How we helped Virgin Media dramatically improve their app ratings
The Virgin Media WiFi app lets you auto-connect to more than 22,000 WiFi hotspots in popular places around the UK. It's incredibly useful for customers as it saves their data costs and provides them with an overall better experience. However, the product managers for mobile data and WiFi at Virgin Media Marie Ahsun and Jason Pantelis realised they weren't receiving as many good reviews as they were hoping for. Virgin Media's research found that 59% of people usually or always check ratings before downloading an app, so they knew they needed to improve this and improve it fast! Marie and Jason asked us to help dramatically improve the app ratings.
The introduction of in-app ratings prompts
We used triggers which indicated that the user was having a good experience in the app and these would be used to find the appropriate time for a review prompt to pop up. The triggers were if the user:
Opened the app ten times; the prompt would appear after a 15 second delay
Clicked the map markers three times; the prompt would appear after a five second delay
Clicked 'show password' two times; the prompt would appear after a 15 second delay
Clicked 'my location' three times; the prompt would appear after a five second delay
Used the map search feature three times; the prompt would appear after a five second delay
The delays were so the prompts didn't become irritating to the user. The rating request then wouldn't appear again for another three months. If the user had positive feedback they would be directed to the App Store and Google Play, if they had negative feedback they would be directed back to the internal teams. This meant that consumers had an outlet to express frustrations which were kept internal rather than publicised on app stores and social media. Typically companies give just the option for positive feedback but Virgin Media also wanted to learn from any negative feedback too so they could improve their service.
Why they worked
All of the triggers were actions which users performed when they were having a good experience. This means we were asking them to write a review when they were the happiest using the app.
The results
In just 17 weeks the app rating increased from 1.9 to 4.2 for iOS.
For Android the old version of the app had an average rating of 2.10 and the new version of the app now has a rating of 4. Results for Android were not as steep as for iOS due to the high number of ratings already held currently.
If you're looking to improve your app ratings, get in touch with us todayand hear how we can help you!
