Case Study: How A Mobile Restaurant Game Drive User Acquisition By App Rating Optimization?

The best restaurant games will have you imagining the gentle throb of lit flames on a hot stove while anticipating the delectable aromas of steak, bacon, and sausages. All the while, you're juggling your staff to keep everyone happy and satisfied. 

Although restaurant games and cooking games share many similarities, this is primarily because both games involve fast food management and customer service. While both restaurants and bakeries serve food to customers and deal with day-to-day problems, the one major difference between them is where they focus.

Recent data show that restaurant game apps have always had good monetization. According to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data, Restaurant Dash: Gordon Ramsay has generated more than $10 million in worldwide net revenue on iOS devices since its June 2016 global launch. Along with Google Play spending, this brings Glu's revenue-to-date from the title to more than $17 million worldwide.



Restaurant Dash: Gordon Ramsay is generating a consistent monthly net revenue of more than $500,000 worldwide on Apple's platform, with the majority of that coming from U.S. players at about 62 percent of the total. The game has seen a steady stream of updates since its summer 2016 release, including its most recent, an entirely new venue for creating vegetarian-only dishes, released late last month.

App story

Our customer in today's case study is a restaurant game app. In this mobile game, users can cook delicious meals and desserts in their restaurant, and also discover different cuisines from all over the world. Users can decorate their restaurants to attract clients. 
The app‘s name remains anonymous here to protect the privacy of our customers. To give you a better idea of ​​the app's story we're sharing, we show one of its competitors on the Google Play Store.

App Store Optimization challenge

We all know that when users search for an app, they are more likely to download an app with a higher rating. When our app rating fell to 3.9 or even worse, it will become a big problem. And this restaurant game app has a rating of 3.5 in Google Play Store and 3.8 in Apple Store.

The main problem detected was that there was no strategy on how to address the ratings and comments of users in the stores in the different countries. Feedback to users had been neglected for a long period. Likewise, there were also countries in which customer service was not as active as in others. And it was not clear either what the strategy for requesting the rating from the user should be.

We must remember that, unlike the App Store, the average rating on Google Play is global and not country-specific; therefore, we must not overlook other geographical areas where the app is available if we do not want the global grade to suffer.

At ASO World, we always insist on keeping a game/average app's rating as high as possible or above 4*; not only as an image of digital reputation, but also because an unfavorable assessment affects ASO visibility and conversion, distrust and perplexity when it comes to attracting new users, migration of current users to other competing apps, higher acquisition costs, and so on.



Click "Learn More" to drive your apps & games business with the ASO World app promotion service now.

App Store Optimization solution

To be able to reverse the average rating (from 3.5* to 4* or higher), ASO World analyzed the causes of the drop and, from there, define a series of proposals and an action plan to improve said note as soon as possible. This work was carried out for 3 months with the different teams of the company and we were working hand in hand from the validation of the proposals, implementation, and monitoring of the results.

After an exhaustive study of the comments and insights received since 2016 by users (about 12k comments), competencies and a user feedback methodology were defined with which to attack the most popular topics through a homogeneous strategy. in all the countries where this restaurant game offers its mobility service. The intention was to offer pertinent answers in a faster and more effective way to the greater volume of comments received, both positive and negative, transmitting greater commitment and confidence to users with a humanized service.

On the other hand, a strategy of the assessment prompt was defined, that is, the moment and frequency in which the user was asked to give his assessment of the app. In addition, the proposed actions were carried out at an ideal time when Google Play updated its average rating calculation algorithm, in which, since August 2019, the most recent ratings are being weighted with a greater value compared to the historical one, so that the changes could be reflected in the short term.



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How we optimize app reviews

In general, we follow the policy outlined below:

1. We respond to all reviews, both positive and negative. By responding to positive reviews, we increase user loyalty and convert new players into long-term players.

2. We pay special attention to featured reviews in key regions, because they serve as an app's "business card."

3. We track bugs and gather feedback on updates, which we distribute to other departments. Players frequently report bugs after updates and share ideas for future development.  By resolving issues and releasing new features, we encourage users to return to the app more frequently and longer.

You can also choose ASO World App Ratings & Reviews service or Guaranteed App Reviews service to improve or guarantee your app rating more efficiently. 

App Store Optimization result

● We managed to reverse the average score exceeding 4*: In Google Play it went from 3.5* to 4.2*, while in the App Store the average score of 3.8*-4.5* was maintained in all countries even though increased the volume of ratings.
● Review of the rating prompt with an increase in ratings and comments: +340% ratings and +287 comments
● CR improvement : from 28.6% to 46.4%
● Improvement of the quality and satisfaction of customer service by users after having implemented a response protocol. The response rate rose to 31.6%.
● Detection of service level improvements to implement in the product roadmap.
● General branding: improvement of the image and digital reputation.