Developers of apps on the Android platform will now be able to respond to criticisms as well create dialogue with users regarding their creations on the Google Play Store.
The announcement made on the Android developers blog highlighted the need for ensuring user impact and getting new ideas and features through engagement.
Ellie Powers, of the Google Play team, said: “There are a lot of great things a developer can do to promote their app, but the best way for your app to take off is when a really happy user tells their friend about your app, who tells their friend, who tells someone else — you get the picture.
“That’s why it’s always been a priority for us to strengthen that conversation between developers and their users. Google Play is now connected with Google+, and by associating reviews with an identity, the quality of reviews has increased tremendously (in addition to letting users find reviews they trust).”
According to the company developer replies will be shown publicly below the corresponding user reviews with users receiving email notifications.
Developers will also be able to answer through emails to individual users.
The service that has previously only been available to some developers, which the company said has enabled the creators to develop strong relationships with their users as well as improve their apps.
The feature is also beneficial to users as they are easily alerted where their problems are resolved while to developers it helps the identify and prioritize bugs based on user impact.
Above all the service allows developers get new ideas for improvement and thank users.
“Conversations are meant to be two-sided, and facilitating discussion between developers and users will ultimately yield better apps, to the benefit of everyone,” added Powers.
