Report on the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Abstract of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

            A larger number of mobile users exist in the world who are always using online services by downloading different kinds of applications as well as by using different kinds of websites. The study’s major concern is to examine the effects, to explore all possible characteristics of online customer reviews (OCR) as well as to investigate the relationship between such variables. Furthermore, it is also conducted for the analysis of online customer review but online mobile app users are the most significant components who download the apps and play a major role in making the business successful by increasing reviews and increasing online traffic too. OCR is also considered as the open-ended posts which are very difficult to measure. The study is conducted for the contribution in the policymaking by providing them significant information related to OCR as well as the policymaker can also adopt several different types of policies for the advertisements and marketing for their businesses. Furthermore, the study also effectively investigates the major effects of downloading mobile applications. A brief literature study is also conducted that provides related studies and works. The conceptual framework provided in the study is also providing information about how the views and what will be consumer ratings and also showing the developer and environment. Some data is collected through questionnaires that the information is provided in the tables and charts.

The impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Introduction of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

In this chapter, it has been explained the detailed introduction of the research sector and the context of the study. It has been begun by giving background information about eWOM which has been surveyed by the problem statement, objective, scope and detailed explanation of the research method which has been utilized. Moreover, it has been ended by giving managerial and academic association of the research study and outline of the forthcoming chapters. In this regard, the individual is now free for having interference through the online systems to share and collect information about services and products mainly. Moreover, online customer rating can be assessed, the numerical form of eWOM which decrease the information of asymmetry for the recent strengthful customers which have been presented on the internet and have been expected to influential sales. Due to this, most of the researches were examined the efficiency of demand but it is still not vibrant the degree in which their valence, volume, and diffusion affect product sales (Valle, 2016).

Background of the study of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

WOM is one of the most significant ways of knowledge affecting customer’s behavior and their vision as well. Then modification with their attitude while developing and buying decisions. This topic has been widely studied since the early era of the 50s. moreover, an overall agreement which is related to decisions of customer’s journey is one of the most valid and consistent ways of knowledge for consumer and can be reached. Appreciation and greetings for technological advancement. As well as WOM has been expelled from physical to digital universe. (Barreto, 2015).

In the current situation, the internet makes their customers able to share and transfer their information and access knowledge about services and products which sanction them to take advantage of its scalability, concealment and availability speed of research and, range of formats and other related characteristics has been modified with the nature of WOM provide enhancement for those individuals which done online interferences along with the purpose to collect and share the information about various services and products. Moreover, the significance of understanding eWOM was aroused for organizations and the academic society would easily be followed and quantify (Cheung, 2012).

Reviews and ratings of online customers are the kinds of design of eWOM to decrease the knowledge asymmetry and maybe helped to reduce the threat of purchasing unidentified products that are related to the internet. Their significance and wide acceptance have mainly been due to the revolutionary role of amazon are in the proceeding, compiling and presenting this kind of knowledge on their website since 1995. Furthermore, OCR and OCR and had been become the conventional within the site of social networking, in this regard some of the discussion has been made with the platform of and topic-related societies and it is quite complex for both product brands and some of the website’s valuable intentions. As well as knowledge about their offers quality and products which promote competition among organization  (King, 2014).

Some of the smart applications in specific and has been changed individual’s life and they have now become an international source of obtaining information, entertainment and value which has been developed and available by the providers of tech services. As well as the customers of the united states for a moment has been enhanced their availability in mobile apps from the fewer five and greater than seven times per day and it has been observed among 2012 to 2013. It is although quite unpredictable in the era of 2015 and the universal sale has been seen which is related to the sale of various mobile apps and has been probable which has been reached up to the amount of US$38 billion. Furthermore, apple store and Google Play are the two most significant players of the market (Chen, 2008).

In the first half of 2013, it has been mentioned that google paly gives almost 700.000 apps and has been verified more than 25 billion in the downloads, obtaining the growth of 90% within the revenue. Generally, the analysis mainly pays emphasis in the analysis of the influence of OCR on the performance of apps in this one of the most essential distributions of mobile apps along with the platform for android and they have been present more than 80% from the overall app store of markets which has been shared for some of the android operating system  (Brynjolfsson, 2003).

The quick growth of mobile networks and smartphones has been altered in daily routine. One of the most significant factors is that it contains to the propagation and smartphones is the consistent app market. Moreover, as it has been observing through a survey which has been held by the firm which has been based on Chicago. In this regard 35% percent of users which has been using smartphone apps that have been associated with it. In this regard, some of the positive interference has been made which is related to the market of smartphone apps and has been advanced the distribution of smartphones in the market of universal telecommunication (Kim, 2013).

Appreciation and greetings for technological advancement. As well as WOM has been expelled from physical to digital universe. Their significance and wide acceptance have mainly been due to the revolutionary role of amazon are in the proceeding, compiling and presenting this kind of knowledge on their website since 1995. apps and has been verified more than 25 billion in the downloads, obtaining the growth of 90% within the revenue. Generally, the analysis mainly pays emphasis on the analysis of the influence of OCR on the performance of apps in this one of the most essential distributions of mobile apps (Statista, 2015a).

Research aims and objectives of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

There are several research objectives of this study that will be attained in the various section of this study. These objectives are important to highlight the major point of this study. It also answers the numerous question of the study. The major aim of this research study is to examine the impacts of the online reviews on mobile app downloads and it also investigates that how the mobile app download can be affected or influenced by the various features and aspects. It also examines the potential moderating effects on the characteristics of the products.  There are various other objectives of this study and these are;

·         To examine the impacts of the OCR (online consumer reviews) on the mobile app downloads.

