{"id":598841,"date":"2023-01-18T15:53:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T21:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/18\/how-to-dramatically-increase-user-reviews-on-android-650-or-more\/"},"modified":"2023-01-18T15:53:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T21:53:06","slug":"how-to-dramatically-increase-user-reviews-on-android-650-or-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/18\/how-to-dramatically-increase-user-reviews-on-android-650-or-more\/","title":{"rendered":"How to dramatically increase user reviews on Android (650% or more)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image from Canva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why are ratings important?<\/h2>\n

If you are like the vast majority of Android users \u2013 93%<\/a> \u2013 you look at the reviews of an app before downloading it. A higher number of reviews gives you confidence about its popularity and usefulness. What\u2019s more, ratings and reviews provide critical user feedback that businesses can use to refine their apps to better meet user needs and increase adoption. A high volume of reviews can also negate the impact<\/a> of the occasional negative review, increasing overall star ratings and providing more information to consumers to make their decision.<\/p>\n

How did we improve the rating volume for the Realtor.com app?<\/h2>\n

Google Play recently introduced its Android native In-App Reviews API<\/a>, which enables you to prompt app users to submit Play Store ratings and reviews without the inconvenience of leaving the app. (It works for games, too!) By integrating this API into our Realtor.com app, we increased in-app review activity by 650%. Not only can we collect more feedback, we now provide a cleaner user experience by collecting feedback without significantly interfering with the in-app flow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In-App review in action<\/h2>\n

When the review flow is triggered, a user is given the option to rate the app with 1 to 5 stars and leave an optional comment. Once submitted, the review is displayed on the Play Store:<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Figure 1.<\/strong> In-App Review flow<\/p>\n

Implementing the In-App Reviews API in Kotlin<\/h2>\n

Step 1:<\/strong> We added the Play In-App Reviews library to the build.gradle file:<\/p>\n

\n
\/\/ In your app\u2019s build.gradle.kts file:
\u2026
dependencies {
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\/\/ This dependency is downloaded from Google\u2019s Maven repository<\/a>.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\/\/ Make sure you also include that repository in your project\u2019s build.gradle file.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0implementation(\u201ccom.google.android.play:review:2.0.0\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\/\/ For Kotlin users, also import the Kotlin extensions library for Play In-App Review:
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0implementation(\u201ccom.google.android.play:review-ktx:2.0.0\u201d)
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2026
}<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Step 2: <\/strong>We added the following code to a method and called it where appropriate (note: the following lines of code should execute when the user has experienced enough of the app):<\/p>\n

\n
\/\/ We need context to create our review manager factory, so that we can request and launch the review flow.
val manager = ReviewManagerFactory.create(activity)<\/p>\n

\/\/ Retrieve details from the play store to decide whether or not the user can rate the app.
val request: Task = manager.requestReviewFlow()<\/p>\n

request.addOnCompleteListener { task ->
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0if (task.isSuccessful) {
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0val reviewInfo: ReviewInfo = task.result
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0manager.launchReviewFlow(activity, reviewInfo)
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0} else {
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\/\/ Optionally: log this event
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\/\/ Optionally: launch Google Play Store to prompt user to review the app
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0}
}<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Best Practices for Triggering the Review Flow<\/h2>\n

You can configure the in-app review flow to be triggered at any time; however, Google suggests some best practices<\/a> for what NOT to do:<\/p>\n