One tap on a smiley and the rating is in the report

Many businesses hear from their guests in two ways: through complaints and through online reviews. Both come from people who had a reason to speak up. Everyone in between stays silent. A questionnaire sent by email reaches them when the visit is already days in the past and the memory of the class room, the advice or the washroom has faded.

Kapaso's Smile-O-Mat therefore asks the question on the spot and makes the answer as short as possible.

One question, five levels

A tablet, touch screen or screen with a browser shows a question with five smileys or five stars underneath. People passing by tap a level. The chosen smiley lights up, a thank-you appears, and the display is ready again. There is no form and no sign-in.

For each rating the system stores the score from 1 to 5, the feedback point, and the date and time. The display does not record names, free text or photos.

Each question with its location is called a feedback point. A business creates as many as it needs: one for the class room, one for reception, one for the washroom. The product page lists examples including fitness and classes, the service desk in retail, restaurants, holiday flats, seminars and trade fairs.

Setup and reporting

A feedback point is created in three steps:

1. Create: enter a name and a short code. An existing point can be duplicated.
2. Design: set the question, background image, colours and the choice between smileys and stars.
3. Deploy: put the device in place and switch the point to active.

The name is open too. In a gym, Smile-O-Mat can become a "Schwitz-O-Mat", for example.

Reporting happens in the browser. For each feedback point it shows the average, the distribution across the five levels and every single rating with date and time. The period can be chosen freely, and the ratings for a period can be downloaded as a CSV file. Three roles govern who sees what: administrators see everything, coaches and users only the feedback points assigned to them.

Where the limits are

A tap says how satisfied someone was, not why. There is no free text and there are no surveys with several questions. Smile-O-Mat shows where and when the mood drops; the business has to find the cause itself.

Nor is there a ready-made report by shift or weekday. Because every rating carries a date and time, this can be worked out from the CSV export in a spreadsheet. The system does not send notifications, for instance when poor scores pile up.

The display in the browser needs an internet connection. If it drops, the display asks for the rating to be repeated. For signage players each feedback point is also available as a WGT file; what a given player can do with it offline is, according to the vendor, clarified in a demonstration.

Finally, an open display is not a controlled measuring instrument. Because there is no sign-in, the system does not know who taps or how often. The figures are useful for comparison over time and between feedback points, not as a calibrated value.

Smile-O-Mat is operated by Kapaso; one account covers any number of locations and users per company.

More information: smile-o-mat.com