App Store Review Engagement Rate

What is App Store Review Engagement Rate

A review engagement rate is the percentage of users who actually engage with the reviews on an app or game’s product page. This group of users engage by tapping on the reviews to read and scroll between them. 

Why App Store Review Engagement Rate is Important

From the data Storemaven has collected from 500M unique user sessions, the review engagement rate is low. The number of users that are exposed to the reviews having scrolled down the page to find them is less than 15%. Less than 1% actually engage by tapping to read a review and even fewer scroll through them, a very low number of 0.08-0.21%.

Review engagement rates are important in understanding the impact reviews have on the user journey and knowing whether users take reviews into consideration when deciding whether or not to install. The data shows that they don’t have much of an impact on user install behavior for the vast majority of users, other elements on the page are more relevant to users when making their decision. 

Reviews are user-generated content which, in the app stores, usually prove beneficial largely if they’re positive. Data shows that users react positively to ‘social-proof’ (e.g., best app of the year, recommended by experts, etc) and human activity, unfortunately very little of them in the App Store or Google Play are seen or read. 

This is part of the reason why certain ASO managers use the screenshots in the first impression to highlight social proof.

App Store Review Engagement Rate and ASO

It’s important to understand how much impact a good or bad review has on the user journey and whether it can drive users to install or push them away. Knowing what part reviews play for users when they’re making install decisions is vital for ASO so that they know where to focus resources and what elements to optimize. If reviews can’t be used as marketing leverage to the majority of the audience, it’s worth focusing on other product page elements that do encourage installs. 

However, it’s imperative for an app developer to monitor the reviews in order to keep track of user feedback. Failing to respond to a review can give the impression the developer isn’t interested in what their users have to say. 

Reviews are representative of how the audience feels towards an app or game, so taking that into account whether good or bad can be insightful and invaluable to an app developer. Apps that are able to incorporate feedback into the content of the app itself prove popular in the stores and often lead to interesting content (such as Fortnite’s seasons and character skins) but this takes a combination of careful planning and quick turnaround that smaller companies may struggle to do.