Under the Radar

◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show about

◼   ► independent iOS app development I'm

◼   ► Marco Arment and I'm David Smith under

◼   ► the radar it's never longer than 30

◼   ► minutes so let's get started so we

◼   ► finally have the ability to respond to

◼   ► reviews in the App Store yeah waiting

◼   ► for this for a while we probably thought

◼   ► it would never come it was announced

◼   ► what about two months ago or something

◼   ► like that now we finally have it the way

◼   ► the implement of this system is actually

◼   ► pretty good you know it's pretty much

◼   ► what you would hope it would be in that

◼   ► when you respond to a review Apple

◼   ► notifies the user with an email and says

◼   ► hey the developer responded with this

◼   ► would you know click here if you'd like

◼   ► to update your review and the person you

◼   ► know so it's actually like it's a it's a

◼   ► pretty nice system all the reviews are

◼   ► in iTunes Connect you can you can you

◼   ► know you can browse all the all the

◼   ► regions and everything so I think they

◼   ► did a pretty good job with it and now

◼   ► it's I think the interesting part to

◼   ► discuss today is now that we have this

◼   ► system as developers what are the best

◼   ► ways we can actually use it you know

◼   ► what should we do what shouldn't we do

◼   ► what are the risks what's what's worth

◼   ► doing and I think there's there's a good

◼   ► approximately 30 minute discussion to be

◼   ► had there or do you think I think so

◼   ► yeah

◼   ► and it's I think I would think I would

◼   ► absolutely agree with that I'm very glad

◼   ► they've done this and I think the way

◼   ► they did it works well that's you know

◼   ► it's early days still but it seems like

◼   ► it wasn't one of these things where you

◼   ► know we finally got what we were asking

◼   ► for but they did it in a way that was

◼   ► awkward or cumbersome or annoying for

◼   ► the most part like the interface and

◼   ► iTunes Connect so if you just as a in

◼   ► case your you kind of find this and you

◼   ► haven't if you go to a particular app

◼   ► you go to the activity tab and then you

◼   ► go to ratings interviews which is an

◼   ► area that has actually always been there

◼   ► or spin it for a very long time but now

◼   ► suddenly there's a reply button at the

◼   ► side of each review as well as a whole

◼   ► lot of really good filters that you can

◼   ► apply to it so you can see all your

◼   ► reviews you can see reviews that you've

◼   ► responded to reviews that you haven't

◼   ► responded to reviews that were changed

◼   ► as a result or after you responded to

◼   ► them which is also really helpful thing

◼   ► so you can get a sense of if it's

◼   ► actually working as well as filtering

◼   ► you know by different versions of the

◼   ► app or different you know

◼   ► how critical they are like if you want

◼   ► to see all your one-star reviews your

◼   ► five-star reviews it's really good solid

◼   ► like it like you would hope interface

◼   ► and I mean the only slight Neagle I have

◼   ► about it which is only really applies to

◼   ► me because I have so many apps is that I

◼   ► have to go through each app individually

◼   ► to check on the new reviews rather than

◼   ► there being a consolidated interface for

◼   ► it but that's just because I'm strange

◼   ► and have dozens of apps but otherwise

◼   ► it's it's a you know overall

◼   ► mechanically is really nice and they

◼   ► show up pretty well in the in the App

◼   ► Store I always kind of wonder how many

◼   ► people actually read the reviews in the

◼   ► App Store versus just looking at the

◼   ► star rating but you know it shows up

◼   ► that it truncates the review you

◼   ► responded to like it always does at

◼   ► about three lines and then below it it

◼   ► just says like develop a response and

