Amazon has recently introduced their app store, to the chagrin of Apple, to the android platform. To peak interests and have consumers try them out they give away an app a day. The first app? Angry Birds Rio. #win! Various reviews said how excited they were and how great the game was. The new introduction to the app store was a hit.
How ever all that is free is not gold…..or rather all that glitters is not the best…. It’s gone down hill.
It seems that beggars can be choosers. More often than not the “free app of the day” averages 3 stars out of 5 due to various issues. But the two biggest and consistent issues are quality control and developer hutzpah.
An example of this is Taskpad. Taskpad sets out to organize your life in a simple and easy manner enabling you to be the super hero that you are.
“This app is not worth being free. Sorry Amazon you wasted your time getting this one.”
Ouch. Amazon has built a strong trusted brand name. People rely on them to vet the products they put up for purchase. In fact, if you are being sold through amazon people are more likely to automatically trust you or your product. Which is why the free app of the day is so important. It is how amazon presents itself to the android community. When it is a good app such as angry birds rio or business calendar, amazon’s brand cache goes up. However, when it is a “bad” app such as Taskpad or Newsweek Mobile it reflects badly on amazon.
Amazon is vouching for the quality and usability of products they sponsor. When people download these apps and the quality is not there they are upset. They trusted amazon to deliver something that would at the bare minimum – work.
Another #fail point was the developer. People don’t like to be lied to. In fact, they really hate it.
“You’ll notice that this app is pretty much rated five stars or one star which means the developer is writing a lot of fake over hyped reviews. Pathetic. Don’t even download for free as you’ll give this lazy and uncreative developer 20% of the jacked up, way too high for a crappy app, purchase price. Booooooo. Boooooo. Shame on this dev.”
Now, who is to know whether that is true or not? Maybe people genuinely love the app and they cannot live without it. However, that doesn’t matter the majority (112 at the writing of this) believe that the app deserves 1 start and many of those think the dev lied and used tricks to get the 5 star ratings he does have.
As a business owner it is incumbent on you to defend your brand. As the dev in this situation you could have:
1. Not lied to your customers or even appeared to have told an untruth. Need I explain further?
2. Ensure to set and manage expectations. Have you ever bought a “gadget” that promised the world including to cool dinner. And it didn’t? How disappointed were you? Compare that to a “gadget” that says it will type your emails and does it flawlessly.
3.Communicate with the customers. In case something does go wrong and they are unhappy. Have a conversation. Have two! But make sure they know you are listening.
What would you have done? Mountain out of a mole hill?
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