Ratings and Participant Feedback - Article
Summary
Activity Rating gives registered participants a quick 1–5 star way to express their overall view of a Training Activity. The average can help future participants judge an offer in the Activity Description and Storefront, while administrators can analyze the responses in the Rating report. Use Ratings for a simple public signal; use questionnaires when you need comments, learning evaluation, NPS, instructor feedback, or evidence that explains why participants chose a score.
In this article you will learn:
- How Activity Rating differs from questionnaires and NPS
- How to enable or disable Rating on an activity
- How platform display settings affect the Activity Description and Storefront
- What appears before and after the first review
- When participants can rate and what happens if they skip the completion prompt
- Why a participant cannot rate the same attempt twice
- How cancellation and re-certification affect a saved Rating
- How to review and troubleshoot Rating data
What Activity Rating helps you achieve
Rating provides a low-effort measure of overall participant sentiment. It is useful when you want to:
- Show social proof for a public or internal catalog offer.
- Compare broad satisfaction across Training Activities.
- Identify an activity whose participant experience may need review.
- Give a participant a fast feedback option at completion.
- Track sentiment across repeated certification attempts.
The score is intentionally simple. It does not tell you which module, instructor, location, content element, or operational step produced the response.
Choose Ratings or a questionnaire
| Need | Use |
|---|---|
| One quick overall score | Activity Rating: 1–5 stars |
| Written comments or several questions | Questionnaire |
| Feedback about one Course or Event module | Module-level Questionnaire |
| Feedback about the complete journey | Activity-level Questionnaire |
| Net Promoter Score | NPS question in a questionnaire: 0–10 with promoter/passive/detractor analysis |
| Require feedback before a certificate | Questionnaire configured for that requirement |
| Instructor assessment of delivery | Instructor questionnaire where supported |
Rating and a questionnaire can be used together. Keep the experience proportionate: a star score followed by a long mandatory survey can feel repetitive unless each serves a clear purpose.
Enable Rating for a Training Activity
- Open Course Administration → Activities.
- Create or edit the Training Activity.
- Add or enable Rating at activity level.
- Save the activity.
- Review the Activity Description, Storefront card, and completion experience.
- Complete a test signup and submit a Rating.
- Verify the average and the Rating report.
Rating belongs to the complete Training Activity. It is not configured separately on each module.
Enabling it allows the participant signup to submit a Rating and makes the result available to administrators in the Rating report. Its visual presentation also depends on the platform Catalog setting.
Configure public Rating visuals
A platform-level control under Settings → Commerce → Catalog → Rating shows or hides:
- The star visualization on Storefront activity cards
- Rating information on the Activity Description
This control is normally enabled, but platform-specific configuration can differ.
The two controls work together:
| Activity Rating feature | Catalog Rating visuals | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | Shown | Participants can rate; Rating is presented on Activity Description and eligible Storefront cards |
| Enabled | Hidden | Rating can remain part of the activity, but the Catalog and Activity Description visuals are suppressed |
| Disabled | Either state | The activity does not present Rating as an active feature; existing Rating must not continue to appear on its Storefront card |
If you disable Rating after responses exist, confirm the participant and report behavior required by your policy. The source behavior establishes that the existing score is hidden in the Storefront when the activity feature is disabled; do not assume that hiding automatically deletes historical response data.
Rating on the Activity Description
When Rating and its visuals are enabled, the Enroll widget can display the Rating before anyone has responded:
Rating 0 (0 reviews)
After Ratings exist, it displays the average and response count, for example:
Rating 2.8 (4 reviews)
The count is as important as the average. A score based on one review should not be interpreted with the same confidence as a score based on hundreds.
Review the Rating placement when customizing the Enroll widget. Do not reproduce a manual average in Activity Description text; it will become stale and can conflict with the system value.
Rating in the Storefront
The Storefront activity card displays Rating only after at least one participant has submitted a review.