◼   ► you know your response shows up right

◼   ► below there and this probably actually

◼   ► were a little pro tip that I thought of

◼   ► when I started doing my reviews response

◼   ► that it makes I think once I thought it

◼   ► was like oh of course that's where I

◼   ► should start

◼   ► because right now you probably have an

◼   ► app with you know if your fin app of any

◼   ► volume you have you know maybe a

◼   ► hundreds of reviews to look at it's like

◼   ► which one should I start looking at for

◼   ► responses and I'd the first thing I did

◼   ► is just opened the App Store go over to

◼   ► the reviews tab and see which are the

◼   ► first ones to show up in that list

◼   ► exactly because that is by far the most

◼   ► likely reviews that anyone is ever going

◼   ► to read you know it's very unlikely that

◼   ► people are going to be paging through

◼   ► all the way to the bottom of that list

◼   ► like maybe but that remembers especially

◼   ► that number one review below your star

◼   ► rating make sure that there's a good

◼   ► response to that because often that

◼   ► Ravech can often also be slightly

◼   ► critical because I think the sorting of

◼   ► that list is not chronological I think

◼   ► it's it's most helpful yeah but it's

◼   ► kind of vague like I don't I don't think

◼   ► that's purely based on like the number

◼   ► of like up votes and down votes and like

◼   ► the-- was this helpful thing I don't

◼   ► think it's only that I think there's

◼   ► other factors it's hard to tell but if

◼   ► you leave the sorting in iTunes Connect

◼   ► at the default that it loads up with

◼   ► it's that sorting so and you can always

◼   ► you know go on your phone and look at

◼   ► the app sort of to just verify that

◼   ► that's still the way it's sorted but

◼   ► yeah that because like I feel like you

◼   ► have to

◼   ► decide as you know as a way to spend

◼   ► your time and as a way to to take the

◼   ► risks which we'll talk about of this

◼   ► system you have to decide like are you

◼   ► mostly doing it to address that

◼   ► particular reviewer and to talk to them

◼   ► directly or are you mostly doing it to

◼   ► show other people who are reading the

◼   ► reviews you know your point of view on

◼   ► it or to correct falsehoods or to appear

◼   ► to be caring about your customers or

◼   ► things like that so if you're mostly

◼   ► responding to reviews like to the public

◼   ► basically in that in that latter way

◼   ► rather than to the individual reviewers

◼   ► then it makes sense to really only spend

◼   ► your time addressing a few of the top

◼   ► ones in each region because again as you

◼   ► said like they're they're probably most

◼   ► people are not going to be paging

◼   ► through you know 200 reviews of an app

◼   ► like that's you know if you're lucky

◼   ► enough to have that many it it's it's

◼   ► gonna be the top handful at most and

◼   ► after that it's severely diminishing

◼   ► returns so it doesn't make sense to

◼   ► spend a ton of time responding to every

◼   ► single review from you know the last

◼   ► four years or whatever because most

◼   ► people are never gonna see that yeah and

◼   ► I think - it's my the perspective that I

◼   ► take with these things is that these are

◼   ► marketing statements first and foremost

◼   ► they can be helpful to the person that

◼   ► I'm responding to but because this is a

◼   ► public facing this is text that is

◼   ► public facing that is on least on the

◼   ► app store page for my app which is like

◼   ► where I put all of my other marketing

◼   ► copy like it is important that I that

◼   ► these are written in such a way that

◼   ► they are you know useful and helpful to

◼   ► anybody who's trying to think about if

◼   ► they want to download my app and so

◼   ► which essentially becomes marketing and

◼   ► you can still you know write them to the

◼   ► person you just not like this has to be

