Engaging Mobile Customers for Better Ratings and

Reviews on Mobile Apps Mobile Application developers want great ratings in the app store because they are

interpreted as an indicator of quality. Data from a report titled Examining the Relationship

between Reviews and Sales by researchers form NYU and the Georgia Institute of

Technology suggests that this is of particular value for things that are difficult for mobile

consumers to evaluate prior to purchase, such as books, movies, and apps. The higher the

rating of a mobile application, the more likely you are to pique the interest of potential

customers.

It is natural then to ask, “How can we get better ratings for our custom mobile

application?” and, “How do we get better reviews?” But those are the wrong questions.

Instead, the questions you should ask are:

1. How do we create a great experience so people will love our iphone mobile app?

2. How can we engage with our customers, so the ones who love our android mobile

application or blackberry application will write a review?

It’s not about you: it’s about the customers

The ratings and reviews in the app store are not for you, the iphone app developer. They

are for your customers. Ratings and reviews can help you identify what customers like or

dislike about your iphone application, but their primary purpose is to act as guideposts

saying, “This will make your life better,” or warning, “Danger, thar be dragons.”

An e-mail to all your customers asking them to rate your iphone app, android app,

blackberry app, windows mobile app or code in your app to ask for a rating after a certain

numbers of uses are both legitimate techniques for soliciting feedback, but they put the

focus on you, the developer, not on the customer. As we like to say, “If you’re trying to get

ratings just to get more ratings, you’re doing it wrong.” Nothing about these techniques

makes life better for your customers. The key to better reviews is to identify the customers

who love your app, and encouraging them to talk about it. And one way to do that is to

engage with your customers.

Listening and acting

Customers today have a different set of expectations. Simply being able to fill out a

“Contact Us” form and have your question disappear into the ether is not enough. In these

days of instant downloads, 24-hour service hotlines, customers expect to be heard when

they speak up. You need to provide an easy way for customers to give feedback, you need

to listen, and you need to respond.

Listening is important because your custom mobile app might make sense to you, but it

doesn’t always make sense to your customers. In a recent blog post, Seth Godin suggests

that the biggest customer question is, “Why isn’t this as important to you as it is to me?”

Find out what your customers expect, what is confusing, and identify what you can work

on. Listening sends two powerful messages. First, you are telling your customers that you

care enough about their opinion to give them the tools to express it in a quick and easy

manner. Second, you are telling your customers that you trust them enough to give you

real and honest feedback on your application.

Responding is also important. For positive comments, taking the time to say “Thank you,”

tells your customers that there are real people behind the app. Negative feedback provides

an opportunity to make your product better. Acknowledge the user’s frustration, diffuse the

tension, apologize, and if feasible, make it right. Fix that bug. Show that you care about

creating a great experience for all of your customers. Give them reasons to stick around, to

trust you, to understand why your app works the way that it does.

Get more reviews

A quick search of the app developer discussion boards will show that the ratio of app

downloads to app reviews varies greatly, with the numbers ranging from one in one

hundred to one in five hundred. When you listen to feedback and respond, good things can

happen: more feedback, better ratings, more honest input, and a significant number of

customer relationships that are spawned through simple conversation. And you will know

which users are engaged with your app.

Research at George Washington University and University of Texas Austin suggests that the

number of reviews also matter. More reviews encourage more sales. There might be many

users out there who love your app, who aren’t necessarily thinking, “I need to go write a

review.” So ask them to.

In the end, you will have better ratings and more positive reviews. What is more important,

though, is that you have created a connection with your customers. By asking for feedback,

by listening, by responding, and by encouraging them to rate your app, you will have

relationships with engaged customers who love your product and who want to talk about it.

About Xtreme Labs:

Located in Toronto, Palo Alto, and New York City, Xtreme Labs is a leading mobile product

development company that deals in iphone app development, android application

development, blackberry applications development, custom application development, ios

app development, ipad application development, windows mobile development and mobile

application development. They have a proven track record of success in delivering

innovative solutions across hundreds of global products. As experts in mobile agile

development, Xtreme Labs works with the world's leading companies to plan and execute

their mobile strategy.

For more information visit http://www.xtremelabs.com

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