This differs from the Activity Description, which can show 0 reviews. A card without stars does not necessarily mean the feature is disabled; it may simply have no responses yet.
Rating does not change Storefront sorting. A highly rated activity is not automatically moved above other activities.
Use Focus when the business wants to feature an activity in Storefront presentation. Do not use Rating as an implied ranking mechanism unless a separate configured feature explicitly does so.
Participant Rating at completion
When the registered participant completes a Rating-enabled Training Activity, the completion popup includes a question asking them to rate it from 1 to 5.
This timing captures the participant's immediate overall impression. Ensure the completion popup itself is not suppressed by an incompatible completion design if Rating collection is important, and test single-module and learning-path completion.
The participant selects one star value. The documented Rating feature does not collect explanatory text, so pair it with a questionnaire when context is required.
If the participant skips the Rating
The participant can dismiss the completion popup without rating. In that case, Rate training appears in the learn-mode header, giving them another opportunity to respond.
This keeps Rating optional while maintaining a visible follow-up route. If response rate matters, explain the value of feedback in participant communication rather than presenting Rating as mandatory.
Once a Rating has been submitted for the activity attempt, the participant cannot rate that same attempt again.
Cancellation and saved Ratings
If a user cancels participation after submitting a Rating, the Rating remains saved. Cancellation does not remove or reopen the review.
This protects the historical response from accidental loss, but it also means administrators should understand which signup states are represented when interpreting results.
Do not cancel and reactivate a participant as a method for changing their Rating. If a response requires correction for a legal, privacy, or support reason, follow the platform's approved data-administration process.
Re-certification and new attempts
When an activity uses re-certification, the participant can leave one Rating for each attempt. This is appropriate because each renewal delivery can differ in content, timing, instructor, or overall experience.
| Activity attempt | Rating |
|---|---|
| Initial certification attempt | One Rating |
| First renewal attempt | One new Rating |
| Second renewal attempt | One new Rating |
Interpret the results by activity and attempt where the Rating report provides that detail. The participant cannot change or submit another Rating for the same individual attempt.
Review the Rating report
Administrators can analyze activity Ratings in the Rating report.
Use it to:
- Confirm individual Rating records where permitted
- Compare response count and average across activities
- Identify low-scoring training for investigation
- Review results across time or attempts where supported
- Combine sentiment with completion, questionnaire, and operational evidence
Do not treat average stars as a complete quality measure. Consider:
- Number and proportion of participants who responded
- Whether respondents completed or later cancelled
- Activity type and audience
- Schedule, instructor, location, and support incidents
- Questionnaire comments and NPS
- Learning results and completion
- Changes between activity versions or deliveries
A low Rating is a signal to investigate, not a diagnosis. A high Rating does not prove learning effectiveness.
Privacy and governance
Before enabling Rating broadly, decide:
- Whether averages are desired to be shown publicly, to authenticated users, or not at all
- Who can access the Rating report
- How long individual response data is retained
- How participants can exercise applicable data rights
- Whether small response counts risk identifying individuals in a narrow group
- How disputes or inappropriate use are handled
Avoid describing the reviews as anonymous unless the implemented report and privacy design genuinely make them anonymous.
Realistic use cases
| Use case | Recommended configuration | How to use the results |
|---|---|---|
| Public course catalog | Enable Rating and Catalog visuals so prospective participants can see the average score and number of reviews. Add an optional feedback questionnaire. | Use the public Rating to support course discovery and the questionnaire for detailed internal improvement. |
| Internal learning program | Enable participant Rating but hide Catalog visuals when the score is intended for administrators rather than course discovery. | Review the Rating report together with completion data and questionnaire evidence. |
| Recertification program | Collect one Rating for each certification and renewal attempt. | Retain the attempt context when comparing results to determine whether the renewal experience improves over time. |
| Instructor-led workshop | Use Activity Rating for the overall experience and a questionnaire for instructor performance, location, content relevance, and written comments. | Do not interpret the star Rating as a measure of instructor performance alone. |
Verify the configuration
Use representative accounts and the routes enabled for your delivery. Check the relevant outcomes before launch and after a material change; an administrator preview alone does not verify the participant experience.
