If you are an Android developer, you can now directly reply to your Google Play Store apps’ reviews. Back in June, Google allowed Android developers to directly reply to reviews on Google Play. Unfortunately, the ability to do so was restricted to those who had achieved “Top Developer” status on the platform. Now Google is rolling out the ability to everybody.
Allowing developers to respond to their reviewers is important for a number of reasons. First, it gives developers the ability to defend themselves from false reviews, and the associated negative impact that they may cause. Secondly, it provides developers a way to provide additional troubleshooting information to their customers.
Often times, a would-be customer uses app reviews as a final deciding factor before downloading or purchasing an app, this is why having quality reviews and feedback is important. Adding the ability for all developers to comment back is just taking things to the next level as far as quality control is concerned.
To further help improve the transparency in Google Play reviews, Google has also started tying reviews to Google+ accounts, and with the added support for developers to be able to provide feedback to criticism or concerns, the Google Store reviews are sure to be a healthier place.
Overall, the developers are seeing this as a welcome move by Google, which allows their ‘review conversations’ to become bi-directional, while bringing more transparency on the table.