◼   ► some kind of stilted a PR speak type of

◼   ► response but it's in the back of your

◼   ► mind when you're writing these reviews

◼   ► it's you know how would I write this I'm

◼   ► less writing this to this one person and

◼   ► then I am to the hopefully hundreds or

◼   ► thousands of people who might read this

◼   ► when they're browsing the city of the

◼   ► app

◼   ► because the strange thing with reviews

◼   ► is they're very like point in time you

◼   ► know someone the Kino came you know it's

◼   ► a say that you have the classic kind of

◼   ► like the one star it's like I hated this

◼   ► app it was always useless I deleted it

◼   ► right away and they leave that as a

◼   ► review well that user is unlikely to

◼   ► come back they've deleted the app like

◼   ► you're kind of done with them you can

◼   ► still usefully write a response to that

◼   ► where you might show interest in terms

◼   ► of saying I'm so sorry you had a bad

◼   ► experience if you have any problem if

◼   ► you have specific concerns or complaints

◼   ► you know by all means email me here's my

◼   ► support address or something like that

◼   ► which is a marketing message that I'm

◼   ► engaged I'm interested I care about my

◼   ► users even if this one person had a bad

◼   ► experience which can be useful or

◼   ► someone who you know I wish it did X it

◼   ► doesn't one star and you can respond to

◼   ► the person say hey actually it does or

◼   ► that's great that's a great suggestion

◼   ► we'll see if we can work that into a

◼   ► future update maybe but whatever that is

◼   ► you're writing these with the

◼   ► expectation of you know someone is

◼   ► opening the App Store they're going to

◼   ► reviews they're reading these reviews

◼   ► especially if they're reading a negative

◼   ► review it's having a slight counterpoint

◼   ► that's right below it something that

◼   ► they can at least see a response to so

◼   ► it doesn't just stand there on its own

◼   ► as as a negative message in deciding

◼   ► which ones to respond to I've seen a lot

◼   ► of developers talk about you know on

◼   ► Twitter or on different podcasts I've

◼   ► seen a lot of people mention like the

◼   ► idea of well I don't want to like set

◼   ► the wrong expectations of my customers

◼   ► or like train people to expect certain

◼   ► things will always get responses or

◼   ► won't always get responses or whatever

◼   ► else or you know one thing you think

◼   ► about is like if you respond to every

◼   ► review that might create an incentive

◼   ► for people to one-star review you to

◼   ► just get it get your attention

◼   ► and because they know you're listening I

◼   ► think this these are all wonderful

◼   ► concepts but I think in reality this is

◼   ► out of our control because the reality

◼   ► is whatever standards that people will

◼   ► expect whatever whether people will will

◼   ► expect reviews or will expect responses

◼   ► to their reviews or not whether they

◼   ► will you know think that that reviewing

◼   ► your app or especially one star on your

◼   ► app will get your attention

◼   ► that will be decided globally like among

◼   ► the entire app store and just the people

◼   ► using it like their thoughts and you

◼   ► know the kind of norms and culture that

◼   ► comes around that whatever you do with

◼   ► your individual app is not going to

◼   ► affect that at all like it like whatever

◼   ► people will come to expect with whether

◼   ► they get responses or not and whether

◼   ► it's worth one starring and yelling at

◼   ► people or not that that's out of our

◼   ► hands that's being decided it's already

◼   ► been decided like it's that that battle

◼   ► is over people already we're using

◼   ► reviews you know angry one-star reviews

◼   ► to try to get our attention they already

◼   ► do the thing right they hold the star

