Must voting to use - Google Play

Hi,

“Must voting to use” is a good or bad idea ?
Users can give 5 stars. Or they can give 1 star probably. But according to Google Play algorithm, i think these votes makes popular the app.

What do you think about this ?

Thanks for reading.

Hi,
I’m not an expert but I don’t think force to rate your app is a good idea.
It’s better if you explain to the user that it’s important to support your app.
In my game when the user complete the puzzle I ask if he could support my app giving a rate and I have a button for that.
Check the last screenshot here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.megasoft78.fifteenpuzzlex

Yes, definitely forcing users to vote is a very bad idea. As megasoft said - some kind of rate-me button or non-intrusive one-time dialog usually does the trick.

I recently wrote an article on how to provoke good reviews using those techniques. You may find some interesting tips there.

Thank you for your ideas friends.

@megasoft78 I will use encouragement to voting app. I think, my idea is really bad…

@Max, Thank you for the article. I will read now.

Sorry for my bad English.

I am not sure, how you want to check if a user has voted 5 stars for your game.

and don’t force - users will give you a review if they feel to do so

I wonder what would people say if I put a message in game “New levels when the game hits 500 five star reviews” or sth like that, what do you think? I won’t do it almost certainly, but it’s an idea that just popped in my mind.

it’s a nice idea to get some support from players, but you should never trick them. Also I would just ask for 500 reviews - not 5 star, no forcing.

That way - if someone likes your game it is more likely that he will send it to his friends asking for reviewing.

No need to mention, that you should stay to your word, if you do something like that :wink:

btw.: Robo Miner is still getting reviews very regulary but is out of nearly any list for nearly any country - so that alone does not work. I am pretty sure, google is aware of review-fraud so they have something more sophisticated for their rankings

I was watching a video from google io this year about things to do and not to do to get promoted in google play. They said one thing that will make sure your app is not promoted is to ask for 5 star or force reviews. They said it was ok to ask for reviews but not to force them or offer incentive for 5 stars.

This one ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT9cvFwB_6c

Thats a good one, but I was tslking about this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDDgoxvQsrQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks for replies and videos.

Isn’t forcing users to rate your app (for any number of stars) against the new (and maybe the existing) Google Play terms of service?

It may be to force them to rate. But Im pretty sure its ok to ask them to rate your apps.

You cannot force because you cannot check if the user has actually voted