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The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the entire world to a standstill and the global impact is not disappearing anytime soon. Mobile app makers are today working harder than ever before due to the increased time spent by users on their smartphones. Creating quality applications that attract positive mobile app reviews should be the top priority for all businesses.
Reviews are a direct indication of user experience and it is time app developers start paying more attention to mobile app reviews. A positive reputation for an app will bring more customers that convert and who are more likely to use its services in the long run. App developers need to be proactive in identifying the needs of target customers and serving them exceptionally well. After all, the customer is the real king.
This article will introduce you to the various benefits of positive mobile app reviews, how to get those reviews and best response strategies for app reviews.
Image Credit: elitemcommerce.com
Benefits of Positive Mobile App Reviews
Let us look at some advantages of positive app reviews:
1. Good Online Reputation
Warren Buffet once said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
Taking a hint from Buffet’s wisdom, all app developers should consider their online reputation a serious affair.
In the first quarter of 2019, nearly 2.6 million and 2.2 million apps were downloaded by Android and iOS users, respectively. Considering the rise in competitiveness due to the existence of multiple companies offering similar services, mobile app reviews become even more influential in the buyer decision making process. As per data reported by Dimensional Research, close to 90% of the consumers confess the impact of positive reviews on their buying decisions.
2. Higher Conversion Rate
Reviews and ratings have a direct impact on the conversion rate of the mobile app.
Conversion Rate = Number of Installs / Number of Listing Visitors
Conversion rate is a key performance indicator for app making companies as they spend a lot of resources (such as money and time) in bringing traffic and hence making the most out of it will justify the budget involved. It may be a tough job to quantify the impact of positive mobile app reviews on the conversion rate. But let us try with an example.
Impact of app ratings on conversion rates (Source: Noteworthy Journal Blog)
In a study published by Paul Medrano in Noteworthy Journal Blog, the author reported a rise in app conversion rate with the increase in mobile app review ratings.
Change in conversion rate with review rating
3. Boosted Revenues
The ultimate goal of any business activity is revenue generation. If you are not making money, there is an issue. Mobile app business is no different. Mobile App Daily has defined the idea of profitable apps clearly. They say that profitable apps are the ones that meet customer needs and convert them into long term users. Some of the most profitable apps as per 2019 statistics are from the video streaming and online dating sector.
App Subscription Data (Q2, 2019) Source: Sensor Tower
As of today (May 2020), Tinder has an average mobile app review rating of 3.7 on a scale of 5 on Google Play Store.
Tinder App Review Rating (Source: Google App Store)
YouTube App Review Rating (Source: Google Play Store)
YouTube performs better with a current average rating of 4.1.
One should not be paying much attention to absolute rating numbers here as these are expected to fluctuate with the quantity of positive and negative reviews. However, it is worth noticing that apps such as YouTube enjoy a rating of 4.0 and above from a large section of users. Hence, there is a direct relationship between mobile app review ratings and profitability stats.
How to Get the Best Mobile App Ratings and Reviews
After you have learnt about the various advantages of positive app reviews, it is natural to think about various methods or strategies that you can use to get best mobile app review ratings.
Let us look at various tips to get best reviews and ratings for your mobile app:
1. Embracing All Feedback
It is an old saying: “Not all days are the same.” App businesses need to accept both good as well as bad mobile app reviews. It is a bad practice to ignore negative reviews or criticise the user for posting a bad review. Your business should be open to both criticism as well as appreciation.
Review the app feedback (Source: Review Trackers)
Companies must analyse the issues consumers have brought up in the reviews and then work hard to resolve those drawbacks. So, after you have thanked the user for their feedback, the next step is to work on how you can improve your product.
2. Work Hard on Improving Your Product
After you have recorded customer feedback, the next job is to work on your product. Some of the industry leaders such as Amazon work hard on product enhancement and make changes after checking their user mobile apps review ratings. In the below screenshot taken from Google Play Store in May 2020, the user has openly acknowledged that the earlier issues with the app have been fixed.
Though the user has still rated the app low, Amazon Music still retains its positive reputation due to the credit given by the user in fixing earlier issues.
3. Identify Your Most Engaged Users
Every app company must identify its most engaged users. How will you know that? Well the most engaged users spend the highest time on your app and are very actively using various app features. So, keep an eye on the user statistics and you can get the answer very quickly.
Daily active users can give you great insights about your app. Tap into them!
Source: newgenapps.com
Once you have identified your most engaged users, the next step is to contact them and ask for their valuable feedback regarding your app. These users are already spending time on your app and are the best source of learning about the strengths as well as the weaknesses of your mobile app. You can ask these users to rate your app on the mobile app store.
4. Reward Users for Rating the App
Once you have identified your most engaged users, you can ask them to rate the app and win rewards. Rewarding users for rating your app can motivate users to post reviews and this strategy is especially useful for restaurants, hotels, and other businesses where users are quite lackadaisical in taking time to post reviews.
Many hotels and restaurants offer discounts to users for reviews on mobile apps. For instance, MobileBytes Restaurant Loyalty app rewards users for uploading their restaurant bills and posting their dining experiences.
However, some food delivery companies such as Zomato from India are now hunting for businesses that are inflating their reviews by paid user ratings. We therefore advise you to stick to ethical app review practices to avoid any mishap.
How to Respond to Mobile App Reviews
Not responding to app reviews is not a good idea at all.
The screenshot below shows the response of a whole foods market seller to negative customer reviews:
Source: Evnoc.com
Here are some tips to help you respond to your mobile app review in the most strategic manner:
- You should respond to both positive as well as negative reviews.
- Write your response in an authentic and soft tone.
- Do not try to humiliate the user or leak sensitive information.
- Address the needs of the users and try to investigate the reason behind an unfavourable review.
Mobile Apps Are a Work in Progress
User experience is continuously changing and so are the reviews. A positive mobile app review posted today can turn negative if something that was right with the user yesterday goes wrong today. The key lies in being proactive to user needs and quickly making changes to fix the gap.