Hello developers. We hope that your app is performing exceptionally well in the App Market. If not, then not to worry. Start re-planning and working on a better marketing plan to enhance your app’s performance. Today we will talk about app reviews and the present scenario in the play store with respect to app reviews.
App Market
App development is a very tiring task. A developer has to spend months on figuring out the design, layout and functions of the app. It takes a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication to create an app. But the work is not done yet. The app store has millions of apps which compete with one another for reaching the top of the app chart and to get maximum downloads. However unique your app might be, there are chances that there are many other apps that are offering the same features as your app and if not, then there will be few in weeks or months.
In such a fierce place, you need to stay ahead of your competitors if you want to maximise your profit. One way of attracting audience is by advertising your product. This is a crucial step without which you might not get the audience you want. Advertising is an important aspect and so are app reviews and ratings.
These user ratings are what that decides how well an app is performing. Now, before you download, you go through the reviews. These reviews give an idea about the facilities of the app and the problem you are likely to face if you use that app. User reviews are a vital thing. The success of the app depends upon the kind of user ratings that you get.
App Ratings measure app performance
You heard it right. Android app ratings are a measure of your app’s quality. When people look for an app, they see the app rating and then read user reviews. App ratings also indicate your app’s position in the app chart. The apps occupying top place in the chart have good app ratings. This increases their visibility and hence the app downloads gets increased. In simple words, the better the app rating, the more visibility you get, the more downloads your app can make. Reviews play yet another important role. Before using an app, people go through the user ratings. This can be seen as a trust making process. If the user reviews are good, people will definitely try your app and this can also lead to better app conversions.
But is it that simple?
As we said, user ratings and reviews are a vital thing, And the thing is firms know it too. Firms know that app ratings and app reviews influence people to download apps and so they try to influence it. Let me give you an example. Consider there is a music player app with current downloads as 2562 and app rating as 56. Now, with these statistics, this app is not likely to come in top of the charts. The only way of influencing the rank is by improving the user ratings and reviews.
The things companies do
Now, to increase the number of downloads, the first thing is to improve the app rating and app reviews. These companies usually hire freelancers for that thing. Yes, you heard it right. These freelancers are paid some money to write good reviews and provide good ratings to the apps. This leads to increase in app ratings. Thus, people see good ratings and ultimately download these apps, thereby increasing the app downloads.
But is this ethical. For companies, it is undoubtedly one of the best methods to increase the number of app downloads. But what about users.
False Promotions
People usually see the app rating and download these apps. But sadly, these reviews and ratings are already adulterated. This sometime may lead to losses. If a company gives false reviews and then an user buys the app by paying some money, it can be dis-heartening situation. The person might feel cheated and tricked.
Is this a common thing?
Trust us on this. Most app ratings that you see online and adulterated. They are not genuine and are only meant for improving the company’s good name. It can be said that App Store ratings are broken.
This is how things went wrong.
Google has a strict policy on fake reviews and ratings. The Play Store follows an algorithm to remove adulterated ratings and reviews from the store. This is done in order to remove the fake opinions and ratings keep only genuine and authentic ratings and reviews for the users to read. But with so much of fake content in circulation, Google has now an even more strict algorithm to filter fake reviews. And the outcome? Many genuine ratings are getting removed.
Yes, You heard it right. Google is mistakenly removing many genuine ratings and reviews from the apps. The reason for this is explained in the above paragraphs.
Daily, thousands of real user ratings and reviews are deleted along with many countless fake things by Google. The result of which is alarming. The number of user ratings are gradually on decline and this is impacting the app business.
What can be done?
Right now, there are not much that a developer can do to curb against this. Well for our users, they can follow certain guidelines while giving the ratings. The main idea is to avoid repetitions so that it is not detected by the Play Store as fake or not genuine.
Guidelines to follow
The first guideline will be to never indulge in spamming. Google regularly monitors the users and their rating pattern. In case you are spamming frequently, the algorithm will mark you and your ratings will be automatically removed.
The next thing will be to always use your personal account if you are giving rating. Many people use temporary accounts linked with a primary mail id. These temporary accounts are held suspiciously and there are chances that the ratings given by these accounts are removed.
These are some of the things to be kept in mind while you are online. Developers, make note and be careful. Happy Coding.