Let's talk about something that is overlooked by most companies, small and big, but is one of the most powerful tools in Mobile Gaming: User Reviews in Google Play. In fact, I would regard these reviews as the single most important feature that a Producer can have.
That surely is some hyperbole, you might be thinking. Let me try and convince you why I think this way.
1. User Reviews are indexed for keywords
Google Play is mining the user reviews (but not the developer replies) for common keywords so they can be used as an eligibility source for search traffic. Now think about this: How often do you think developers would use valuable keyword space in titles or subtitles, claiming to be the 'best' or 'great' game of its kind, and how many users would leave a review just stating that this is the best game they have played? You can imagine already why most of the fluff words will not give any ASO marketer any traction simply because of the power of the masses.
But here's the even better one: You are, by Google Play's terms of service, not allowed to use competition and brand names. Some supposedly clever copywriters will of course talk about the clans clashing in a royale fashion and see how the beach goes boom, and that can have some success, but ultimately, you will have a lot of users comparing your game to competition, using not only their branded name but also their common abbreviations, localized names and reinforce your position in this genre.
And the real booster of this is the algorithm then comparing your app KPI - review score, conversion to install, retention, revenue, crashalytics stats - to other games and builds its Similar App compilations and 'Games you might like' suggestion lists. Having a positively engaged user review community will supercharge your browse traffic!
2. User Reviews provide Pain Analytics
Obviously, we talk about the layman's version of crash analytics here; Google Play Dev Console provides more detailed app crashing analysis in language that only programmers might understand, but for producers, business owners and other non-technical staff, the ability to see at a glance the reviews based on device models can give a quick and actionable overview. You can either exclude these devices from download eligibility - the simple, yet effective way - and have your QA department analyse certain device models specifically to find out what the heck is wrong with Asus Zenfones!!.
At the same page, you can find out in which language and country you will get the worst reviews, helping you to identify areas to look at localization quality, adaption potential for markets at a local level and get the sentiment of entire regions towards your app. You cannot possibly imagine what you'll find out for your first iteration of having an Arabic language setting in the game!
3. User Reviews will raise your Review Score
Well, who would have thought, right? Let me elaborate: Asking for reviews will raise your score - that is a better way to look at it. And it's fairly obvious: User Reviews come from motivation to write them, and if you don't ask for those, you will be at the whim of those who feel compelled intrinsically to let developers know about their emotions. And chances are that those are naturally more negative: The app is crashing, the money-part feels oppressive (read my 7 Sins of Monetization article here), they don't find opponents to play with (Why Multiplayer F2P Games Struggle) and a myriad of other reasons. However, if you show users how they can help shaping your game, helping the developers and that players' voices are heard, you'll motivate a lot of more positive-minded users in such large quantity that they will iron out fluctuations in review score from naysayers and stabilize scores at a high level.
See how this game dipped on launch featuring before implementing review prompts, and how it performs against similar apps (displayed as dotted)?
So how do you best implement review prompts?
In my experience, the moment of prompting users for drafting a review is somewhere in the 2nd session after a positive event along the user story. This can be after obtaining really nice loot, winning a tough boss fight, completing an achievement or something similar applicable to your type of game. You must not bribe users with incentives for a specific review but it's perfectly acceptable to utilize a positive state of emotions.
Why not asking for a review in the first session when the pool of users is even greater and not yet affected by the 50% or more drop due to various churn issues? Simple: Google Play will feature apps occasionally, and this - while nice - exposes your app to a lot of users that are not your target audience - they like games that are more easy or hard, a graphics style differing from yours, less or more time commitment necessity and plentiful other reasons. You probably would not like those random, explorative users writing reviews for your app as they don't represent your community and thus would taint the picture unfavorably.
When you implement review prompts, be smart about it. 'Would you like to leave a review?' is a nice question but really is a bit boring. 'Help us with your suggestions about $Game' is a better phrase if you know already that your product is not up-to-par yet but still involves players as a positive force that leverages helpfulness. 'How do you like the latest update' works well in combinations with re-targeting campaigns for a limited time, aimed at users who have never pressed that review button according to your event analytics. Find your own style, try to support your prompt conversion with UI design - as simple as using Later instead of No, or green Yes buttons but gray negative reply (as opposed to red as an alarmist color), and reap the rewards of this incredibly powerful yet simple secret!