It is almost inevitable that your app has similar functions and target audience to another. App store optimization is key to effectively competing for downloads and users, and reviews and feedback are integral to ASO strategy.

There are millions of mobile apps available, thousands of competitors, and lots of them do similar functions or tasks. How do users decide which one fits best? When users search for apps or browse the app stores, they will see the app icon, the app name, title and average rating, so it is important to work on these aspects in order to rank the app better.

Understanding reviews and feedback for the apps

Ask users to rate or respond to their reviews to increase your app's exposure, attract customers to download it, and bring you closer to your users. Text reviews allow users to share more details about their experience with an app. Users can review iOS and android apps on the app product page on their device. if you choose to reset the average rating, the previous review will still show up on the product page.

A typical app store journey exposes the user to the name, icon, and user ratings of a given app. After being drawn in by a relevant name, appealing imagery, and stellar ratings, the potential user who will read the reviews, will be provided the social proof and credibility necessary for potential users to take the next step: downloading.

Unlike other facets of ASO, ratings and reviews are the only areas where the market opinion of your app directly shapes the visual appearance of your page. After all, you cannot simply delete reviews or change ratings - this can be done only on iOS by resetting ratings with new version releases.

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Feedback and reviews in the App Store

In the App Store, it is important to be aware that ratings are visible on both the search result page and the app page within the store. When your app is shown as a result of a search query, a star rating system appears below your app’s subtitle. Adjacent to the stars is the number of app ratings.

When a user opens your app page within the store, the five-star rating system, its corresponding number (rounded to a tenth), and the volume of reviews are prominently featured below the download button, making all three nearly impossible to miss for potential users.

Specific reviews selected by Apple’s algorithm are reflected on a “featured reviews” portion of the page, but diligent users view all reviews by clicking through to different pages. 

Feedback and reviews in Google Play

In the Google Play store, reviews and ratings appear more frequently but less prominently.

The app rating is visible on the store’s “Top Charts” page. However, an important distinction to make is the star rating system: while the App Store relies on five stars fractionally shaded to indicate an app’s cumulative rating, the Google Play store utilizes a single, always-shaded star and a number that reflects the current rating.

Although Google Play’s rating system is initially more nuanced, users prefer imagery, and thus reviews and ratings on the Google Play store are harder to differentiate. Google Play’s rating widget appears in several places, including the store’s top charts and the app page.

Below the star and numeric rating, the Google Play store quantifies the number of reviews. A review portion of a Google Play app page is also significantly more developed than an App Store app page.

In addition to showing the distribution of ratings, Google utilizes Natural Language Processing (NLP) to highlight the average rating and keywords that are widely used within reviews. Below the keywords, Google Play features the top positive review and the top critical review. The remaining reviews can be viewed on a separate page.

How does user feedback impact ASO

As stated before, most of users check a game or app’s average rating before downloading. And if they do so with free apps, imagine when it comes to paid apps: the number increases. We can see average rating in search results in both app stores (Apple App Store and Google Play Store), so users will see them for sure.

Generally, reviews are significantly less important than ratings. In both app marketplaces, all users are shown the cumulative rating. However, a limited number of users explore reviews. The more and better feedback and reviews you have, the better users’ sentiment will be, and that will lead to more downloads.

The reasons to collect in-app feedback are abundant. The information allows you to engage with our customers, hone your products or services, refine your strategy, and hold on to your users. After all, user experience has proven integral to improving the bottom line. Research study showed that an improved UX design can bring conversion rates of up to 400 percent.

That means that just by smoothing out some of the wrinkles in your app, you could begin to see your sales numbers climb. The most obvious and cost-effective way to accomplish this is through in-app feedback tools.

These tools help us save time, money, and create more sustainable applications. The type that users love, promote online, and share with their friends and families. These are the type of applications that keep people coming back.

It’s important to mention that for iOS apps is possible to reset user ratings when a new version is released, so you can get a more accurate rating of your app if you have done significant changes. In Google Play this feature isn’t available, so it’s important to test everything you need to fix before releasing an update. Also, consider that a good design of your product page can translate into a chance to get featured on the app stores.

User feedback and reviews is useful for both users and developers. New users get the insight they need to decide whether to download or not, and developers can see whether the app doesn’t work properly or what needs to be improved and fix it.

You should also take into account that most of the users won’t write reviews unless the app crashes or has bugs that generate frustration. If an app works fine they probably won’t take the time to leave a good review, as the app “just works”. It’s what’s expected to do. So, to get more of them it’s important to come up with a great strategy that invites users to rate your app positively.

The effect of feedback and reviews on search visibility

An app’s average rating will determine where the app will show up and rank on search results pages for n keywords. Few / low ratings will affect search rankings and visibility, as the app stores give more visibility in Search for apps well rated.

On the opposite, lots of good user ratings will boost an app’s visibility and, therefore, downloads. In order to get more good ratings and reviews we should recognize how users interact with our app and why are they rating it, so we can work on that, resulting on an increase of our app’ Search visibility and organic downloads volume.

How to ask users for app reviews and feedback

The first thing to do when seeking for good reviews is to learn from our own experience. We all are users and we know what we like and dislike when interacting with an app. Keep that in mind and think of the best user experience possible.

The best way to avoid a bad review is to make ourselves reachable. If users can contact us directly to report a bug or an issue that needs to be fixed they probably won’t leave a bad review.

So, we need to work on our app interface to offer users the possibility to report a problem. We can also add contact info at the end of our app description, such as email, Twitter account, etc. It’s also optimal to have a website or landing page focused on support.

Another good strategy is to ask users for their satisfaction. Remember, though, that these questions shouldn’t be sent in the middle of the action, that will only cause frustration to the users.

How to respond user reviews on App Store and Google Play

One thing is certain is you need to respond to every review that your app gets. Users’ opinion and feedback is very useful for developers in order to improve the product, so it’s vital to engage with them. Here we’ll share some tips on how to reply reviews in both Google Play and App Store:

Google Play

Responding to a bad review can generate frustration and anxiety, but you shouldn’t fear it. Consider it an opportunity to improve your product, your brand and your customer service.

First of all, you shouldn’t reply to a bad review right away, as it can backfire if you don’t think things through. Sometimes you’ll get unfair attacks or critics, but you need to stay calm and don’t get emotional because this negativity can be spread very easily and affect your reputation. Take your time and assess the problem calmly.

Secondly, it is crucial to give a solution to the review. Don’t make elaborated and empty responses that won’t solve the user’s problem. Empathy is your best ally, so try to acknowledge their concerns and make it right, at least giving contact info to follow up. Also, don’t be afraid to respond publicly, as it will show the rest of the community that you care for their opinion and give solutions.

On the other hand, good reviews are more grateful and easy to answer, but it’s also important to answer them because you can make these already happy users your fans and get good publicity.

Some of the things you can do when addressing a good review is, of course, show gratitude. It demonstrates that you pay attention and care. You can also provide them with additional value or information to make your reply richer. Present extra information about the feature the user has liked, for example.

App Store

When replying to reviews, keep in mind that you need to acknowledge the review and be thankful for it. Creativity will help a lot, it shows empathy and it will help building a strong community.

Also, as stated before, a bad review can’t go unattended. Statistically, a dissatisfied customer will tell between 8 and 15 people, and it takes nearly a dozen of good experiences to compensate for a bad one.

Isn’t that enough to make an effort and give solutions? We think it is. As we were saying before, the approach to follow is similar to answering good reviews, as sometimes giving a personal touch is more than enough.

You just need to acknowledge their problem, apologize and sympathize. Offer a solution and, if there still are problems, redirect the discussion off the App Store.