👨‍🔬 I experimented! 👨‍🔬

It began with a new update for both the iOS and Android app that included a new "rating request" feature.

It observes key data points as the user continues to use the app, then at the right time ask them to take action by presenting the option to leave a rating. It intends to simplify the process for a user to submit an app rating, with the option of also leaving a written review, increasing the likelihood they'll tap the 5-star button.

This logic specifically focused on three key areas, making sure the user;

had launched the app at least five times

had opened at least ten deals

is returning to the deal list screen from the deal information screen, every 10th interval

…before asking them to rate the app.

It's one of the easiest ways to "pick the low hanging fruit".

I hypothesised that by encouraging people who love using the app, to take action and leave a rating will increase the likelihood it'll display higher in search results. And with a higher search ranking; it would lead to more exposure, more people tapping through to read about it, and also more choosing to download.

The findings were quite compelling that it would be remiss of me to not share them, so I hope they will help lead the discussion that including a well-thought-out rating request feature in your app should be a high priority.

Plant the seeds today and passively influence the growth of your app with strong social proof (higher ratings & reviews) for tomorrow. 🌳





🤔 The plan. 🤔

I began tracking the App Store and Play Store statistics for I Know The Pilot, a free iOS and Android app in the Travel category, every day over two months.

I then cross-referenced conversion data across three two-month periods, to spot and compare trends between each period; two before the app update, two after the update, and months three & four after the update.

To add further context;

the daily captured data was across Dec 2018 and Jan 2019, with conversion data referenced between Q4 2018 and Q1 2019

there was a combined ~100k MAU at the time

the app is only available to the Australian market

there weren't any campaign-driven activities across this timeline, to avoid skewing the results

What was tracked and compared?

The following data points were tracked daily over two months;

Update Adoption & Ratings - How quickly the app update was installed vs. the total submitted ratings over this period

Rating Cohort vs. Average - The quality of the submitted ratings, and how quickly it impacted the apps average rating

Reviews - The frequency of written review submissions

The following data points were compared over six months, in three two-month intervals;

Daily Impressions - The average amount of appearances in App Store Search & Browse, and Play Store Search

Page Views - How many people tapped through to the store listing page

Conversion - How many people downloaded the app

📊 The findings! 📊

Update Adoption & Ratings - iOS app