| Scenario or check | Expected result or evidence |
|---|---|
| No reviews and first review | Compare Activity Description and Storefront before and after the first review. Catalog Rating visuals follow the intended publication policy, including mobile and localized presentation. |
| Participant response | Test the completion prompt and the Rate training action after skipping it. A second Rating is not accepted for the same attempt, and communication does not imply Rating is mandatory. |
| Cancellation and renewal | A submitted Rating remains after cancellation; a new re-certification attempt can receive its own Rating. Preserve attempt context when reviewing results. |
| Reporting and interpretation | Authorized users can find the result. Read the average with its response count, privacy context, questionnaire responses, and learning evidence; a named owner investigates meaningful patterns. |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Rating is missing from activity features | Confirm the feature is enabled for the platform and the user can edit activity-level features. |
| Activity Description shows no Rating | Check the activity Rating feature, Settings → Commerce → Catalog → Rating, and Enroll-widget presentation. |
| Activity Description shows 0 reviews | The feature is active but no response has been submitted yet. Complete a test attempt and rate it. |
| The Storefront card shows no stars | At least one review is required. Also confirm activity Rating and Catalog visuals are enabled. |
| An old score still appears after Rating was disabled | Refresh/caching aside, verify the activity feature is saved off and the visitor is viewing the correct activity. Disabled activities should not show existing Rating in Catalog. |
| The completion popup has no Rating question | Confirm Rating is enabled, the signup reaches activity completion, and review completion-popup behavior for this structure. |
| Rate training appears in the header | The participant skipped the completion prompt and has not rated this attempt. This is expected. |
| The participant cannot rate again | One Rating is allowed per activity attempt. Check whether a response already exists. |
| Cancellation did not remove the Rating | This is expected. Submitted Rating remains saved after cancellation. |
| A renewed participant can rate again | This is expected when re-certification creates a new attempt. |
| The Rating did not change Storefront order | Expected: Rating does not affect sorting. Use Focus for applicable Storefront prominence. |
| The average seems misleading | Check response count, signup statuses, attempts, audience, and date range. Compare questionnaires and operational evidence. |
| A Rating differs from NPS results | They use different scales, questions, timing, and respondent behavior. Analyze rather than equating them. |
| Support needs evidence | Record activity ID, signup and attempt, Rating feature and Catalog setting, completion timestamp, submitted value, display surface, report result, and expected versus actual behavior. |
FAQ
-
Is Rating the same as NPS?
No. Rating is a 1–5 star activity feature. NPS is a 0–10 questionnaire question analyzed as promoters, passives, and detractors.
-
Is Rating the same as a feedback questionnaire?
No. Rating captures one overall value. A questionnaire can collect several structured questions, comments, and feature-specific feedback.
-
Why does the Activity Description show 0 reviews but the Storefront shows no stars?
The Enroll widget can show Rating 0 (0 reviews). The Storefront card begins showing Rating only after at least one review exists.
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Does a better Rating move an activity higher in the Storefront?
No. Rating does not affect Storefront sorting.
-
Can the participant change their Rating?
Not through the normal participant flow. One Rating is allowed per activity attempt.
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What if the participant skips the completion question?
The Rate training action appears in the learn-mode header so they can rate later.
-
Is a Rating deleted when participation is cancelled?
No. A submitted Rating remains saved and the participant cannot re-rate that attempt.
-
Can a participant rate every re-certification attempt?
Yes. Each attempt can receive its own Rating.
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Can I hide stars without disabling Rating entirely?
Use the Catalog Rating visual configuration to suppress Storefront and Activity Description presentation. Test participant input and report behavior on your platform.