Mobile App Ratings and Reviews Aren’t Enough – Here’s Why

Don’t get us wrong—mobile app ratings and reviews matter. We’re not here to tell you otherwise.

Consumers are more skeptical of digital marketing tactics than ever before, and peer recommendations in the form of mobile app ratings and reviews stand as one of the greatest drivers of discovery and conversion. But they’re only one piece of the puzzle.

Mobile app ratings and reviews stats:

In addition, improving your ratings and reviews can help you:

• Boost customer retention
• Increase app-initiated purchases
• Expand your unique mobile customer base
• Save money on advertising
• Improve survey response rates
• Earn higher CTR on marketing campaigns

So, yes, ratings and reviews are important. But they’re not enough when it comes to understanding the holistic customer experience and driving long-term customer lifetime value.

An app with exceptional reviews isn’t necessarily a good app.

When it comes to assessing quality and experience, app store ratings and reviews are, simply, not the best indicators. Spoiler alert: this guide goes over what actually are the best indicators.

Customers are hard-pressed to leave feedback in any form, and the way digital customer feedback is gathered is often clunky, time-consuming, and distracting from the goal the customer came to accomplish in the first place.

Because many brands struggle to gather customer feedback in proactive, non-intrusive ways, feedback typically comes from the smallest, most vocal group of customers through the app stores.

So, your app might have four or five stars, but that doesn’t mean the majority of your customers are happy. It just might mean the one percent of your most loyal customers are happy enough to leave a review. And making decisions based on this small portion of your customers can be dangerous.

Ultimately, mobile app store ratings and reviews are only one piece of the puzzle. Here’s what you should prioritize next.