What App Store Reviews Can Teach You About Mobile Video Users
Online reviews are indisputably powerful. There are countless statistics about the effect of reviews, and they all point to one fact: across sectors, customers care about online reviews and their buying decisions are impacted by what they read. We know that this is true thanks to sites like Yelp, Amazon, and Trip Advisor, but it’s just as true in the App Store. And in the competitive arena of mobile video apps, these reviews can be make-or-break.
When a user has a notable experience with an app, positive or negative, they often take to the App Store to voice their gratitude, concern, or frustration. Online reviews often trend extreme, and the impact of negative reviews is strong: some data suggests that it can take around 40 positive customer experiences to undo the damage of a single negative review.
This means reviews are a valuable window into how users feel about your product. For mobile video apps, you will encounter user reviews of every kind of feature: content availability, speed, pricing, and more. But one feature commonly mentioned in App Store reviews may surprise you: download.
Whether you currently offer a download functionality or not, take a look at your App Store reviews — and reviews of your competitors. Both positive and negative reviews of countless OTT apps make one thing crystal clear: download is an undeniably important piece of the mobile video experience.
We poured over countless reviews of mobile OTT apps ourselves and plucked out a few notable examples that demonstrate just how much users care about download functionality. Below, we’ve compiled some standout reviews along with some valuable takeaways they provide.
1. Viewers are frustrated by buffering: and think you’re to blame.
These reviews illustrate something basic: viewers are frustrated by buffering. And whether or not their playback issues are caused by your app, users will take to the app store to air their grievances.
2. They know download will improve their experience.
Users want download, and whether they love your app or have complaints, they want you to add it as a feature.
3. Users will be grateful to see it added.
Download allows your users to watch your content more easily, and they will share their excitement when you add the functionality in the form of a positive review in the App Store.
4. But gratitude won’t last long if download is a sub par experience.
There’s only one thing worse than not having download: having inadequate download that adds more frustration for users. Download is all about improving the user experience and ensuring they can access your videos whenever and wherever they want. If your download solution isn’t sophisticated enough to work reliably, users will be disappointed, to say the least.
5. Speed and reliability are key.
Users often want to download content so they can access it on the go. That means oftentimes, they are downloading last minute before leaving the house or hopping on a plane. If the video downloads slowly, they may miss the opportunity to take advantage of the feature. It must be fast enough for users’ on-the-go moments. It also must truly work, because once they have a poor connection, they won’t have any other way to access the content.
6. AVOD users are especially frustrated by streaming issues.
Playback issues are frustrating, but they are especially annoying when paired with ads. Users are happy to watch ads in exchange for free access to shows and movies, but if they feel that ads are coupled with a poor streaming experience, they will have a negative mindset when consuming the ad content.
App Store reviews can affect your bottom line. The trust that buyers have of reviews means negative sentiments expressed on your App Store page can discourage potential new customers from downloading your app.
Users know they have plenty of other video apps to choose from, so it’s crucial that streaming apps stand out with a 5-star user experience. For OTT video apps, offering speedy and reliable download is an important part of this puzzle.
Learn more about download by reading our Guide to Download whitepaper or by scheduling a meeting with an expert.