◼   ► hostage and can leave it if you're lucky

◼   ► if they only hold one star hostage like

◼   ► you know that's that's out of our hands

◼   ► and so whether whether or not you

◼   ► respond to your reviews or how many of

◼   ► your reviews you respond to has nothing

◼   ► to do with what your customers expect

◼   ► from you and you are not setting their

◼   ► expectations or setting their incentives

◼   ► the entire app store is so you you

◼   ► should probably just go along with what

◼   ► people will expect to happen regardless

◼   ► of what that is yeah and I think too

◼   ► it's also important to keep in mind how

◼   ► small a proportion of your user base you

◼   ► were talking about here yeah like it is

◼   ► easy I think we can this is a part of

◼   ► why when I say like I think this is

◼   ► first and foremost a marketing thing and

◼   ► why I was really hopeful that one day we

◼   ► would be able to respond to reviews is a

◼   ► very small percentage of your users can

◼   ► have a disproportionate impact on your

◼   ► appearance in the app store you know in

◼   ► terms of I I have actually looked at

◼   ► what the numbers are but I imagine it's

◼   ► you know at least hundreds if not

◼   ► thousands to one for people who actually

◼   ► leave a review in the App Store and

◼   ► amongst those the vast majority leave

◼   ► just star ratings rather than words

◼   ► so you're ending up with you know a

◼   ► fraction of a percentage probably of

◼   ► your users that are leaving these

◼   ► leaving these written reviews that get

◼   ► responses and you know the vast majority

◼   ► of my support like my actual customer

◼   ► support is going to come through the

◼   ► support links and things within the apps

◼   ► itself

◼   ► they're not going to be coming through

◼   ► the app store and it's like my goal is

◼   ► in a weird way with the fees it's like

◼   ► they're it's like it's it's damage

◼   ► control in some ways because if someone

◼   ► writes a glowing review five stars this

◼   ► is awesome like there's nothing really

◼   ► for me to do and like at throwing in it

◼   ► like thinks that's awesome like that

◼   ► feels a little weird and like empty if

◼   ► there's a five-star review that has a

◼   ► question in it answering the question

◼   ► maybe make sense you know but mostly

◼   ► what this is it's a tool for me to clear

◼   ► up misunderstandings or clear up issues

◼   ► where you know somebody is just saying

◼   ► something that's untrue or you know like

◼   ► they're missing the point or they didn't

◼   ► find the feature like it's a way for me

◼   ► to communicate not to that person I mean

◼   ► I want to tell that person but like

◼   ► that's one person out of you know out of

◼   ► thousands that I can hopefully help

◼   ► which is you know nice but it's not

◼   ► nearly as impactful as the you know

◼   ► hopefully hundreds or thousands of

◼   ► people who will come to your app store

◼   ► page and you can communicate to them

◼   ► whatever that message is and so don't

◼   ► get too stuck either on like the you

◼   ► know it's like training this individual

◼   ► person like it's such a small proportion

◼   ► of your actual users that it probably

◼   ► matters less there you know and if

◼   ► anything it's like if you want to train

◼   ► your users to get in contact with you

◼   ► and they have problems or wherever that

◼   ► is it's like be responsive to your email

◼   ► I suppose like and make that a place

◼   ► that people can feel like they can vent

◼   ► their you know their unease or problems

◼   ► they have in the app but like yeah don't

◼   ► wouldn't get too wrapped around the axle

◼   ► about like oh it's like it's you know

◼   ► trying to be clever about this it's like

◼   ► no just look at your reviews and see

◼   ► which ones you can add value to in

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◼   ► you so much to Linode for supporting

