Developer customer support teams can now respond to App Store reviews

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion
Apple on Monday announced a new iTunes Connect feature that allows developer customer support teams to respond to submitted App Store reviews.




Announced through Apple's Developer web portal, the new Customer Support role in iTunes Connect grants support team access to the tools they need to interact with customers leaving reviews through the App Store. Previously, only individuals with admin access were able to respond directly to reviews.

Developers with admin privileges can assign the role to users in combination with other iTunes Connect roles. Those granted Customer Support access will be privy to Resources and Help, Users and Roles, and My Apps in iTunes Connect, Apple says.

Within the iTunes Connect interface, Customer Support roles will be automatically directed to "Ratings and Reviews" when they click on the "My Apps" tab. From there, users can respond to posted reviews, as seen in the above image.

Apple is merging two former roles, Manager and Marketer, into the new Customer Support role. Users who previously held those roles prior to July 13 will be automatically moved over to Customer Support.

A long-requested App Store feature, developer responses to App Store reviews first arrived as part of the StoreKit API released with iOS 10.3. The toolset was announced in January and saw public release in March.

The response mechanism adds a layer of personalization to App Store interactions. For example, when a developer -- and now Customer Support role -- files a response, a notification is sent out to the user who posted the original comment, who then has an opportunity to update their feedback.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    shapetablesshapetables Posts: 201member
    Thank you for you valuable feedback. A very good time we want you to have with our codes and wares and are so-sorry for your discomfort. Please feel free to reach out to us again to receive the exact same dispassionate response.
    macseekerairnerdzroger73jbdragonjony0SpamSandwich
  • Reply 2 of 14
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,727member
    It's either that or using some manipulative language to spin it to the rest of the folks reading. 

    All Apple has done here is to provide developers with a manipulative PR mechanism. 

    It it would be better if the dev response was direct to customer email. And the customer then had the opportunity to update. 

    Customers want ant to read reviews by other CUSTOMERS. Not read some copy that is intent on either spin, the standard "we are so sorry. We will make it up to you. See how awesome we are for taking the two seconds out of our day to save face?", or flat out manipulation. 

    Reviews should be a safe haven for customers, both satisfied and disgruntled. 

    All Apple has done here is copy what the also-tabs do. And they seem to be picking up steam on that. Would be nice for Apple to regrow some new convictions and put their foot down. 
    edited July 2017
  • Reply 3 of 14
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    shapetables said:
    Please feel free to reach out to us again to receive the exact same dispassionate response.
    Or... Please feel free to reach out to our nonexistent contact information, or visit our nonexistent website. :)

    Hey, at least until the dev-auto-response-bots get built, it *might* give us some indication of whether a human out there somewhere even gives a rip about the app any longer.
    jbdragon
  • Reply 4 of 14
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    In my experience I've never once been contacted back when I have gone through the Apps "Contact Us" support email, so why would they take the time to read reviews and respond?  

