A quick scroll through most any app's feedback on pretty much any app store out there reveals the truth: people are schizophrenic. For every, "Great app! Love it!" you'll get five, "I hate this app! It's garbage!" comments. It can be difficult to determine which comments you actually need to pay attention to and learn how to turn user feedback into useful fodder for actually improving your app (and your reputation as a developer). Here's how an app developer can prioritize and implement user feedback for inevitable success.
Address the Naysayers
This isn't to say that you ignore all positive feedback. It's just to point out that, well, the negative stuff teaches you more. Collect and analyze all feedback. If your users love your interface, you know not to change it. If they adore the visual appeal, by all means don't start fiddling with the colors or fonts. Though the negative comments sometimes come with a bit of a sting, they tell you where improvements are needed. Don't shy away from them.
You can often win over a non-liker merely by hearing them out, acknowledging any problems or errors in your app, and offering to make amends. Your amends might be via a refund of their payment or another free app, or just fixing the problems that are frustrating them. It's harder for haters to hate when they get a real, live response from a real, live app developer who actually cares about their user experience.
Listen to Repetitive Feedback
Any time a particular comment or complaint comes up repeatedly, you should hone in on that like an eagle on a mouse. The old adage goes, for every one person who voices a comment, there are likely hundreds who feel the same, but simply didn't care enough or have time to reach out. The most common complaints received by both Android and iOS app developers are:
- Stability problems (crashing)
- A lack of attractiveness
- Problems with connectivity
- Problems with images or media (videos playing properly)
- Compatibility issues (doesn't work with a particular device)
- Spammy behavior (too many ads or distracting ads, pop-ups, annoying notifications, etc.)
If your analysis reveals patterns associated with any of the above, release an update with as many bug fixes as possible. Make this your number one priority. Negative reviews do more than hurt the app developer's feelings. They may influence potential users from downloading your app - unless they see that your are responsive.
Learn from Your Mistakes
Failing to fix user complaints hurts your chances of new user downloads. Answer the negatives, fix the issues, and gather more positive comments for tomorrow.
Whether the comments serve to merely improve your current app or are used to develop a better app next time around, learn from your mistakes. Even the massively popular app developers have their share of Negative Nancys. Read any reviews of Dropbox lately? This number one rated app's top comments include adjectives like "horrible" and "extremely disappointing". Does that mean Dropbox is garbage? Heck, no. To date, the app has gleaned almost 1.5 million downloads and holds a strong 4.4 rating in Google Play. It just means that those app developers still have work to do in regards to compatibility (don't we all?). These types of comments are most commonly an issue for Android app developers, who are faced with numerous versions of operating systems across a wide variety of devices.
Every great developer knows that a release date celebration is quickly interrupted by updates, updates, bug fixes, and more updates. Just another day at the office. Of course, you don't have to face app development and all those naysayers alone. You can always turn to the pros at AndPlus for help. Contact us today. Let us show you how we can help.
