Every now and again I click through on that to leave a shitty review as a disincentive to a) annoy me with a dumb pop up every time I use the app and b) dark pattern it such that I only get sent to the app store if I give you a positive review.
I get to the review page and have to sign in/up/whatever and I can't be bothered, even with all that spite motivating me. I sure as heck am not going to as a way of being nice about a product especially when I know reviews have such a short half life to an even slightly actively updated app.
Basically I have never written an app store review - and I think that means the first one is a hassle. I suspect most people are in the same boat and when faced with a form to fill in before you can do a quick review will move on to something they care about more.
I just wanted to suggest that despite a relatively strong motivator - I don't complete. So my motivation may be an outlier but I suspect my experience of "eh, can't be bothered" is less so.
Generally I now get the iTunes url on my PC, send it to my phone and open it in safari so it opens the app store. It's actually faster that way.
Once you determine that, try showing those users a modal that says something like, are you enjoying "my product", with yes and no answers. If no, ask if they would like to provide feedback so you can make their experience better. If yes, ask if they could rate your app.
I've found that by using this method you, a) show the cta to users that matter, b) get feedback from frustrated users, and c) get positive ratings from people who have expressed a positive intent.
GL
I often need to re-authenticate to download a new app (irrespective of cost). I always need to re-authenticate to leave a review.
We've tried plenty ways to make this happen:
1. append a footer in the email asking for a review Finding: People ignore it.
2. include custom copy in the emails asking for a review People say yes yes, and then most do nothing.
3. The annoying rate us with stars popup and redirect to appstore. People rate 5 stars inapp, and then close down the AppStore before they apply a rating
Getting reviews is hard for b2c - but the real issue at work is the amount of friction AppStore imposes. I've tried to leave reviews and it asks me to re-sign in to the AppStore, minimum character requirements (can't just leave 5 stars).