    I could see this being good for the garage coder struggling to get an app out to the market, but the most used apps (with the most reviews) won't get any attention from Dev's.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    zroger73zroger73 Posts: 787member
    I thought this was already a thing? Over a month ago, a developer responded to a review I wrote for an app. I even received a notification stating such.
    pscooter63
  • Reply 6 of 14
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,728member
    Just my 2 cents ...  This can work well with hardware if the company cares about PR and a good company surely should.  On Amazon's feed back section I've twice posted a negative experience (out of hundreds of good ones).  Both times the manufacturers responded and offered to fix the problem very quickly.  The most recent was a small D'Addario digital guitar tuner that fits inside the sound hole and the clip was far too brittle and would snap off.  I'd bought two and they sent me two new ones with a better made clip within a week.   That said software is a totally different thing to deal with and therein lies a can of worms as more often than not software problems can be users own fault although less so on iOS than macOS as it is far more tightly controlled.  All of the above is preferable in many cases to well meaning ignoramuses posting solutions to problems that are totally incorrect as happens so often on the Apple iOS and macOS support pages where sadly many assume they are receiving official Apple replies, which they are not.
    edited July 2017 mike1zroger73pscooter63
  • Reply 7 of 14
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,881member
    I've also had customer support fix a problem on Amazon via the reviews section. So take what you will...as always, it depends on the quality of the vendor
  • Reply 8 of 14
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,728member
    StrangeDays said:
    I've also had customer support fix a problem on Amazon via the reviews section. So take what you will...as always, it depends on the quality of the vendor
    Exactly and one can but hope those that respond well will thrive and those that don't get weeded out by ongoing, unresolved negative comments.  Law of the Blog Jungle 101.  lol
  • Reply 9 of 14
    zroger73zroger73 Posts: 787member
    MacPro said:
    Just my 2 cents ...  This can work well with hardware if the company cares about PR and a good company surely should.  On Amazon's feed back section I've twice posted a negative experience (out of hundreds of good ones).  Both times the manufacturers responded and offered to fix the problem very quickly.  The most recent was a small D'Addario digital guitar tuner that fits inside the sound hole and the clip was far too brittle and would snap off.  I'd bought two and they sent me two new ones with a better made clip within a week.   That said software is a totally different thing to deal with and therein lies a can of worms as more often than not software problems can be users own fault although less so on iOS than macOS as it is far more tightly controlled.  All of the above is preferable in many cases to well meaning ignoramuses posting solutions to problems that are totally incorrect as happens so often on the Apple iOS and macOS support pages where sadly many assume they are receiving official Apple replies, which they are not.
    Agreed.

    1. I bought a Shave Well shaving mirror a few years ago and gave it a less-than-5-star review due to chipping coating. The president of the company immediately sent me two more for free without any action on my part along with a suggestion on how to prevent the issue in the future. The suggestion worked and I changed my review to 5 stars. #CustomerForLife

    2. I bought some LED bulbs for my microwave that I wasn't impressed with. After posting an honest review, the company refunded my purchase - again, with no action on my part. #FairEnough

    3. I bought a weather station from Ambient Weather. They couldn't care less about the low review I gave them due to lockups and a faulty rain sensor. #NeverAgain


  • Reply 10 of 14
    danuffdanuff Posts: 33member
    About damn time. We developers felt helpless when some moron gave an app a bad review just to give it a negative review. Way to go, Apple!
    jony0SpamSandwich
  • Reply 11 of 14
    OutdoorAppDeveloperOutdoorAppDeveloper Posts: 1,293member
    Great! Now perhaps Apple can stop hiding all reviews every time we release a minor update to our apps. That discourages users from writing reviews and developers from releasing updates. If Apple is concerned about developers gaming the system, give developers reputation points based on how many apps they have in the app store and how long they have played by the rules, left decent bug reports and generally been good citizens of the app ecosystem. That way developers with good reputation can get perks like being able to edit their app store content (screenshots, videos, etc.) between versions and keep their app reviews unless they choose to hide them.
    jony0SpamSandwich
  • Reply 12 of 14
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    grangerfx said:
    Great! Now perhaps Apple can stop hiding all reviews every time we release a minor update to our apps. ... That way developers with good reputation can get perks like being able to edit their app store content (screenshots, videos, etc.) between versions and keep their app reviews unless they choose to hide them.
    Sometimes it is handy to see just what's happened recently, and what the user reaction is. But, I don't get why they picked to display that as the default. It should be all reviews (by default), and then if you want to see the most recent, pick that.
    jony0SpamSandwich
  • Reply 13 of 14
    jony0jony0 Posts: 378member
    9secondkox2 said:
    Customers want ant to read reviews by other CUSTOMERS. Not read some copy that is intent on either spin, the standard "we are so sorry. We will make it up to you. See how awesome we are for taking the two seconds out of our day to save face?", or flat out manipulation. 
    Notice the indent of the response and clearly identifiable bold title Developer Response ?
    Skip over the response (or spin) and move on. Problem solved. You're welcome.
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