What disability service users value: lessons from early Clickability reviews
What’s important to consumers in the disability sector?
By Aviva Beecher Kelk · Originally published 14 September 2016
Original article
This post is the first of a three-part series published on the Marketing Success blog. You can read the second and third posts here and here.
I’m Aviva Beecher Kelk, co-founder of Clickability. We’re a website which connects disability consumers with service providers, and, like Trip Advisor, features consumer ratings and reviews. My co-founder and I are both social workers with experience in disability and mental health, and our whole team has professional and personal experience in the sector.
I’m writing a short series of three blogs for Australian Business Consulting & Solutions, because although we’ve only launched in Victoria, we’re busily working behind the scenes to be able to launch across NSW, and in the meantime, I want to share some of what we’ve learned already in the last 16 months that we’ve been collecting reviews.
[Clickability update, September 2026: This is Clickability’s 2016 launch context, rather than a statement of its current coverage.]
Welcome to the first part of our series where we look at what disability consumers want from service providers! A few weeks back, we conducted a content analysis of all the comments and reviews we’ve collected, and I want to share the results with you.
The bulk of our reviewers endorsed organisations and their practices, aiming to inform others about the great work organisations are doing. These were most often related to the outcomes individuals had achieved with the help of their service provider, or the way the service and their workers had interacted with them. The small amount of critical feedback centred mostly around customer service issues, consistency and reliability and flexibility of the organisation – with people seeking more of these qualities from their services.
Customers want to endorse disability service providers
The internet has a reputation for being a hub of complaints and criticism. Clickability is neutral and publishes both positive and negative feedback. Our analysis shows 87% of reviews submitted are endorsements of a service provider. Consumers appear keen to recommend their favourite providers to others in a public way. This is consistent with the experience of Trip Advisor.
[Clickability update, September 2026: All percentages in this article come from the early Clickability review analysis. They are historical platform observations, not a current representative survey of disability service users.]
The lesson is that, when you ask for feedback, it will more often than not be positive towards the service provider.
[Clickability update, September 2026: The historical sample does not guarantee positive feedback for another provider. Invite honest feedback and respond to concerns as well as praise. The ACCC explains why manipulating reviews can mislead.]
Customers care about outcomes
Among the most common topics raised by consumers are the positive outcomes they achieved with the help of a service provider. In 26% of all reviews, a provider was credited with helping achieve positive change. For providers, this points to the importance of understanding consumers’ individual goals and how support services can play a part in the pursuit of those goals.
Other common topics raised include customer service, characteristics of workers (direct staff), and social experiences, which accounted for 24%, 20% and 17% of reviews respectively. Of the 13% of reviews which were critical, the most frequently cited problems were customer service, consistency, reliability, and flexibility.
In conclusion
All this speaks to the importance of taking individual needs into account, and having systems in place to support your business’s processes so that your customers feel supported. So what can you do to make sure that you’re offering excellent customer service, reliable support, and clear outcomes to consumers of disability services?
Aviva Beecher Kelk
Aviva Beecher Kelk is co-founder and co-director of Clickability. She’s really interested in the interaction between economic and social issues. She’s been told on more than one occasion that she thinks too much.
Clickability editorial update: September 2026
How providers can turn these themes into service checks
Use the themes to ask what happens in your own service. Do participants know when a worker will arrive? Can they reach someone when a visit changes? Can they explain how the support is helping with something they value? Look for concrete examples rather than trying to reproduce the old percentages.
What participants can ask beyond a provider’s rating
Ask how the provider handles a cancelled visit, a change of worker or information you cannot understand. A useful answer describes a process and who will act, rather than simply promising good customer service.
Tell them which outcome matters to you and ask how you will review progress together. If you want to read other people’s experiences, look for details relevant to the support you need. Your own priorities can differ from those in the historical review sample.
Questions readers ask
Are these current NDIS satisfaction statistics?
No. They describe Clickability’s early platform review analysis reported in 2016. They should not be presented as current sector-wide results.
Can these old findings still help a provider?
Yes, as prompts to investigate outcomes, communication and reliability in its own service. They do not establish how today’s participants rate that service.
Find a service that understands your priorities
Tell Clickability the support you need and what matters in how it is delivered. Compare provider profiles and reviews as you decide who to contact.
