| page.title=The Economist Espresso Increases Ratings by Launching Rating Requests |
| page.metaDescription=The Economist improves ratings through user participation. |
| page.tags="developerstory", "apps", "googleplay" |
| page.image=images/cards/distribute/stories/economist-espresso.png |
| page.timestamp=null |
| |
| @jd:body |
| |
| |
| <h3>Background</h3> |
| |
| <div class="figure"> |
| <img src="{@docRoot}images/distribute/stories/economist-espresso-icon.png" /> |
| </div> |
| |
| <p> |
| <a class="external-link" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.economist"> |
| The Economist</a> launched the |
| <a class="external-link" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.economist.darwin"> |
| Espresso</a> app in November 2014. Espresso offers a morning briefing from the editors of The |
| Economist, six days a week. Delivered to readers’ mobile phones first thing in the morning, it |
| provides an overview of the global agenda for the coming day. It informs readers about what to |
| look out for in business, finance, and politics, and most importantly, what to make of it. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| While the app received a lot of positive feedback from users on traditional customer support |
| channels, it received less feedback through direct app reviews. The Economist decided to run |
| tests to increase app reviews, resulting in improved ratings. |
| |
| <h3>What they did</h3> |
| |
| <p> |
| In April 2016, The Economist began testing to determine if asking for reviews would improve |
| user participation. They introduced rating requests into the app whereby users received a |
| notification asking them to rate the app while using it. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| They prompted only users who had fully experienced the app, notifying those who had read more |
| than 25 articles after using it for more than a week. The prompt text was branded: |
| <em>Are you enjoying the Economist Espresso?</em> Upon clicking <em>yes</em>, the user was |
| taken to the Google Play store to review and rate the app. |
| |
| <h3>Results</h3> |
| |
| <p> |
| By capturing readers’ feedback in the Play store, The Economist was able to share the goodwill |
| and positive sentiment, <strong>further increasing its star rating and the number of app |
| installs</strong>. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| After just one week following the launch of rating requests, The Espresso app's star rating |
| increased by 5%, with <strong>the average number of ratings received growing 40 times</strong>. |
| </p> |
| |
| <h3>Get started</h3> |
| |
| <p> |
| Find out more about |
| <a class="external-link" href="https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/138230"> |
| ratings and reviews</a>. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| Get best practices for news publishers in |
| <a class="external-link" href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Google_Inc_The_News_Publisher_Playbook_for_Android?id=O7T3CwAAQBAJ&hl=en_GB&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign"> |
| The News Publisher Playbook (for Android development)</a>. |
| </p> |