Practitioner pattern · David Barnard (RevenueCat)
Ask for a star rating during onboarding, before people really use the app
Low-quality apps reach 4.9 stars vs 4.5 for a carefully built app; ratings become a poor signal
Workedasoonboarding
What they did
Apps show the rating prompt inside onboarding, so a large volume of new users tap five stars and submit without caring. Written reviews are much harder to game; one-star written reviews vs five-star ratings is a better quality ratio (Ariel from Appfigures).
What happened
Inflates ratings to ~4.9 stars; David calls star ratings a gamed, poor quality signal.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · The Bootstrapper's Path to $10M ARR – Andrew Maguire, Volo Ventures“when you ask in onboarding and you prompt write, you just get a volume of people who just don't even care and hit the five star and hit submit”
Related topics
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