I hope that I haven't come across too adversarial in that regard.

I come from a customer-centric background so I tend to see things from a customer service perspective. However, I've also been here longer than many and have a solid record in evaluating requests. While my opinions are strong, they are also based on experience.

[AnneM]

I agree with Celeste completely because basically CC is our storefront and even if someone does make a request but does not purchase, they may have a valid reason. There are so many things that can happen which you wouldn't believe. Say said customer comes in to make a request because he knows he will have some funds available at such and such a time. Then he discovers his client has delayed payment for whatever reason so he doesn't have money available at that time and can't make a purchase as planned. That doesn't mean he won't come back and buy the articles he liked when he posted the request. Same with other issues that can happen in life like family problems, budget cuts for that month and a million other things.

What if that person does make one or two requests and doesn't buy because of any of the reasons above, or because he can't find exactly what he wants, but he does know someone else for whom a certain article would be perfect? He will send them here, and even if he has a 0 PR you never know how many sales he may actually be responsible for.

After all, as I see it, for us it's a win win situation because in essence we are making an investment. Even if the article doesn't sell now it will always sell later on at some point, every product has a buyer and whether you sell now or later, you will still make the sale. For example I submitted an article for the HR request two weeks ago which the customer did not buy, but lo and behold, it sold yesterday. And as I have seen there are very few requests on topics that will not sell for the simple reason that most of the articles are used to make money in one way or another. If there is a highly targeted request, such as the one that was here a while ago about creating web content for a software management company (I think that's what they did) and your article doesn't sell, then it's not that hard to rewrite it and give it a general spin. For example if you wrote how amazing their services are and how they can help a business, all you need to do is turn it into a "why you should use professional services..." type article and suddenly your market of one becomes a market of oodles lol...

In any case, to put an end to my ramblings, the conclusion is that every potential buyer is worth a lot more than how much they spend here, both directly and indirectly.

Just my 2 cents.