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Curious about how the 5 apple feedback rate works on the stats page? Read on to see what it means, get some advice on how to improve it, and read about how you shouldn’t worry TOO much about it.
I’m in a lot of VIPKid groups on Facebook. I love being able to give/receive advice on tech things like Manycam or using Google slides for props as well as get insight on what the crazy translations mean from parent feedback! I have seen a lot of teachers start to ask about 5 apple ratings lately. How do I get more? What do I do if parents are leaving any feedback? etc.
Today I want to discuss some of the conflicting views of 5 apple ratings that have come up and some advice for new (or even veteran) online teachers when it comes to parent feedback.
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How Important is my 5 Apple Feedback Rate?
There are two main reasons to want 5 apple ratings on your profile. One is simply the reputation it gives you when parents are looking at your profile. When you buy a product on Amazon, you want to see that most of the ratings are 5 stars, right?
The second reason is that it IS possible to get an increase in your base pay (how much you receive per lesson before incentives) in your next contract. Your 5 apple feedback rate is a factor.
Good Reputation
Having a good 5 apple rating on your stats page is great! Parents like to see that you have a good reputation and are liked by other parents when they are looking for a new teacher.
As a new teacher, you probably are really hoping to get a few 5 apples in the books to bump up your profile and to give you a bit of affirmation. Am I doing this right? Do parents like me? Do kids like me? Is my reward fun enough?????? All of these questions are pounding in your brain!
As I’m going to talk about in my tips below, keep teaching your best and the ratings will come!
Getting a Raise
Your feedback stats, as well as your participation stats, affect whether you will receive a base pay increase in your next contract.
Some people place a LOT of priority on feedback for this reason. Later I will give reasons why you don’t want to get too caught up worrying about feedback and your raise as it can actually start to hurt you.
So… How do I Increase my 5 Apple Feedback Rate?
I have heard a lot of advice on how to increase your 5 apple feedback. From how you write YOUR feedback to straight-up asking parents to give them 5 apples.
My biggest piece of advice is to make TEACHING WELL your priority. Make the student want to book you again. The booking is much more important than the feedback.
Writing good class feedback
There is a VIPKid teacher named Ed Nace who wrote the book on giving good feedback to your students.
Many teachers who have read his book and follow his tips in writing their feedback claim that they saw a significant improvement in their 5 apples.
The idea is to write feedback that is meaningful and personal. To get his book, Loud and Clear, visit his website at EdNace.com. He covers just about any situation that you might struggle writing about in your feedback!
You can also join his Facebook grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/156031751905693/ that he started called, Chinese-Say What?
Asking for it
Personally, I don’t ask the parents for feedback. Again, my priority is more in getting them to rebook me!
However, some teachers have claimed they saw improvement when they gently reminded parents that VIPKid values 5 apple ratings.
In the past, I tried this. It felt weird to me and I didn’t see any difference in my numbers of 5 apple feedback.
If it’s something you’d like to try, it’s important to keep the reminder friendly and non-pushy.
Yes, It MIGHT help you get a raise, but your feedback rate DOES NOT GET YOU PAID!
This is where some teachers hurt themselves getting too obsessed over their feedback rate.
Because of the way that your 5 apple feedback rate works, it’s not about simply having 100% of your feedback be 5 apples.
The rate is calculated based on how many of your taught classes are given 5 apples. This means if you teach 10 classes and one parent gives you 5 apple feedback, then your rate is 10%.
Even though 100% of the feedback you have received is 5 apples, only 10% of your classes are… I know. Tricky.
This causes teachers to do some pretty crazy things.
They start to get the idea that “I don’t want to keep the students who will never give feedback.” This is ridiculous.
YOU STILL WANT THOSE STUDENTS! They are still filling up your schedule and you are getting paid to teach them!
I have seen quite a few teachers in the groups say that they are going to request that the parent no longer books them unless they start giving feedback… “I have taught this student for _____ lessons and they’ve NEVER given me feedback. It’s hurting my percentage…” Yada, yada, yada.
I mean, you see why this doesn’t make sense right?
Think about if you went to a restaurant and they said, “I’ve checked Yelp. Even though we’ve served you X amount of times, you have NEVER given us a 5-star review. Please find a different restaurant.”
What would be the first thing you do when you get home? I don’t know about you, but I’d be having my very first Yelp visit, and it would not be a positive review.
Yes, I LOVE when parents give me 5 apples. I love it, even more, when they write something nice as well. HOWEVER, I love when they book me EVERY DAY to teach their student even more (which they do)!
Priorities…
Two problems with focusing too much on whether parents are giving you feedback.
FIRST: They are booking you consistently, right? That’s what you want. The bookings are what get you paid. A full schedule is more important than having a good rating.
Let me give you a scenario. Teacher A has a 50% feedback rating. Wow! That’s amazing!
However, she only has 2 regulars and rarely gets any other bookings. Those regulars are pretty good about rating classes so her rate is high. But is she making any money?
Teacher B has a pretty low feedback rate. But her schedule is consistently filled with regulars that exclusively book her. She never has an open slot.
Who is in a better situation here? Obviously Teacher B! Even if she has a lower base pay, she’s STILL making more than teacher A.
Your priority should be to GET MORE BOOKINGS! Teach to get regulars. The goal is to get students to come back.
SECOND: You risk actually getting NEGATIVE feedback. If a teacher is constantly demanding that I give them apples then gives an ultimatum. I would probably stop booking them and POSSIBLY even give a low rating.
In many ways, you have to think of this as your business. There is a lot of competition out there. Teachers who play guitar or know how to juggle are out there and are happy to take those students that you requested not to teach.
DON’T EVER turn down bookings unless there is a real issue. Really the only situation that I see this being appropriate is if a parent continues to book you, but consistently gets you low ratings.
How to Get More 5 Apple Feedback? Stop worrying about 5 Apple Feedback!
What it all boils down to really is that the best way to get more 5 apple feedback is to just be the best teacher you can be.
Don’t bug parents about feedback.
A gentle reminder for regulars who are always booking and never reviewing is ok. However, I would not put in every class feedback or stress it too heavily.
Make your classes exciting!
Make your classes so amazing that the parent cannot wait to go tell everyone how awesome you are in the feedback!
Use unique rewards, have fun conversations, teach additional phrases revolving around the students’ interests! However, you can make your classes memorable and exciting, do it!
I like to use Manycam in my digital classroom so that I can use digital effects and green screen to make my classes interesting.
When we learn about the ocean, I can make my background the coral reef like we’re exploring the ocean! Or I can put us on a mountain or in a cave! Digital effects make the possibilities endless!
Build relationships with your students!
When your student feels really connected to you, they will WANT to give feedback because it is one of the few ways that they get to communicate with you!
Students love to write to their teachers. With VIPKid, the students can send e-cards, but they are prewritten and generic. Feedback is one of the ways that they can communicate with you outside of class.
I love getting questions or little interesting things about their lives that they want to tell me in the feedback! They might let me know what they hope to see for their reward in the next class or let me know that it’s their birthday next week!
Good Luck!
If you are worried about your 5 apple feedback rating, my best advice out of all of this is to just be the best teacher you can be! Make connections with your students and have fun!
These are the things that make parents and students want to make sure everyone knows how awesome you are!
