Customer reviews are super important if you want your app to be successful. In fact, 93% of consumers say that online reviews influence their purchasing decisions. This means you need to focus heavily on getting better App Store ratings and reviews. Without a solid strategy on garnering social proof, your app retention rate will plummet and your app will sink into insignificance. So we’ve compiled this guide which contains eight tried-and-tested methods to get you better App Store ratings and reviews.
What are app ratings?
App ratings are star ratings (normally with a maximum of five stars) prompted to be given by users of an app after using the product for a short period. They allow you to gain valuable insights into how your product is performing with end-users – enabling you to make informed decisions about which changes need to be made and how the app could be improved.
What are app reviews?
App reviews are written statements of opinion. They allow you to get more detailed customer feedback on what your customers really think about the app – enabling you to make informed decisions about which changes need to be made and how they may be improved. Reviews are useful for both customer acquisition and retention strategies. Reviews also point you towards customer pain points which helps you improve your services.
How important are good app ratings and reviews?
App ratings and reviews are crucial to the success of your app. A high rating and good reviews can encourage customers to download your app. A low star rating can make it incredibly difficult to acquire new customers and push them towards your competitors. Reviews give you the opportunity to interact with customers directly and resolve their issues while improving ratings and retaining existing customers.
8 proven ways to get better App Store ratings and reviews
Now that you know the difference between app ratings and reviews (and you know how important they are) here are eight proven ways to get better App Store ratings and reviews.
- Make sure your product is good
If your product sucks, then no matter how hard you try to get good App Store ratings and reviews, it won’t work. This is because a bad app doesn’t deserve high praise. Your customers expect a lot from you so don’t disappoint them with something which is of poor quality. If you want to be successful, deliver the best user experience you can. If you’re selling a VoIP phone system, make sure before you offer it to the market, it’s running at its best optimal function. It starts here.
- Always keep improving
If you want your app to be successful, make sure you keep improving on it. Your customers place a lot of value on new features and enhancements which improve their user experience. Once again, if your product is low quality, don’t bother trying to get better App Store ratings and reviews because it won’t work. Ditch version 1.0 of the app and build a better version – one that your customers will enjoy.
- Ask for feedback and reviews
If you want to get better App Store ratings and reviews, ask for them. If your customers like your app, don’t ignore their input. Make sure you encourage feedback and testimonials in order to improve future versions of the app. Why not add a review request pop-up to gather both positive and negative appraisals of the app. This way, you can use both good and bad reviews to make the app even better.
The more feedback you collect, the easier it will be for you to improve your app and get better App Store ratings and reviews.
- Find your most engaged users
Every app has its most loyal users – the ones who regularly use it. If you want to get better App Store ratings and reviews, find your most engaged users or scout members from your loyalty program and ask them for reviews. Don’t bother asking strangers because they won’t write reviews. Instead, focus on the people who love using your app regularly.
As part of your app lifecycle management, you need to analyse the data of your target audience. This will help you find your most engaged users. Then, you can ask them to leave reviews on the App Store. It’s a great way of improving the rating of your app.
- Showcase the benefit of ratings and reviews
If you want to get better App Store ratings and reviews, make sure your customers know why they should submit them. Remember – lots of consumers read reviews before making a purchase. If you want to increase the rating of your app, then let people know about the benefits of rating and reviewing apps on the App Store. Put up a notice that encourages people to use your app and submit a review in the App Store.
6. Move negative ratings and reviews away from the stores
Negative App Store ratings and reviews are the biggest threat to your success. If you want to get a better rating of the app, then you need to manage negative reviews in order to maintain a positive image.
Moving most negative ratings and reviews away from the App Stores is a good way to maintain a clean image. Only leave negative reviews that contain specific details regarding possible improvements in future versions of your app. You might be able to integrate this process into your work automation.
7. A/B test your prompts
If you want to get better App Store ratings and reviews, then always A/B test your prompts. A/B testing is one of the most effective types of testing. You need to improve upon them in order to generate the best customer response. It doesn’t matter if they’re positive or negative because you can use them for future versions of your app. If a good review is submitted, make sure that you ask them to submit another one, just for future versions of your app.
8. Use social media to get feedback and reviews
Make sure you’re using social media to gather testimonials and feedback from your customers. Social media is a great way of gathering quick feedback about how App Store ratings and reviews can be improved. Use tools such as Twitter to share new versions of the app and gather customer opinions. You can also use social media to promote requests for App Store ratings and reviews then direct them to your help desk virtual phone if they have more queries regarding your app. This way they will know that this product is really made to cater to their needs. Another use for social media is to use it to browse content about your products, such as blog features or video testimonials. That way you can also assert how your app is making rounds on social media and reaching the right people.
Conclusion
If you follow these tips, you’ll see it’s possible to get better App Store ratings and reviews. You just need to be patient, use the right tools for A/B testing and try different techniques to improve your customer feedback.
By doing this you can improve your App Store ratings and reviews for the long term, providing a better app experience for every single one of your users and more app downloads in the future.
This story was written by Jessica Day – Senior Director Marketing Strategy at Dialpad – a UCaaS provider and a modern business communications platform which takes conversations to the next level by turning them into opportunities.
For more information about Dialpad, a UCaaS provider, visit here.
For more from Women Love Tech on apps, visit here.