A better AppStore user review

[piz]

I am interested if you AppStore customers and developers share the following

Most customer who would give three to four stars will not review apps, but most who would give less than 3 stars will anyway.
So the sum of stars will not contain a lot of stars, and so the fairer formula for calculation stars would be:

(Customers who did not review * 3.5 + Customers who did review by values) divided through all customers. So fake reviews never could weight as heavy.

Please vote and/or comment now!

 

[StingerT125]

I am interested if you AppStore customers and developers share the following

Most customer who would give three to four stars will not review apps, but most who would give less than 3 stars will anyway.
So the sum of stars will not contain a lot of stars, and so the fairer formula for calculation stars would be:

(Customers who did not review * 3.5 + Customers who did review by values) divided through all customers. So fake reviews never could weight as heavy.

Please vote and/or comment now!

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[Jeremy1026]

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Basically he is saying people who find the app mediocre rarely leave reviews. So make it so everyone who buys the app gives it a 3.5 star rating by default, to counteract the people that download it only to say "this should be free" and leave one star.

As a developer, I hate this idea. Let the app store reviews show an actual rating of the reviews. If a bunch of people leave 1 or 2 star reviews, then the app will be 1 or 2 stars overall. Don't water that down with a bunch of 3.5's that would make the rating be 3 stars.

 

[piz]

As a developer, I hate this idea. Let the app store reviews show an actual rating of the reviews. If a bunch of people leave 1 or 2 star reviews, then the app will be 1 or 2 stars overall. Don't water that down with a bunch of 3.5's that would make the rating be 3 stars.

No. If a bunch of customer found problems they should and mostly will make a 1-2 star review, so nothing is watered down!

 

[MacToddB]

The rating system needs to be revamped, but this isn't the answer.

1) when a (1) is selected, the user should be prompted along the lines of the following:

a) Are you aware that a (1) is a BAD rating? (so many times people write great comments, but post a (1) thinking that means good)

b) Are you having trouble getting the app to work? Have you visited the developer's website and/or made contact with the developer? (so many folks don't read an app's description or try to contact the developer, when their concern could be gladly and easily resolved)

2) If an app is used X amount of times, perhaps a 'please review now' prompt could come up, kind of like registering for traditional software.

3) A developer should have the option of refunding a user and therefore striking out their review. For example, if someone buys an app that requires an iPhone, but they have an iPod Touch, and the description is very clear, why should their review stand? I'd rather not have their money, nor their review.

 

[Jeremy1026]

No. If a bunch of customer found problems they should and mostly will make a 1-2 star review, so nothing is watered down!

Yes they are.

If 500 people download the app. Only 10 post reviews. 6 of which are 1 star, 3 of which are 2 star, and 1 is 5 star. The average star would be 3.464 stars in your formula. In the current formula it is 1.7 stars



P.S. 10 reviews for 500 purchases/downloads is actually quite high. You rarely see that kind of review rate.

 

[piz]

Yes they are.

If 500 people download the app. Only 10 post reviews. 6 of which are 1 star, 3 of which are 2 star, and 1 is 5 star. The average star would be 3.464 stars in your formula. In the current formula it is 1.7 stars

Yes IF, but if the app is crap, hundrets will make a 1-2 star review, because then people know otherwise they give automatically a fine review for crap!
The system really becomes more stable against fake reviews in both directions. If you say that usualy 1-2% currently do a review, the entire current system easily can be faked - that is the problem.

But true, the formula must not be ready as given from me.

 

[Jeremy1026]

If you say that usualy 1-2% currently do a review, the entire current system easily can be faked - that is the problem.

Yes, you do not see reviews more then 10% of the time. I have a free app that is top 10 in its category. It gets about 700-800 downloads a day. It currently 28 reviews. Over the life of that one app it has been downloaded 29656 times (up til Dec 31, I don't have January reports yet.) That is a .09% review rate.

 

[MacToddB]

I just experienced another problem with the app store.

A user reviewed my app, and gave it a one. Okay, fine. His complaints are not valid, and I have enough positive rankings that his rating is balanced out.

BUT, in his review he said people should buy XYZ app instead...

So I Googled his iTunes ID, and it turns out he is the developer of XYZ app.

He pretends to be a disinterested third party.

There's a pattern. He has done this with three other apps, even free ones, that his app competes with. And he has posted glowing reviews of his own apps, as if he was not the developer.

I guess all is fair, but this is bad karma.

Bottom line, take all reviews with a grain of salt. Another reason Apple should let a developer refund (and strike out) such a dishonest review.