How to reply to comments?

[harbaum]

Is there any way to get in contact with commenters? I e.g. have a comment where a user complains that something is not working as it should be. I'd really like to ask that person what his exact problem is. Is that possible?

Till

[balagopalks]

AFAIK, Ovi Store doesnt provide the functionality to contact / reply back to reviews or comments in the Store. But if your app does have a support contact mail id, the user could contact you directly.

Regards
Gopal

[harbaum]

It has my email and the entry at OVI also has. So yes, that user could easily have contacted me, but he didn't ...

[pixsta]

It has my email and the entry at OVI also has. So yes, that user could easily have contacted me, but he didn't ...

That's common behavior. Only a very little percentage of users use the visible email address to contact us. It would be more convenient to offer some kind of form where the customer does not have to start an external email client to send a message.

[Tiger54]

AFAIK, Ovi Store doesnt provide the functionality to contact / reply back to reviews or comments in the Store. But if your app does have a support contact mail id, the user could contact you directly.

This is a common problem, OVI store is not a good store since now, in much classifications, Nokia is on the 4th-5th place. There is a lot to do, to make them the number1! At the moment the best app store is the one from Microsoft.

The users who write here, are providing a lot of feedbacks.

In my personal case, with 10.000 downloads, only 13 comments, and oft the users give a comment because the app doesn't work like expected. Only 2-3 write me an email to ask something.

Please make this store a little bit more comfortable for developers!

[balagopalks]

@Tiger54, Thank you for the feedback. I will share the same with Store Publisher Support team .

Regards
Gopal

[tamhanna]

Hi,
this has been partially adressed - at least, users are now known when an upodate comes out.

Regarding targeting individuals, you can not do much. Always, you can google the name - if someone calls himself sexy_girly on Ovi, he will likely not call himself ugly_fat on Facebook. This has helped me track down one or two interesting folks.

Alternatively, if you are NOT based in the US, buy any Nokia phone which can do Qt on Ovi, and get a second account, buy youzr app and respond. Not the best option, but it works.

P.S: You arent the till harbaum from Palm fame, are you?

[Tiger54]

Hi,
this has been partially adressed - at least, users are now known when an upodate comes out.

Regarding targeting individuals, you can not do much. Always, you can google the name - if someone calls himself sexy_girly on Ovi, he will likely not call himself ugly_fat on Facebook. This has helped me track down one or two interesting folks.

Alternatively, if you are NOT based in the US, buy any Nokia phone which can do Qt on Ovi, and get a second account, buy youzr app and respond. Not the best option, but it works.

P.S: You arent the till harbaum from Palm fame, are you?

I already searched him, but I didnt found him :P

Yes, I can ask for some developers key, give them to my friends, so they can install the app for free and so I can reply to all users that have some troubles :P But it is a overwork. It would be better if Nokia can implement a little forum or a reporting system, so the developer can reply. A developer does not need to know the email, but should have the possibility to reply to this user.

Till Harbaum? Do you mean me? Or Balagopalks? I am Adriano (same name on ovi-store developers )

[tamhanna]

Hi Tiger,
no - I meant the user harbaum, who started the thread.

Regarding finding the users: I would want it, too. But IMHO, it isnt even in Apple, who is considered Gold Standard...

[Andrew Nokia]

Hi Harbaum and all,

Note that the review boards is meant to provide feedback for not only the quality of the application but also the quality of the Ovi Store as a whole. It is not meant to be utilized as a troubleshooting channel and due to the privacy agreement held between Nokia and our Ovi customers, we are unable to disclose any personal information to publishers to contact them directly. The purpose is to alert users of the potential issues that may arise for either the installation process or the downloading process. This is to prevent the increment of download/installation failure rates and further customer care issues that may arise for future customers.

The support website and email are displayed alongside your application should the user wish to get in contact with you; otherwise, you are sadly unable to reach out to them directly.

Andrew

[tamhanna]

Hi Harbaum and all,

Note that the review boards is meant to provide feedback for not only the quality of the application but also the quality of the Ovi Store as a whole. It is not meant to be utilized as a troubleshooting channel and due to the privacy agreement held between Nokia and our Ovi customers, we are unable to disclose any personal information to publishers to contact them directly. The purpose is to alert users of the potential issues that may arise for either the installation process or the downloading process. This is to prevent the increment of download/installation failure rates and further customer care issues that may arise for future customers.

The support website and email are displayed alongside your application should the user wish to get in contact with you; otherwise, you are sadly unable to reach out to them directly.

Andrew

Read: buy yourself a cheap second phone with WiFi, get a second Ovi Account and write comments in response. Works flawlessly

[Andrew Nokia]

Read: buy yourself a cheap second phone with WiFi, get a second Ovi Account and write comments in response. Works flawlessly

I would advise our publishers if you choose to employ this method to only remind the users of the troubleshooting channels available to them. Providing troubleshooting support directly devalues the point of having a review board in the first place and gives our users no accurate information on the quality of your application.

Andrew

[Tiger54]

It is impossible for the user to know what you say. They will always ask for something and it is frustrating for me to reply. Sometimes I write to 50 facebook-users with the same name :P

I can understand that you don't want spend a lot of times on an app store that sucks (because in some months you will probably use the one from Microsoft). But why not improve it a little bit, with some simple functions?

If you don't want let us reply to the users, you have to write it clearly:
"DO NOT ASK ANYTHING IN THE COMMENT, BECUASE WE DON'T ALLOW THE DEVELOPER TO CONTACT YOU". This will help alot! And is more usefull than the text on the top: "this app will probabily download additional 13MB".

Write something like: "IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, FEEDBACKS, TROUBLES WITH THIS APP, PLEASE WRITE AN EMAIL TO:xxxx. USE THIS COMMENT SECTION ONLY TO PROVIDE YOUR OPINION"

[tamhanna]

I would advise our publishers if you choose to employ this method to only remind the users of the troubleshooting channels available to them. Providing troubleshooting support directly devalues the point of having a review board in the first place and gives our users no accurate information on the quality of your application.

Andrew

Sorry, Andrew, but I disagree here.

It is a publishers job to watch over his OWN corporate success, and not the one of Nokia. So it is perfectly understandable and morally correct to do answer to feedback - at least IMHO.