What the owner doesn't hear
You have dozens of tutors. You interviewed them all, and you trust most of them. But you have no real idea how lessons go week to week. Parents rarely complain; they just cancel. When they are happy, they tell their friends, but not you. The only feedback you get is the family who leaves, and by then it is too late.
Twice this term, a family has left a tutor you thought was excellent, both citing lessons starting late. You had no idea. Meanwhile, a quiet tutor whose families adore her has never been thanked, because nobody told you.
Why feedback never reaches the owner
- Parents are not asked, or are asked with a long survey once a year.
- Concerns feel awkward to raise directly, especially about a friendly tutor.
- Praise goes to the tutor, not the agency.
- There is no link between feedback and the lesson record.
- Reviews on Google or elsewhere are left by chance, not asked for at the right moment.
What the silence costs
Families leave over small issues that could have been fixed. Good tutors go unrecognised and may move on. Weaker tutors keep being matched with new families. Your online reviews are thin, even though many parents would happily write one. And the owner makes decisions about tutors on gut feeling.
It also leaves tutors without a way to improve. Most tutors want to know how they are doing, and a small, specific comment, such as a student finding homework too long, is easy to act on when it arrives early and very hard to hear when it arrives as a cancellation.
The feedback we build
- After some lessons, not every one, the parent gets a one-tap rating in the reminder or portal: a simple scale and an optional comment.
- Each half term, a short check-in asks a few questions you choose: is the tutor punctual, is your child engaged, anything we should know.
- Comments that suggest a concern go to the owner straight away, not to the tutor.
- Each tutor's page shows their ratings and comments over time, alongside cancellations and reports.
- Parents who give a high rating are invited, at that moment, to leave a public review if they would like to.
- Tutors see their own positive feedback, and the owner decides how to share anything else.
| Signal | What the owner sees |
|---|---|
| Low rating with comment | Alert the same day |
| Ratings dropping over weeks | Trend on the tutor's page |
| Consistently high ratings | Tutors to thank and match with priority |
| High rating, parent happy to review | Invitation to post a public review |
Reviews are only ever invited, never written or edited by the agency, and parents choose whether to leave one.
A term with feedback
A parent taps a low rating with 'lessons often start ten minutes late'. The owner sees it that afternoon and has a friendly word with the tutor, who had not realised the travel between two lessons was making him late. It is fixed. The family stays.
Another tutor's page shows a run of top ratings and warm comments. The owner thanks her and gives her the next A level enquiry. Several of her families left Google reviews when invited.
Across the term, the owner stops relying on gut feeling about the tutor team. The feedback is short and partial, but it is steady, and it arrives while there is still time to act on it.
Feedback works best when it is short and predictable. A single tap after some lessons and a few questions each half term is enough to spot patterns, without asking parents to fill in surveys they will ignore. You decide the frequency, and you can change it once you see how parents respond.
Signs you are missing feedback
- You hear about problems only when families cancel.
- You do not know which tutors parents love.
- Parents are never asked for feedback, or only once a year.
- You have few reviews despite many happy families.
- Decisions about tutors are made on gut feeling.