◼   ► this show and everything i host on the

◼   ► internet so I think it probably makes

◼   ► sense now to dive into just a little bit

◼   ► of the kind of what are the good 1 good

◼   ► reviews to respond to and we sure you

◼   ► know ones that we should just let be and

◼   ► like the first ones that come to mind on

◼   ► the let it go side of things is being

◼   ► very careful to get sucked into like I

◼   ► don't know like snarkiness or people who

◼   ► are just like there's sometimes you just

◼   ► people just like writing reviews that

◼   ► are mean or angry or aren't really on

◼   ► topic and in general it's like as with

◼   ► most things on the internet like arguing

◼   ► with people on the internet is never

◼   ► really a good idea and so whenever I see

◼   ► these kind of

◼   ► it's probably best to be like you know

◼   ► there's not much that I could gain from

◼   ► diving into this like maybe if it was

◼   ► the number one like if it showed up at

◼   ► the test the top review in the App Store

◼   ► it might be something that would be

◼   ► worthwhile trying to kind of you know at

◼   ► least show an engagement there but you

◼   ► know trying to go back and forth with

◼   ► somebody who clearly is just kind of mad

◼   ► and was using this review as a way to

◼   ► vent that is unlikely to be productive

◼   ► whereas probably good reviews to talk

◼   ► about are ones where there's a clear

◼   ► misunderstanding your question and like

◼   ► as I've been kind of browsing a little

◼   ► bit in these these are the areas that I

◼   ► think are the best opportunities for us

◼   ► that you know it's it when you look at a

◼   ► review and someone is saying you know

◼   ► it's like I mean in some ways it's like

◼   ► the old hostage star situation where

◼   ► someone's like oh man so forced our app

◼   ► it'd be five-star if it did X and if it

◼   ► actually does do X like if it's just

◼   ► like oh sorry that was so sorry the UI

◼   ► mid you know didn't help you find the

◼   ► feature if you go to the third tab or

◼   ► you go into settings you can in turn

◼   ► that on that's a great example of a

◼   ► place that you can you know as from a

◼   ► marketing perspective that's useful

◼   ► because if someone was gonna say oh I

◼   ► was I like this app but according to

◼   ► this review it doesn't actually you know

◼   ► do this kind of feature and at O the

◼   ► developer says it does great like that's

◼   ► or even probably more over it would be

◼   ► you know because these do I think

◼   ► they're written reviews stick around

◼   ► beyond multiple versions I think I don't

◼   ► know it's and that could obviously

◼   ► change over time but right now I'm

◼   ► pretty sure I think they don't actually

◼   ► unless they're edited maybe but I'm not

◼   ► positive on that yeah but it's also

◼   ► worth clearing up to if you if someone

◼   ► had a problem that was then fixed in a

◼   ► subsequent release in general just

◼   ► saying that is probably a helpful thing

◼   ► yeah because you know in it is a funny

◼   ► thing because you you just want to find

◼   ► these places where you can have these

◼   ► positive engagements I don't think I

◼   ► mean I don't know what you think about

◼   ► this but like there's a lot of you know

◼   ► I remember people were asking initially

◼   ► or talking about it of should we respond

◼   ► to every review you know should each

◼   ► review have a response below it any geez

◼   ► that's a simple answer no

◼   ► that's really a lot of times those

◼   ► responses are just end up being like

◼   ► thank you or good point like that kind

◼   ► of response I don't think is actually

◼   ► productive that I think it just kind of

◼   ► it's distracting probably I mean maybe

◼   ► I'm wrong maybe people love you know

◼   ► we'd love to see all these little like

◼   ► you know someone says something nice

◼   ► about you and you say thank you

◼   ► like I guess that's polite that's the

◼   ► polite thing to do is to say thank you

◼   ► and someone says something nice about

◼   ► you but it seems counterproductive in a

◼   ► lot of ways I mean the main benefit in a

◼   ► weird way like and this is just the way

◼   ► my mind works I suppose is by doing that

◼   ► you aren't increasing the amount of

◼   ► space on the screen that the positive

◼   ► review took up so it emphasizes it

◼   ► slightly like if someone has a five-star

◼   ► review that's but like I just I one of

◼   ► the one of the issues is that you that

◼   ► we have here is that again what I said

