Making sure your app has as close to a 5 star rating is important for new and existing users. You want your existing users to feel good about the product, and when courting new users these ratings can make a huge first impression about your product, brand and experience.

Having quality and quantity in reviews also helps with your App Store rankings, and should be part of your App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy (more to come on ASO in future posts). While this doesn’t play as much of a role in the Play Store, it’s still critical.

Want to know the easy solution? Simply ask your users to rate your app. There are some great ways to do this which I’ve shared below and have been based off what I’ve been experimenting with at Betterment. However, the worst way to do it is interrupt their experience by popping up a modal–please avoid this at all costs.

Provide a call to action in your app:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Include a note in your release notes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ask users in email campaigns:

When emailing your users, include a note in the footer or end of your emails to 1) let users know you have a mobile app and 2) ask them to rate your app.

Keep on top of reviews:

If users are having any issues with your app they will often post a review. Make sure to stay on top of them and reach out to these users to help them troubleshoot any issues. You’ll find once you resolve their problem they will update their review with some strong remarks about customer service.