Comments on: Is Asking for a Positive Review Smart Marketing or Morally Objectionable?

By: Viki

Viki — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:46:30 +0000

I completely agree with Mike here....
Making the customer happy or satisfied might just be enof for them to place a decent review in the store...

I am the Manager of Collaber Solutions LLC a.k.a Vimukti technologies Pvt Ltd which has around 230 products till date & I am the one who attends the customer issues.

Fine... we got some negative reviews too in the stores as they do not like some of our apps but you ought to accept them.... Not everyone likes everything

I try to attend the issues fastly... coz I sincerely believe that our business runs only due to these good customers who download our apps!!
Once the issue is solved, sometimes I ask them to write a review & that too only if he/she has liked the app & is using it...

& yes.... I believe that luring the users in this way...Asking for a Positive Review in exchange of the free app is not a good business practice...

By: bsharwood

bsharwood — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:14:00 +0000

I work at another Canadian startup that is a platform for reviews – HomeStars.com. We focus on home improvement pros. The subject of encouraging good reviews is always on our mind – as it is with the folks at Yelp. We think there’s nothing inherently wrong with encouraging good reviews but you have to accept the bad with the good. You need to accept (and the publisher needs to post) review that say things along the lines of: “This Product was okay – I might use it again – please send me my free stuff” – That review, while useful in a way, tells a story. We’ve seen this kind of thing backfire.
But more power to MMMOOO. It’s using social media (reviews) in a good way.

By: Kyle McInnes

Kyle McInnes — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:25:15 +0000

It's true that you may have an easier time getting featured if you live in Ottawa or Waterloo, but from conversations I've had with the App World team, it's as simple as just asking them. Apparently all you have to do is send them an email and ask, and they don't get many requests. Maybe because of the confusion surrounding the featured criteria (of which there is pretty much none).

By: Eric at Ebscer

Eric at Ebscer — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:35:14 +0000

The featured app carousel does not appear to actually be based on reviews. Of the 24 free applications currently listed the average rating is only 3.25 and includes a 1 star application from ING Direct. The carousel also currently includes the Go Netherlands “application” which has the stunningly awful rating of 0/5 stars. Unfortunately the carousel has nothing to do with the quality of the application, but instead is based on if you are working out of Ottawa or Waterloo or not…

By: Eric at Ebscer

Eric at Ebscer — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:22:46 +0000

BlackBerry AppWorld does not give developers the ability to tie a review to a PIN, so they have no way of confirming if you actually left a review or not. In the email you can just tell them anything you want…

By: Jonah lin

Jonah lin — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:02:09 +0000

hi, i shall just dealed your PIN in our system. get it activated now

now still weekend, i was trying spend as much time as i can. so many emails, more than 2000 emails.

By: Jonah lin

Jonah lin — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:13:00 +0000

Dear Tez, what’s your Pin or email, so i can help you input it now.
the email reply to you is at buffering email and invitation to help us. Even though, you not leave a review, when you emailed, we will help you to make it full, it’s our promising.

Thanks, you can email to me if you not get a reply in time @ ljl(at)mmmooo.com

Jonah Lin

By: Scott Rafferty

Scott Rafferty — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:22:48 +0000

I emailed MMMOOO twice and made an offer to MMMOOO to provide honest feedback and suggestions for their application only after being able to use the full version. I have yet to receive an email confirmation that my pin was in their system. (I emailed it to them in both emails).

I have been on a search for a more perfect weather application and have yet to find one that does it all (I have settled on BerryWeather as it was lightweight, fast to load, included radar and alerts for multiple locations and lots of other features and was glad to pay for it).

I would leave positive feedback only after finding the application useful and if not found useful, I would delete it and find another application.

By: Mikebh

Mikebh — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:39:43 +0000

“Being Kind” or “making our customer happy” might just as well allowing them to place an honest review. No matter how you try to justify or explain yourself, swapping a user license for a positive review is at best, buying ratings – at worst, a mild sort of blackmail for the user. I'm going to also assume that the number of comments repeating this sentiment over and over being lost on you is due to some sort of linguistic challenge. The grammar and structure of most of your replies seem to indicate either a tenuous grasp of English, or the use of web based translators.

If you want to give away demos, give them away unrestricted. If you want to GENUINELY know what your users think of your product, let them tell you what they think. The “treat us kindly and softly” request frankly, incites me to do neither…

By: Tez

Tez — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:35:01 +0000

Well, you mentioned that we dont need to do a review, but just leave an email. But when i emailed, you told me to write a review first!

By: Jonah Lin

Jonah Lin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:22:56 +0000

dear Brady,
i just confirmed, you PIN is already in our system.

sorry for all the unhappy bringing to you. be so kind forgive us.

Jonah Lin

CEO at MMMOOO

By: Jonah lin

Jonah lin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:19:46 +0000

Kyle, good day! it's Jonah here.
it's Saturday at Shanghai, i m still on board to dealing the emails, as the customer service staff.
so the things may not so “Nakedness” as you think. We are kind to our users. we are humble to learn from this.

And all we do is making our customer happy.

By: Jonah lin

Jonah lin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:15:54 +0000

Dear MMMOOO users, we are struggling in growing. Sometimes, we may be too eagerly to want some sth.
but all the promotions are based: we do what we promised. if the users not make review, only if he send an email, he will get full version.

at this process, if someone can help us make encouraging reply, then it will be so kind to us.

we will learn from your feedback as well, we will try not to express the meaning so directly, you know, we need your support. but we will put more energy to dig the app better.

and i APOLOGIZE so much for bringing bad feeling to you guys. you know our mission is: Enrich Your Mobility!

So, be so kind treat us softly!

Jonah Lin

CEO @ MMMOOO

By: Randyj

Randyj — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:15:45 +0000

The App World review system is a huge disappointment. App World has encouraged vendors to seek out positive reviews by any means by stating that they will reward applications with lots of positive reviews by giving them stronger consideration for the featured app carousel.

I have two apps on App World and despite getting lots of direct positive feedback from customers I can not bring myself to ask them for a positive review...it makes me feel dirty.

I would like to see the review system loose the "star" rating because it is way to subjective and frankly easy to manipulate as your article suggests.

By: Marvs S.

Marvs S. — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:40:03 +0000

It makes the review system worthless if producers are essentially buying ratings.

By: SteveP

SteveP — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:12:37 +0000

I won't leave a fake review just to get a free copy, especially if it turns out to not really be a five star app, I'd be just as responsible for bilking others out of their money because I lied.

By: Kyle McInnes

Kyle McInnes — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:10:56 +0000

It's a shame that you see it as “falling” for the promo but it's understandable. I think it would have been better if everything was put on the table and the developers were more upfront with the promotion. Because you had to email the company to find out about the terms of the promotion, it feels like there's an element of being duped. Maybe users should write a secondary review for these sort of promotions. 1 positive review to get the full version for free, and if the app is disappointing, a very bad and scathing review to compensate.

By: Brady

Brady — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:43:43 +0000

Even though I'm guilty of falling for this promo and leaving a 5 star rating, I do indeed feel it's morally objectionable and have since removed the app from my phone (too bad I can't remove my review).

With this app in particular, you couldn't even test the full capabilities of the app until it is unlocked and to unlock it you have to leave a 5 star review or purchase it. A bit of a catch-22 in my opinion.

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