

Ask HN: Competitor is giving my app 1 star reviews... what do I do? - technotony

Hello,<p>I launched my app (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;play.google.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;apps&#x2F;details?id=com.senstore.alice.harvard) about a year ago and it&#x27;s performed very nicely, with an average review of 4.6. However in mid-december I started getting one 1 star review a day and over hte last month the average review score has dropped to 4.48 which has reduced my place in the charts. At almost the same time a new competitor arrived, and so I&#x27;m suspecting them of giving me the reviews. What should I do?
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benologist
Someone trying to bring you down a fraction of a decimal a day seems far less
likely than some people just not being happy with your product.

2 stars legitimate?

    
    
        Lauren Bee  December 29, 2013
        Not enough info 
        They give you a wide range or symptoms, but
        you can't check all the symptoms that apply to you just one
        at a time so they can't tell you exactly what's wrong they
        just describe what could, be wrong just based on one symptom.
    

1 star illegitimate?

    
    
        Ashley Cochren  December 29, 2013
        Poor Douse not work the way it says

~~~
technotony
It's the significant change in number of poor ratings. I used to get one or
two 1 star reviews per month, now it's nearly one per day. And most don't
leave a comment, whereas they used to. I haven't released a new version for
months, so unclear to me why else there would be a sudden change in bad
reviews.

~~~
benologist
Have you been improving your app in that time?

Bad ratings may be relative to other apps improving while you idle, or focus
on improving the wrong areas, or your improvements aren't helping like they
should.

Are you providing a communication channel for your users outside of reviews
where you can get feedback and get to the bottom of problems they have?

~~~
technotony
There's a feedback section built into the app so I'm tracking those comments.
I hadn't released a new app version in a while, so it's possible it's just
relative to new apps... Am working on a new version now...

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smartician
Many developers are complaining about an influx of 1 star reviews lately, so I
doubt it's your competitor. More likely it's related to Google making the
"Rate this app" box more prominent:
[http://forums.makingmoneywithandroid.com/android-
development...](http://forums.makingmoneywithandroid.com/android-
development/3898-google-play-bad-rating-after-10th-december.html)

~~~
technotony
Thanks, just the kind of information I was looking for. That looks like
exactly my problem too.

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abhi3188
Make sure these reviews aren't coming from Turkey, there is an alarming trend
there of posting one star reviews.. Was on HN a while back I think..
[http://blog.appwared.com/awful-app-review-trend-among-
turkis...](http://blog.appwared.com/awful-app-review-trend-among-turkish-
users-this-is-why-your-app-gets-so-many-one-star-reviews/)

------
technotony
Update: here's the graph of rankings... anyone other suggestions for what
could be causing the change? Used to steadily improve, then suddenly a change
in behavior:
[http://postimg.org/image/gk0t343gp/](http://postimg.org/image/gk0t343gp/)

------
k3oni
Can you prove this or are you just going on assumptions?

~~~
technotony
Can't prove, but it's a very sudden change in behavior from users. Would also
welcome other suggestions about what could cause this, or ideas for how to
prove.

~~~
k3oni
I don't see that many 1 and 2 start reviews and form the ones that i see they
seem legit like: "Pointless Keeps saying no internet connection even though I
have one and all other data apps work. Will only address one symptom at a time
when it does work. Most conditions have multiple symptoms... " .

Some of the users have a G+ account as well which is linked to their name and
those seem legit as well.

Do you see an increase in the app downloads/installs?

Edit: And yes some are just stupid reviews: "Stupid lol" .

