An excellent part of building your own mobile app is the fact that you can publish it on the Google Play Store and iTunes. This way your customers can go to the place they’re most familiar with to download your apps.
In fact, this also opens up opportunities for finding other customers, since millions of people are seeking new options on the app stores. If your app has good reviews, and it does everything users need it to, you might end up finding yourself a new customer or two.
However, the main reason a regular business app needs quality reviews is so your customers won’t be turned off when they go looking for it. Chances are the majority of your small business customers are going to hear about your app from you. Therefore, they’ll click through a link or go searching for the app in the appropriate app store.
If they stumble upon your app page to see an app with one or two stars, you can bet that many of them will leave immediately. Why? Because people know what it’s like to have a poorly designed or glitchy app on a phone. It stinks, and no one wants to put up with that.
So, we want to uncover some of the best ways to get more reviews in the mobile app stores. Not only that, but we’re interested in high quality reviews. If you’re a mobile app reseller, we recommend sharing this with your clients, as your business depends on the success of their apps.
A Word of Warning: Never purchase fake reviews. Not only will you get caught, but the average user can identify fake reviews, making it a waste of time and money for everyone. Oh yeah, and you’ll get kicked out of the app stores.
1. Make the App Amazing
Okay, this sounds simple. But the primary way you’re going to get more quality reviews is by ensuring your app isn’t a dud. This ties into the marketing materials you include on the app page. For example, each app in iTunes has a wide range of screenshots for users to discover what the app is all about. If you’ve neglected this area or uploaded junk screenshots, few people are going to give your app the time of day.
2. Gamifying The Process
My favorite example of gamification is done by one of my favorite movie podcasts. The podcast is available through iTunes, yet one of the easiest ways to get a podcast recommended through iTunes is to improve your ratings and reviews. So, the movie podcast guys have a raffle every month for a yearlong Netflix Membership. Users enter by posting an honest review through iTunes.
Gamification has to do with turning the review process into a game. Therefore, you might incorporate some sort of content, raffle or reward program when users make reviews for your app.
3. Ask for Feedback Through a Push Notification
The only real people who are going to write a review are the ones who have downloaded your app. Well, guess what? If they have your app downloaded, you can send them a push notification. Ask users to take a quick moment of their time. I also recommend including an alternative push notification for those users who might rather submit a feedback survey with ways that you can improve the app.
4. Don’t Forget About Social Media and Email Marketing
Some of your primary customers are following on places like Facebook and Twitter. Your email list is also a good place to tap into. Be sure to cut out as many steps as possible, since no one is going to click through once then search around for the Write Review button. Make sure you complete all of the work for them.
Over to You…
Now that you’ve learned how to get more reviews in the mobile app stores, share your own thoughts about the topic in the comments section below.
