Four Ways Sensor Tower's Review History Feature Will Improve Your ASO

The quantity and quality of your app's reviews can have a major impact on performance. Multiple positive reviews signal a quality product, inspiring others to download. Apple and Google take this data into consideration within their ranking algorithms.

By incorporating the Review History module into our platform, Sensor Tower has allowed developers to easily navigate all of their user feedback. And guess what? It's free for all Sensor Tower users!

In this post, I'll share four of my favorite ways to use this feature and improve ASO for any app.

Monitor Satisfaction in Every Market

On Tuesday, we investigated data around global trends in app sentiment. Each country may respond differently to a new app (or an app update,) so it's important to know where you're winning, or where you've got work to do.

Because developer dashboards have made review parsing a chore, our Review History module will enable you to quickly pinpoint feedback from the country of your choice.

Do you have a low average rating in Australia? Select the country name from our dropdown menu and immediately dig into the market's specific complaints. For our Enterprise Partners, we've even included the ability to translate all reviews to the language of your choice.

Measure User Happiness for Each App Version

Sometimes an app update doesn't go as planned. Maybe new levels added to your game are too frustrating. Or maybe introducing in-app purchases caused some static.

We've incorporated two views that allow developers to peruse feedback for every app version. First, we've added a "Version" option to the list of ways you can slice-and-dice your full body of reviews.

But that's not all! Let's click on the tab labeled "Country Breakdown."

Select any version of an app to see how its specific star count stacks up against the lifetime total. And again, we'll share this data with you market by market.* This view provides immediate understanding of which market may be falling behind in satisfaction, based on recent updates.

*Google Play categorizes by language rather than country, so this tab will display "Language Breakdown" for Android apps.

Create a Strategy for Responding to Reviews

Google allows developers to respond to user reviews, which we highly encourage. To do this, you'll need to know how much time to budget, which topics need tackling, and a content plan.*

Use the star count dropdown to see only negative app reviews. This will help identify the amount and type of work you'll need to invest, in order to reassure your valued users that you care about UX.

*Though Apple does not currently allow developers to respond to user reviews, this information is still incredibly valuable for iOS apps. Knowing what app users are saying, and addressing these concerns in other public forms, will help generate goodwill towards your brand.

Identify & Tackle Trending Bug Reports

Finally, using the star count strategy above, product teams can immediately get an idea of which issues, or bugs, are most frequently preventing positive app experiences. Eliminating problem sources will prevent additional negative ratings, bringing overall averages back up and subsequently improving visibility.

Identify users who are generous with the details (operating system, version, etc.) and you've got yourself a realtime support queue.

Interested in even MORE details about your app reviews? Check out Sensor Tower's Update Timeline, which is available to Enterprise partners!