◼   ► earlier like whatever most apps do or

◼   ► the most popular apps do is gonna be

◼   ► what people assume and expect I think

◼   ► one of the big problems is that most

◼   ► apps that most people actually use are

◼   ► made by big companies and the big

◼   ► companies are either going to not

◼   ► respond or they're gonna they're gonna

◼   ► have somebody whose job it is to

◼   ► basically be a can respond similar to

◼   ► like if you if you add mention on

◼   ► Twitter like some big brand like Comcast

◼   ► or whatever then they're gonna have some

◼   ► intern whose job it is to try to placate

◼   ► you with a canned response and we're

◼   ► gonna have that on the App Store reviews

◼   ► too and so if people get used to that

◼   ► anything you say in it just in like a

◼   ► general response to a positive one

◼   ► they're going to assume is not genuine

◼   ► they're going to assume that this is

◼   ► just like a form letter that you say to

◼   ► everybody which it actually might be and

◼   ► I don't think that looks good to people

◼   ► you know people see right through that

◼   ► and and again they're going to be coming

◼   ► to your app with the assumption that

◼   ► this is a can response like one of the

◼   ► one of the reviews that I gave I was

◼   ► trying to placate somebody who once

◼   ► starred me and that review showed up

◼   ► pretty high and they were complaining

◼   ► about you know just some of the some of

◼   ► the design changes I did in 3.0 and I it

◼   ► took me a while I I wrote this response

◼   ► it took probably 15 minutes to write

◼   ► even though it's like - it's like two

◼   ► sentences

◼   ► that's because you know the famous thing

◼   ► like I forget my letter for being so

◼   ► long I would have written a shorter one

◼   ► but at that time like I started writing

◼   ► a whole bunch of different ways to

◼   ► address this and it took me a good 15

◼   ► minutes to come up with like the two

◼   ► sentences that I actually thought I

◼   ► should say here and it was very much it

◼   ► was like kind of a general statement of

◼   ► like you know I'm sorry this design

◼   ► isn't working for you I try to please

◼   ► many people as I can but you know

◼   ► sometimes that's not possible something

◼   ► like that and the guy edited his review

◼   ► and clearly thought that was a canned

◼   ► form response even though I had never

◼   ► written it to anybody else before it

◼   ► took me 15 minutes to compose those two

◼   ► sentences he just assumed because it

◼   ► kind of sounded like he can't response

◼   ► like I'm you know I'm sorry you know I

◼   ► couldn't couldn't help you here whatever

◼   ► else and he probably assumes that any

◼   ► response that is kind of like that on an

◼   ► after review is just a canned response

◼   ► and there's no thought behind it even

◼   ► though in this case there was tons of

◼   ► thought behind it and so you always you

◼   ► have to take that risk to like again

◼   ► like what what are people going to

◼   ► expect from the entire app store as a

◼   ► whole is going to impact the the

◼   ► assumptions they go into when they when

◼   ► they see your response and I don't think

◼   ► a a cyclic hey thanks for reviewing us

◼   ► like I don't think that is productive I

◼   ► don't think people want that and I think

◼   ► if you did that people would not receive

◼   ► it as well as you might think it might

◼   ► it might seem like overly eager or

◼   ► creepy or just kind of desperate and I I

◼   ► don't think that's a good look

◼   ► yeah and I think that's probably in

◼   ► general like I think this is an area

◼   ► where probably less is more right yeah

◼   ► it's it's it's it's one of these things

◼   ► that I think we could easily get carried

◼   ► away with using and it's like it's time

◼   ► spent that it's it's I think it's a it's

◼   ► a wonderful tool for us and there are

◼   ► areas like especially for those like the

◼   ► top those top reviews having good goodra

◼   ► answers for those like it makes a lot of

◼   ► sense but I think this very easily could

◼   ► become this rabbit hole of if trying to

◼   ► squeeze too much out of this feature is

◼   ► almost certainly going to become a

◼   ► counterproductive it's going to be

◼   ► something that is taking time away from

◼   ► the actual thing that will make your app

◼   ► a five-star app which is making your app

◼   ► that

◼   ► you know the switching you know

◼   ► convincing one person to give you one

◼   ► more star is nice but you know making

