App reviews & Ratings - "The secret is in the stars"

1. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016

2. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
The secret is in the stars

3. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
WHY ?

4. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
Impacts all sides of ASO
Algorithm (SEO)
User (CRO)
Featuring

5. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
“Reviews and ratings are a very strong signal for us”
Ankit Jain, Head of Search & Discovery, Google Play (2013!)
“Rating volume is perhaps the best indicator of ranks,
with a 29–40% correlation”, @AlexmWalz, Apptentive
“The higher an app is rated, the less its rank it likely to move”
“The effect of reviews is more important than global downloads
to improve keyword ranking”, @francescgo
“Ratings & reviews account for 40%”, @Yakiseo

6. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
iOS 0,20%
Android 1%
Many factors: OS, paid/free, popup, positive/negative, category…
Volume: the review/install metric

7. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
Winner takes all
Volume

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Average rating

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59% check reviews before downloads
37% check reviews before IAP
33% check reviews before updating
Little/no influence for only 8%

10. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016

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13. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
But…

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A few issues with reviews…

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Users are radical
52% only write positive reviews
5% only negative

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… and irrational!
I liked the concept behind it, but this
app crashes every couple of minutes.
Complete unusable.
“70% of reviews have written content that doesn’t match their star rating”

19. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
One way communication (iOS)

20. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
Reviews : How?

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Interrupt & beg?

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Do nothing
Bury the option in settings
Hope for the best!

23. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
Asking the right way
= at the right time

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No sex on first date
Wait for a “aha moment”

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Nobody likes pop-ups
Integrate to limite intrusion

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Ask elsewhere
Settings
Emailing
Release notes
Support
…

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Stop focusing on getting more & better reviews
Maintain 4.5 average requires seven 5-stars
to compensate each 1-star
Secret sauce = avoid 1-star reviews

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Sometimes, the user is right…
Listen, learn
React promptly
“Negative reviews are the holy grail of customer feedback”,
Robi Ganguly

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The Town hall 11 gate

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31. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
Instagram new logo
1.New update
2.Hate
3.Ugly
4.Logo
5.Horrible
6.Please change
7.New icon
8.Awful
All time (2m)
86% positive
v8.0 (50k)
70% negative

32. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
What were the goals?
- Rankings up
- Clone wars
- Engagement?
The loud minority
“Only 6% of digital engagement mentioning
Instagram was related to the new logo …
It’s a very niche issue: a specific audience is
driving a shift in the brand’s sentiment”
Change friction
fades quickly over time

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34. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
Basic filter

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Advanced filter

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Reply publicly
The support differentiator
Turn bad reviews into good reviews
97% of reviews go unanswered
95% of negative reviews go unanswered

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Contact privately

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Review mining

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New at Google I/O
Sentiment
Reply API: the rise of the bots

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Black hat ASO

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https://www.simform.com/blog/top-ways-to-request-app-rating-and-review

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“Hard-working App Store ranking manipulation employee.”

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Flappy bird: 700k US reviews in 30 days
Candy Crush: 400k US reviews in 18 months
Flappy bird: 45k CA reviews
Top CA Apps 5K

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Tools

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… Neglect
… Interrupt
… Ask on first launch
… Ask for 5 stars
… Incentivize
… Buy/fake
… Ask
… At the right time, to the right users
… Monitor/listen
… Filter
… Answer
… Mine
… Update yourself
Cheatsheet!

50. Reviews & Ratings - applause.io © TP 2016
The secret is in the stars