App store optimization (ASO) is the process of improving an app’s rank in an app store for search results related to the app. It’s the app store equivalent of SEO for Web pages. Just like SEO, ASO involves working to build up a great search ranking to drive downloads.

One of the best app stores features to help app marketers with ASO is the ios app rating section. Never before have marketers had the ability to see exactly what their users are saying about their product in a single place, nicely sorted by their level of satisfaction.

App Ratings have clear use cases for app publishers in product development, but they also have countless other uses for app marketers, including app store optimization. Let’s look at five of the best ways to use ios app rating for better ASO.

1. Extract Common Messaging For Keywords

You should be constantly monitoring your ios app rating & reviews and searching for common messaging. Common messaging includes words or phrases which are repeated over and over and convey the same idea or message. Organizing your reviews by rating and common messaging is invaluable to learning how users are talking about your app. What words are they using, and what are their reasons for using those words? Finding common messaging leads directly to finding ideas for new keywords.

2. Find & Fix Bugs For Better Ratings

Once you have sorted your ios app rating & reviews, one of the most important things you can use them for is to find bugs. Sadly, anger and frustration will often inspire users to leave a review… a 1-star review. And while you can test your app over and over again, you’re bound to miss a few bugs that will impact users.

In addition to your in-app analytics, a quick and efficient way to find and fix these is by looking through your reviews. Fixing bugs quickly will reduce the damage as well as convert unhappy users into happy ones who can re-rate the app highly. High ratings are directly related to high rankings in both Top Charts and search within the buy app store reviews.

3. It’s Not Just You In The App Store — Your Competitors Are There, Too

Spend as much time in your competitors’ app reviews as you do in your own reviews. Apply the first three tips toward your competitors’ reviews: find common messaging to see what keywords you might (or might not) want to be using; see what bugs are occurring in their app and make sure that doesn’t happen to you, and find features that people like or wish their app had to get inspiration for your own product!

4. Finding Screenshot Ideas From Reviews

Screenshots are something I believe a majority of apps do poorly. It’s the only way to talk to your customers in an on-brand way via the app store. If you don’t have good screenshots, users will usually skip right over your app without even reading the description. So how do you know which screenshots to use? Take your reviews, extract the most talked about features, and highlight those in your screenshots.

CONCLUSION:

This is just the tip of the iceberg on how you can use ios app rating & reviews to improve your ASO in the App Store. These are four of our favorites, but get creative and apply them to other aspects of your app as well. What other ways do you use ios app ratings & reviews in your app?