◼   ► your app better with a new version that

◼   ► is going to address the problems that

◼   ► people are having like that's a much

◼   ► more robust and sustainable solution

◼   ► rather than getting into lots of little

◼   ► hitches with this and I mean especially

◼   ► it's one of these things that some

◼   ► people like people are writing reviews

◼   ► for very different reasons right like it

◼   ► is something that we don't control and

◼   ► especially because it's not this venue

◼   ► where it's you know this nice threaded

◼   ► conversation like you can say something

◼   ► and then they can say something and they

◼   ► know they're doing it by like updating

◼   ► their review and so you can get these

◼   ► very disjoint kind of situations if you

◼   ► go too far down that road so in general

◼   ► less is more probably and I think the

◼   ► question of how far back to go like I

◼   ► heard was on core intuition because

◼   ► Dana's gelcoat was saying that he was

◼   ► responding to reviews from like years

◼   ► ago that just kind of blows my mind it's

◼   ► like I think in general keeping this

◼   ► fairly current is something that makes

◼   ► sense that you know responding to

◼   ► reviews as they come in makes some some

◼   ► amount of sense and in this initial

◼   ► period

◼   ► you know maybe responding or at least

◼   ► rereading in deciding if you want to

◼   ► respond to all the reviews for the

◼   ► current version seems about reasonable

◼   ► but beyond that I probably wouldn't go

◼   ► too much farther back yeah and kind of

◼   ► expanding a little bit on the on the

◼   ► less is more angle again you know keep

◼   ► in mind as you mentioned that that you

◼   ► know you're posting this response but

◼   ► then the the user who wrote the review

◼   ► is prompted and will likely edit the

◼   ► review and so you have to make sure that

◼   ► if somebody you know assuming that

◼   ► you're not going to be keeping on top of

◼   ► every single response you write to see

◼   ► if the person edited it and then see if

◼   ► you need to edit your response and

◼   ► everything like that's that's not

◼   ► productive so keep in mind though that

◼   ► your your response might not make as

◼   ► much sense if the users review is

◼   ► heavily edited after you gave the

◼   ► response and so write the responses with

◼   ► that in mind so for instance one of the

◼   ► responses I wrote and I haven't actually

◼   ► done that many of them honestly but one

◼   ► of the responses I wrote

◼   ► was one of the top reviews was asking

◼   ► about battery life saying the new

◼   ► version seemed to use more battery life

◼   ► and so in my response I didn't really

◼   ► specifically call out like you know

◼   ► anything in particular about about the

◼   ► question that was asked it was I gave a

◼   ► more kind of general response about

◼   ► battery usage in the app and I said

◼   ► basically like you know here's the kinds

◼   ► of things that make any podcast app use

◼   ► more battery power and you know and you

◼   ► know here's like playing fast using the

◼   ► screen brightness and the speaker and

◼   ► everything else and I like you know I've

◼   ► tested overcast III test overcast

◼   ► against other podcast apps and I try to

◼   ► make sure it's always comparable or

◼   ► better but if you've if you figure out

◼   ► anything else please let me know and I'm

◼   ► always trying to find out you know any

◼   ► areas I might have missed something like

◼   ► that right and so and so I gave an

◼   ► answer that no matter what the review is

◼   ► edited to that will still basically make

◼   ► sense as a standalone written piece

◼   ► there and I think it's important to do

◼   ► that because again like whatever you

◼   ► respond to the the user who wrote the

◼   ► review can then edit the review to say

◼   ► anything so if you just say like I agree

◼   ► the person can respond to the reviews

◼   ► saying this app sucks and they're the

◼   ► first review saying this app sucks and

◼   ► then your responses they're saying I

◼   ► agree like so you have to always make

◼   ► sure that you are accounting for the

◼   ► fact that the thing you're responding to

◼   ► can change at any time to say anything

◼   ► and make sure the e review still makes

◼   ► sense in that context yeah it's just

◼   ► yeah so I mean you the nice thing is an

◼   ► iTunes Connect you can sign up to get

◼   ► notifications when users change reviews

◼   ► that you responded to so at least you

