Find the smallest audience you can serve well
Define the task your app solves and recruit people who encounter it. A habit tracker for shift workers needs different early users from a general productivity tool. Give those users accurate screenshots and an easy support route. Track first-task completion before counting store stars; people who cannot reach the useful part of the app have little experience to evaluate.
Request an opinion after meaningful use
Use the platform-supported request flow after a relevant milestone rather than immediately after installation. Let the user decline and continue normally. Do not offer credits, premium access or prizes for a public review. Record request attempts separately from visible prompts and actual store ratings, because the operating system decides whether a review prompt appears.
Measure a process you can improve
Review support themes, retained usage and changes in ratings by version and territory. A rising rating count is not proof that your invitation caused every new review. Avoid setting staff incentives around a minimum star score. Instead assign work to resolve recurring defects, retest changes and improve task completion. A good research report can reveal why the next release should perform better.
A first app ratings plan with separate measures
Write the first useful journey and the independent review-request moment beside your goal. Record eligible journeys, request attempts and published store counts separately; the store may not expose every intermediate event. Keep a product-change log and note acquisition changes during the same period. If you use a feedback community, approved reports and optional community stars belong in separate columns. Treat a goal such as one hundred ratings as a desired outcome, not a purchased deliverable or a deadline your team can guarantee.
Working example
A fictional first-month plan: invite twenty relevant users to a supported beta, fix the two most common blockers and release the revised build. Introduce a voluntary request after a completed core task. Review ratings alongside support and retention each week. Twenty users and a hundred-rating goal are planning inputs; they are not a forecast or a promise of conversion.
Your next steps
- Define one audience and one useful outcome.
- Fix the first-run blockers before scaling acquisition.
- Keep rating requests voluntary and unrewarded.
- Track usage, support and ratings as separate signals.
Official sources
Sources checked October 4, 2026. Review the current provider documentation before acting on requirements.
Turn the next test into something useful.
Publish a focused brief on RateMyApp. Credits fund approved private reports; public store reviews are voluntary and unrewarded.
List your app for feedback