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 and Reviews measure app performance
You heard it right. Android App ratings and the user app reviews give a clear picture of how an app is. In today’s digital age, almost every company is advertising and marketing their apps. It is everywhere. From ads in facebook to YouTube, to blogging websites and even in google searches. With so much exposure, it is very difficult to make a well informed decision. And if you did not research correctly, you might end up downloading a premium app with low key features. That is when you need the help of user reviews. Many people have used the app before you and have provided their feedback on various app features and drawbacks. By going through these reviews, you can come to know about the issues that you might face if you download the app. This saves a lot of time and space and in some cases, money also.
That’s how app reviews are crucial. User reviews play a vital role in drafting the app. It is through these reviews do developers come to know about the glitches and then these issues are fixed. So in a nut shell, we can freely say that user ratings and user reviews are very important aspect.
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 reviews that you read 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 reviews from the store. This is done in order to remove the fake opinions and keep only genuine and authentic reviews for the users to read. But with so much of fake reviews in circulation, Google has now an even more strict algorithm to filter fake reviews. And the outcome? Many genuine reviews are getting removed.
Yes, You heard it right. Google is mistakenly removing many genuine reviews from the apps. The reason for this is explained in the above paragraphs.
Daily, thousands of real user reviews are deleted along with many countless fake reviews by Google. The result of which is alarming. The number of reviews 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 writing the reviews. The main idea is to avoid repetitions so that it is not detected by the Play Store as fake or not genuine.