We have released our first title. Featured (n&n) and decent sales. But reviews have been extremely uneven and the difference between markets is huge.
In the US, we have an average 4+ rating while in germany we have an average of 2. We have been extremely honest in our representation of the App, yet some people apparently expected more or have small issues with some aspects of the app. For this they actualy rate it one star.
My experience is that people appear very hard to please, and if everything isn't fully as expected you get one star reviews in certain markets. It is as if people in certain areas are extremely cranky.
Is it just us, or have someone else experienced anything similar?
Thanks in advance!
Can you give me the link? I'm from Germany, will take a look, maybe we Krauts are more pickier?
Edit: on second thought I would rather like to keep my whining separated from the App itself. The question is more of general nature.
And yes, please let me know why the germans in particular are angry while the US, sweden, Australia etc. are praising i for what it is. i don't get it.
Alright. If I look at the reviews the main complaint are the controls. They complain that it's not precise enough to perform precise actions.
The joysticks move to fast compared to the touch action and the applied functions onto the joysticks seems to be not good.
That's all from the reviews. I don't own an iPad so can't test it by myself.
Thanks, but I know german decently so I know that already. And it will be fixed in the next update along with lots of other stuff.
What I still don't get is that more or less the exact same comment in The US will net 3 or 4 stars. In germany and some other countries the same review has one star attached.
Why are the ratings so very different? Again, does anyone have experience with this in different markets or in general?
I've noticed that if one reviewer in a particular country complains about something, others will join in. Maybe the first German to complain about the controls was really cross and this made the following reviewers feel more cross too!
We've had issues that reviewers in one country get worked up about and other countries didn't comment on at all.
I really wish there was a way to reply to reviewers....
I've noticed that if one reviewer in a particular country complains about something, others will join in. Maybe the first German to complain about the controls was really cross and this made the following reviewers feel more cross too!
We've had issues that reviewers in one country get worked up about and other countries didn't comment on at all.
That sort of makes sense, for Germany at least. The first two reviews there were highly critical. In Norway and Switzerland however, the first review(s) were 5-star reviews full of praise. It soon tilted the other way though.
Quote:
I really wish there was a way to reply to reviewers....
Some days I feel the same way. Other days I fear what I would actually write.
The larger issue that is quite annoying is that some customers seem to be a bit irrational. I get that it is annoying if something isn't fully the way you expected it to be, but personally I wouldn't rate something 1-star unless it was truly awful. So the wording of many reviews (great idea, nice graphics, but..*small issue here*) really doesn't match the score (often 1 star).
And finally, people have some great sense of entitlement becoming so worked up over something costing much less than a decent latte. I love constructive criticism and will gladly take responsibility for any issues. But the "haters" that seem to lurk the App Store are getting to me.
BTW - I am not just speaking about our experience either. I looked at some other titles earlier and apparently we are not alone. Small comfort, but still...
Sorry for the rant. I'd love to hear your opinions on the matter.
And finally, people have some great sense of entitlement becoming so worked up over something costing much less than a decent latte. I love constructive criticism and will gladly take responsibility for any issues. But the "haters" that seem to lurk the App Store are getting to me.
Agree! Fact is, the average guy in the street is your customer. How smart is the average guy in the street? People are dumb, sad but true.
Agree! Fact is, the average guy in the street is your customer. How smart is the average guy in the street? People are dumb, sad but true.
That may or may not be true, but it isn't really about intelligence, is it?
It is about courtesy and respect. But maybe it's an online thing; all too many becoming uncivilized pr*cks just because they think they are anonymous?
...
And yes, please let me know why the germans in particular are angry while the US, sweden, Australia etc. are praising i for what it is. i don't get it.
Actually I have observed something similar too. I get the worst negativity from French and then with some gap from British.. I get the most positivity from Australians and New Zealanders.
What I noticed Germans usually prefer to give precise reviews and detailed explanation (which actually helps a lot). American reviewers are vary the most: from "this is the worst app" to "this is the greatest app of all time".
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In my experience the Australians are always the jerks
Not exactly related, but for now I experience on the android market people leaving 1 star reviews spreading absolute nonsense about our app and then cancel the purchase.
Practically they don't own the app and still they can review it and even edit their reviews.
There is no way to complain about it to Google. You can mark those reviews as unhelpful or spam, but most of them are not even spam, just stupidity and of course nothing hapens. They don't get deleted or anything.
How stupid is that?
At least on the android market you can find out their email address from the Google Checkout page in 99% of the cases and you can send them to hell per email
That may or may not be true, but it isn't really about intelligence, is it?
It is about courtesy and respect. But maybe it's an online thing; all too many becoming uncivilized pr*cks just because they think they are anonymous?
It's pretty true. A lot of app users don't see app ratings as driving the success of an individual. The common train of thought has seem to become:
I like it! = 5 stars
I dislike one aspect = 1 star
I like it! = 5 stars
I dislike one aspect = 1 star
That's why YouTube changed its rating system to like/don't like a long time ago.
I am also for systems, where you can only vote for positive things. If you liked it, you click it, if you didn't, you don't. I think, even a "don't like" option is unnecessary.
Negative votings just drive cheating and competitor attacks.
I think there need to be negative reviews. The difference with sites such as youtube is that is that you don't have to pay for youtube content. When I am paying for something I like to read the reviews and see what aspects of the product are disliked. Then I can decide if that feature is important to me.
However, as we all know, abuse of the system is rife. In the reference section (the only section I'm familiar with), apps from some developers always have 6 or 7 glowing reviews from the same people who only review apps from that developer. They don't even attempt to be subtle but of course the average customer isn't going to be checking the provenance of the reviews.
I wonder if it would help if you couldn't give a star rating without writing a comment. It's too easy to sabotage a competitor by just clicking on one star. It would be harder if you had to give a reason, and it would be obviously dodgy if there wasn't a good reason.
About app store reviewers...?
And it will be fixed in the next update along with lots of other stuff.
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