Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Impact of App Reviews

App reviews are a great way to receive feedback on a product. One concern we have is that you must be cautious about the level of knowledge that reviewers have about the products.

A good example of this:

After the tsunami in Japan we received a review in the German app store claiming that our app was fake and not showing real video because Tokyo looked fine. An intelligent reader would realize that Tokyo was not wiped out by the tsunami. Damage was primarily in the Miyagi prefecture farther up the coast.

Sadly, comments such as this have an enormous negative impact. Our sales went to zero in Germany for the next few weeks. Everyone assumed that the reviewer was correct and that we were a "scam".

They didn't see the sadness in our staff's faces as they removed 56 dead camera links from Japan that morning. The cameras had instantly gone offline and it was safe to assume that they would never return.

Sales in Germany have never recovered and unless someone else posts positive reviews in the German app store they will continue to remain this way.

One user has the power to alter the efforts of thousands of hours of work by many individuals. Please take this power seriously and write constructive reviews. Our support team is always available to answer questions and we encourage you to contact us before you rush to judgement without proper information.