◼   ► can track that down a little bit and

◼   ► there's also there's a filter in iTunes

◼   ► Connect but still like it's definitely

◼   ► good advice to keep that in mind that

◼   ► you don't control the other end of this

◼   ► and this is all in the public you know

◼   ► it's all public facing not just like on

◼   ► a public website even it's like right on

◼   ► your App Store page the last thing that

◼   ► I wanted to sort of touch on briefly I

◼   ► think is the mental health aspect of

◼   ► responding to reviews oh boy

◼   ► because and this is so it's probably

◼   ► worth saying that I'd went through and

◼   ► did a little bit of responding to

◼   ► reviews but after that initial wave of

◼   ► just like making sure I understand what

◼   ► how this process works and what it looks

◼   ► like I've you know just like I do for my

◼   ► customer support I've you know outsource

◼   ► the actual day-to-day operation of

◼   ► responding to reviews to someone else

◼   ► you know I have someone else who

◼   ► responds to my first level customer

◼   ► support and now I have someone who is

◼   ► you know a very part-time basis but is

◼   ► taking you know is responding to the

◼   ► reviews in the App Store and the main

◼   ► reason why I do that I mean it's nice

◼   ► from a you know it's from a time

◼   ► perspective it frees me up a little bit

◼   ► and so on but the main reason why I do

◼   ► that is because I find reading reviews

◼   ► of my own products can be very

◼   ► detrimental from a like motivation from

◼   ► a happiness self-worth like all kinds of

◼   ► very significant things can happen yes

◼   ► and this is one of these things what's

◼   ► so reading one really mean like pointed

◼   ► review about yourself you know Kumasi as

◼   ► always is the thing that sticks with you

◼   ► it's not the thing that you know if

◼   ► someone writes this glowing five star

◼   ► review about how much they love the app

◼   ► like that's nice and it I mean I wish it

◼   ► stuck with me more but it's almost

◼   ► always as these you know these mean

◼   ► intentionally vindictive kind of reviews

◼   ► that people will write and so that's why

◼   ► you know for me I decided you know I'm

◼   ► just in the same way that I haven't

◼   ► really been reading my App Store reviews

◼   ► very much over the last few years it's

◼   ► like I this is not a reason for me to

◼   ► get back into that game that I remember

◼   ► what that did you know cognitively to me

◼   ► and so it's like you know what I will

◼   ► just pay a little bit of money to have

◼   ► someone else to do that because for them

◼   ► it's not personal you know for them it's

◼   ► not that same thing when they're you

◼   ► know if someone's attacking the product

◼   ► that I made when it feels like they're

◼   ► attacking me whereas you know if someone

◼   ► else is it precisely more you know

◼   ► separated from that product you know

◼   ► it's it's more just a job it's a thing

◼   ► and like it's a it's a Thomas has a more

◼   ► of a comedy to it perhaps so it's you

◼   ► know it softens the blow and so just

◼   ► something to keep in mind that while

◼   ► this is a useful tool while this is

◼   ► something that I'm glad we have you know

◼   ► be careful and I really speak cognizant

◼   ► of the impact that it is having on you

◼   ► and be careful about then how you do

◼   ► that and when you went in the day you do

◼   ► that or like how you're feeling

◼   ► emotionally like this is if the

◼   ► something that you're doing and you're

◼   ► feeling really sad or down that day

◼   ► maybe don't go read your app store

◼   ► reviews like that's unlikely to make you

◼   ► feel better yeah I would say that's good

◼   ► advice in general like in general you

◼   ► don't need to read reps or reviews very

◼   ► often or very closely I think it's

◼   ► important to you know do what we said

◼   ► earlier like you know view them in the

◼   ► same way that the public views them so

◼   ► look at your store page occasionally and

◼   ► see which ones are on top and see what

◼   ► your average is and I don't think you

◼   ► need to go much further than that in

◼   ► both reading them or responding to them

◼   ► I have found the same thing that reading

◼   ► my after reviews is almost never a good

◼   ► thing for my motivation or my mental

◼   ► state and so I mostly just don't do it

◼   ► and I'm very happy not doing it and that

◼   ► will probably continue so anyway thanks

◼   ► very much for listening and we'll talk

◼   ► to you next week bye