A Guide to App Review Management

Your app’s success depends on what users are saying about it, both online and in real life. Reviews that users post on the App Store can directly impact both its rating, visibility and the number of downloads it gets. The more positive your app reviews are, the higher your user acquisition rate is likely to be. 

It’s vital then, as an app publisher, to manage your reviews, both good and bad. Reviews can also be an invaluable source for collecting user feedback and identifying areas for improvement within your app. 

Learn how you can utilise reviews to strengthen your app’s brand, improve its performance and offer a better user experience, as part of review management. 

Why user reviews matter

Thanks to the advent of the internet and social media, businesses no longer have complete control over their brand’s image and reputation - and running a mobile app is no exception. Users tend to trust the experiences of other users when researching an app and deciding whether or not to download it. 

Reviews also directly impact an app’s rating on the App Store. Research from Apptentive found that apps that move from a three-star to a four-star rating can experience up to an 89% increase in conversion rates. On top of this, the findings show that less than 25% of users are likely to download an app that has less than 3 stars. 

It’s clear that app reviews matter and have a direct impact on user acquisition. App publishers need to pay close attention to the reviews users are leaving on their pages, to improve their ratings and boost their page’s visibility on the App Store. 

Best practices for managing App Store reviews

1. Read all of your reviews

You should, ideally, be reading all reviews that users leave on your app page, or paying someone to do this. User reviews can provide key insights into how your app is performing, and can also help you gauge overall user satisfaction with its features and services. If you’re getting more reviews than what you or your team can keep up with, reading as many as possible will still benefit your app.

2. Reply to users when necessary

Leaving public replies to reviews is a great way to engage directly with your users, showing them that you care about their experience and value their feedback. Of course, you can’t reply to every review, especially as your user acquisition climbs, so it’s best to highlight key reviews to respond to. 

Any negative reviews could potentially derail your downloads, so try to respond to them and let the user know you have noted their frustrations and are actively working to fix or improve things. Responding to glowing reviews also shows users you appreciate their positive feedback, which can nurture user trust in your brand.

3. Monitor your reviews for inappropriate content

If users have an issue with your app, they should be allowed to share their experiences on the page. But, if reviews contain inappropriate content like strong language, threats or an advertisement or self-promotion, they could impact other users’ perceptions of your app, which could put them off downloading or engaging further. If you find an inappropriate review, you can report it to the App Store which will then flag, review and remove it. 

4. Use your reviews to shape your development roadmap

Beyond review management, user reviews can be a valuable source of information for building your app’s development roadmap. Reviews give you an in-depth look at what users enjoy about your app, what they’re not enjoying and what they wish it had. 

Doing a deeper analysis can help you generate ideas for developing new features, updates and upgrades and expanding your services. Try to break incoming reviews into distinct categories based on the central focus and highlight specific keywords used - as you begin tracking them, you’ll likely find these keywords appearing consistently across different reviews as users share similar highlights and frustrations.

Ready to improve your app review management?

Managing, replying to, flagging and analysing user reviews is vital to improving your app’s rating and performance on the App Store. But it’s also time-consuming and requires you to leverage the right tools with the necessary experience, taking your focus away from larger development and management issues. 

At Appic, we have the tools, the team and the know-how to build the app management strategy you need and execute it successfully. We specialise in driving app growth through development and marketing. Get in touch with us to learn how we can scale your app’s features and user growth and acquisition.