Almost nobody is rating my app.

[reissgo]

I have recently released a game called "tangle twister" to the market.
I have spent a little on admob advertising so now have 650 downloads.
But only two people have rated it so far. I wonder if I'm doing
something wrong to get so few ratings.
At the moment I bring up a prompt for the user to rate after they have
run the app at least three times and have just completed a level
higher than three (very easy). I only prompt if there is currently an
internet connection.There is also a "Rate" option that appears if the
users press the menu button during game play.

I guess there are a few possibilities:

A) I have a bug in the code which results in me seeing the prompt, but
other users not seeing it.
B) The wording on the prompt is not encouraging enough.
C) People simply don't like the app and never play long enough to get
the prompt.
D) I have made some market configuration error which results in
ratings being lost.
E) 2 out of 650 is actually what I should expect for this type of
game.
F) Something else.

Any ideas?

[droidski]

To be honest, the "conversion"-rate ( 2 / 650 ) isn't too odd when looking at the resuls of large marketing campaigns. I wouldn't necessarily think that people don't LIKE your app (you can judge this for yourself by comparing the active installs with the actual installs in the Google developer console, but more that they can't be bothered to comment.

It might be an issue with wording as it isn't engaging enough. Point D doesn't seem to be case as you at least have 2 ratings registered, which should point that the service is working. Perhaps the issue lies in the prompt only showing when an active connection is available as most mobile users (at least me) keep their connections off to spare battery life. You could prompt the user regardless of connection and store the result in local storage / database and silently check for unsent feedback in the database each time your application starts when the user IS connected.

Can you specify HOW the users rate ? Is it an input field or a simple click-one-star-of-these-five-presented-type of thing ? Is the actual answer interface hidden / does it require a confirmation from the user before showing it ? Reduce the steps necessary and people are easier tempted to participate.

[Giorgi]

Make sure that the prompt is not annoying.