

Why don't app marketplaces allow vendor responses to the reviews? - robertcpease
http://replytoall.typepad.com/reply_to_all/2011/05/why-dont-app-marketplaces-allow-vendor-responses-to-the-reviews.html

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extension
My guess is that they fear vendor responses would turn the review system into
a noisy discussion/support forum. This would be distracting, possibly
intimidating, and require costly moderation. These are reasonable concerns.

Keep in mind that the purpose of the review system is to make the exceptional
apps float to the top. The rest of the apps don't matter much to the store.

In Apple's store, you can provide plenty of text and a support link. And you
get a fresh rating when you update.

When I write a review, I am typically not looking for a response. When I am, I
contact the developer directly.

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noelchurchill
Sometimes I know there is something wrong with my app because someone writes a
bad review, but I can't do anything about it because I can't contact them to
figure out how they got that problem.

So I made the "contact us" functionality front and center in the app and
started getting a lot more direct feedback.

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lacker
This is the sort of feature that vendors want, but consumers don't. When did a
consumer ever say "I wish I could read a bunch of marketroid responses to
every complaint"? The marketplaces are more focused on pleasing the consumer.

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jonkelly
_When did a consumer ever say "I wish I could read a bunch of marketroid
responses to every complaint"?_

Never. But I have often read negative reviews wondering about the other side
of the story.

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sunir
100%. There is no point having a rating / review system if customers can't
trust it to help make decisions. If an old review is faulty because the
software has changed, the vendor should be able to reply. That helps the
customer know a) the review is out of date and b) the vendor is responsive.

On a related note, why don't most app marketplaces show the number of ratings
next to the rating? It's disconcerting to see a 1 rating 5 star app next to a
100 rating 4 star app.

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click170
I agree with your comment, but I think allowing vendors to respond to reviews
would be abused for the purposes of marketing and discounting legitimate
reviews.

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nigelsampson
You can do it on the WP7 marketplace using the clumsy messaging built into
Zune. Not ideal at all.

Only thing I can suggest is making your contact information highly visible in
the app (just above the "review app" button) helps solicit feedback and head
off negative reviews.

Making the contact information "tap-able" also increases the effectiveness of
this.

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dpcan
I have been BEGGING Google for this in the Android Market for a year. Seeing a
customer post a comment with a question I have no way of answering directly is
maddening!

What other kind of business in existence, anywhere, is it actually impossible
to communicate with your own customers????

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click170
This makes me wonder if the way linux repositories are done is the better way
- take comments out of the repository altogether. What's wrong with googling
for "reviews of X" to find a review? Is it worse than the one-sided view the
existing comment systems present?

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lukencode
One thing I've noticed (in the WP7 app store at least) as a result of this
feature being missing is some devs responding to reviews by reviewing the app
themselves (and rating it 5 stars of course) and replying to other reviewers
in the text.

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dpcan
This is what many have done on android too, but who ever leaves a comment on
an app and comes back to look for a response? I think most who comment a
question assumes the dev will be able to reply to them directly, not realizing
it is anonymous.

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codabrink
The developer does have an option to add a contact email address for support,
but it's so rarely used by customers that it serves little purpose. It always
amazes me how large tech businesses can dismiss such large flaws in their
design.

