4.6 Star Is Built, Not Born
Reasons why this story is interesting
Mobile Security was once rated 2-star on App Store, but the rating went up to 4-star 4 months later. Happy moment and rating flow management are the keys.If you google ‘importance of app store ratings’, most of the search results mention ASO, App Search Optimization, as well as app ranking. Having a 5-star review cannot guarantee your app stay at the top of a search result, it gives you the opportunity to impress every new friend you meet.
According to a survey I conducted in 2017, 733 out of 1,283 responses (57.1%) said they search the device’s app store to discover new apps to download. Standing out among a bunch of similar apps becomes very crucial, and a good rating gives your app that competitiveness.
Also, when I compared the rating score with the activation numbers and the new install numbers, it revealed a positive correlation. Higher the rating star is, more new installations and app activations the app gets.
One thing for sure, an app that fundamentally provides features to really satisfy user’s needs can get good reviews. However, users don’t go to App Store and give you a 5 star just because you make them happy. Usually, dissatisfied users do so to let off steam. 💥💥💥
How to encourage happy users to rate and manage upset users determines my strategies for the app rating design.
Happy Moment
My little daughter is good at reading my face. She knows when is a good timing to ask me whether she can eat candy. 😅 This explains a human nature that when people feel delighted, they hold positive attitude to the things they are going to encounter next. I call this psychological phenomena Happy Moment.
The same psychology applies to app rating request. Leveraging Happy Moment will encourage happy users to do whatever I ask them to do, like giving a 5 star. But the difficult part is about when and what — when to send a rating request and what makes users happy.
1. When to send a rating request? As early as you can.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying you have to request for rating right after the first time users open your app. That is totally wrong because the core of Happy Moment is about joyful feeling. Unless you know users feel satisfied, don’t ask them to review.
My point being is how fast an app lose its users is crazier than you can imagine. All of us need to make that request happen as early as possible. Every app is different, but this is Mobile Security app’s data about new user retention.
On day 6 after app install (on May 14), only 4.56% of users who return to Mobile Security app each day; and on the same day 6, 30.7% out of 925 users who installed the app on May 14 still open Mobile Security.
To me, 7 is a magic number that I have to make sure new Mobile Security users will see the rating request within 7 days after their app install.
2. What makes users happy? You have to know what they use the app for.
People use apps to reach goals, solve problems, or satify needs. For example, users who want to buy cheat flight tickets, he would want an app to list all the prizes he could get. The moment when a user make an order via the app, there is likelihood that Happy Moment is formed.
A survey result in 2017 informed me the feature preferences of Mobile Security app users. Users ranked SafeSurfing and Social Network Privacy either useful or important to them. That’s where Happy Moment lies.
Triggers for rating requests
I knew when and what forms Happy Moment I need, based on which I designed 3 triggers to ask users to rate the app.
One more thing worth mentioning is I didn’t prompt a dialog for asking an app rating, which is more prominent but intrusive. Instead, Love this app question is displayed on a bar at the top. And there are two reasons why I chose to do so.
- SafeSurfing is a browser that people use to visit websites. A pop-up is more intrusive that can possibly interrupt what users intent to do and might cease Happy Moment. I don’t want the request to stop users from what they are doing. It is more like a kind invitation from me.
- In terms of online advertising, native advertising is proving more successful than traditional online advertising. I assume a rating invitation that is merged into the original page content can be as same successful as native advertising.
Rating Flow Management
A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous materials which removes solid particulates such as dust, pollen, mould, and bacteria from the air (from Wikipedia). A filter is also required to make sure we can earn as many stars as we can.
Still remember the title of this story? 4.6 Star Is Built, Not Born. A filter is a tool that can help us to build good rating result. So what exactly isthe filter? And why do we need it?
The filter is as matter of fact a well-designed rating flow that pushes those users who are more willing to give us 5-star to App Store.
When a happy user is asked whether he likes the app or not and his answer is yes, don’t bring him directly to App Store. ‘Love’ is a subjective term and might reward you a 3-star or 4-star (which is also good enough if an app is lower than 2-star now). Even in some cultures, people don’t get used to give others a perfect score because they think there is always area for improvement.
Add a filter here to ask him whether he wants to rate the app on App Store. The filter on one hand announces one more step we need him to do; on the other hand it digs out the happiest users because if he is just a ‘ok ok’ user he might not want to spend extra effort and time to do the rating.
This is exactly why I call the technique a filter. Only users who have likelihood to assign a perfect score to the app (the happiest users) will be landed on App Store. Though it is not guaranteed a 5-star, you will definitely see more of it than other star.
For those users potentially give the app 1- or 2-star, I offer an in-app feedback form for them to report bugs, request new features, or provide any comment.
“What!!! 😠 I thought you want reviews from as many users as possible.”
“No user can pass the filter and we might end up with only few ratings earned. 😞 ”
“Why does it sound like cheating? 😠 ”
Yes of course we can invite as many users as we can to do reviews on App Store, but the fact is you might feel/see a rating increase long long time later. It’s because people could give your 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 star. If we can manage to retain 5-star users, rating growth will take effect soon.
Rating flow management improves the rating in quality as well as in quantity. The filter won’t block users from going to App Store; instead, it drives more satisfied users to rate. It stimulates the hidden happy users to take actions.
Meaning of “cheat” in the Cambridge English Dictionary is to behave in a dishonest way in order to get what you want. In this case, satisfied users go to App Store and they decide the score themselves; on the other hand, upset users have the chance for their voice to be heard and taken care. So I would say it’s more like a Win-Win strategy.
It Works on Android
I applied the same techniques on another app on Android, and it significantly pulled up the rating and the number of ratings.