·         To explores the characteristics of the OCR (online consumer reviews) along with its impacts.

·         To investigates the relationship among both of these variables.

Research Questions of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Several research questions will be answered un the remaining parts of the research study. All of these parts of the research study can easily highlight and evaluates the objectives of the research. These questions are developed to measures the impacts of online customer reviews on mobile app downloads. These questions are;

What are the impacts of the OCR (online consumer reviews) on mobile app downloads?

What are the characteristics of the OCR (online consumer reviews) along with its impacts?

What is the relationship between both of these variables?

Research Significance of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

The major focus of this study is on the analysis of online customer reviews because it is one of the most important and major elements to analyze mobile app downloads. These variables are also analyzed in this study in good ways because they are publically accessible as well as measurable. OCR is considered as the open-ended posts that are difficult to measure. The said study significantly contributes to the literature review by offering its ideas related to the reviews of online customers. This study significantly contributes to the knowledge of the policymakers to adopt the various strategies of advertising and marketing in this field. This study can be effective to analyze the impacts of downloading apps and mobile apps.  

Literature Review of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Zhou & Duan (2012) determine that customers tend to search and find information about the quality of the product before they make a purchase decision. When it comes to an online purchase, the level of uncertainly might be higher because customers do not get the chance to feel the products as they can do at traditional stores. Customers engage in different efforts that serve to reduce theirs uncertainly for mitigating and eliminating risks related to uncertainty and for maximizing the outcome value when they do not knowledge about a product or the results of consuming that specific project. Therefore, customers who perceive uncertainly will seemingly have the incentive to search actively for information about products for reducing uncertainty. Reading the reviews is among such searching activities.

It is argued that reviews that are made by customers are recognized as more trustworthy and credible than other information sources. Ratings of customers are perceived to represent the satisfaction level, especially for the goods whose quality is quite difficult to evaluate before it is experienced. Mobile applications are experience goods and for such goods, rating information is considered quite helpful. Therefore, it is presumed that there is a positive relationship between the sales of an application and its rating (Zhou & Duan, 2012).

This view is supported by Maslowska, Malthouse, & Viswanathan (2017) who exclaim that ratings of reviews on an application tend to have a significant influence on the decision of a customer to either download or not download the application. It has been indicated in research that approximately 50 percent of mobile users do not consider an application that has a 3-star rating. If the rating is lowered to 2-star, the number of customers decreases to 85 percent. Additionally, 77 percent of people tend to read at least one review before they download a specific free application. For a paid application, this number increases to 80 percent. Therefore, as a marketer or developer of an application, the person needs to consider the significance of reviews and ratings because they are quite important.

Preference of Highly-Reviewed Applications

The reason why mobile users tend to download those applications that have positive reviews and higher ratings is similar to the reason why people tend to dine in only those restaurants that have positive reviews. People have a subconscious tendency of trusting the opinions of people around them. This WoM or word of mouth, in the digital world, extends from strangers available on the internet to the close circle of family members and friends. Similar to dining at a specific restaurant, downloading an application seems to come with expectations. Just as a person expects his meal to be as good as it was in the advertisement, mobile users want their applications to function and operate as they promised.

Furthermore, when visitors of an application store want to know if an application is doing what it is supposed to and meets the requirements of people, they will check the reviews and ratings of other users. Positive testimonies of other users about the application strengthen the decision of the user to download the application. Meanwhile, this decision is significantly weakened by negative testimonies. As it has been explained above, people do not perceive a rating of 3-star to be great. On the other hand, they consider a rating of 4-star to be quite great. Users are wary of applications that do not have any rating as well. Do they begin to think why is no one using this application? Such impressions are not positive for a mobile application (Maslowska, Malthouse, & Viswanathan, 2017).

Effect of Reviews of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

It is noted by Kostyra, Reiner, Natter, & Klapper (2016) that reviews and ratings not only have an influence on the decisions of users about purchasing the application but also on ASO or app store optimization. Apple and Google both tend towards ranking applications that have more positive reviews and ratings than those applications that have negative reviews and ratings. In addition to it, the number of reviews and ratings on an application also is important. The more reviews an application, the more chances it has of ranking higher. For instance, when users are looking for an application, they will browse through the first few applications that appear in the results. Generally, if an application is not ranking in the top ten positions for some specific and relevant keywords, the application will not be found by the visitors of the application store (Kostyra, Reiner, Natter, & Klapper, 2016).

It is determined by Elwalda, Lü, & Ali (2016) that gathering more reviews and ratings is concerned greatly with timing. It is the nature of humans to help someone and give a positive response when he is feeling great or is in a positive mood. In contrast, when he is in a bad mood, he gives a rash response. Therefore, when developers or application makers ask their users to leave a review about their application, they need to make sure that they catch their users at the right time, one where they have a positive mood or they are feeling great. There are several plugins along with native scripts that can be utilized for triggering a pop up that require or ask users to leave a review or rating. Therefore, one of the critical parts is the timing of the review. For instance, if there is a person who has cleared five levels in the application simultaneously or has edited a picture, asking about the review will be great once he receives a reward of some type. Due to it, there will be a greater likelihood that they will leave a positive review.

Customers having to make a purchase decision which is risky often seek out reliable information for making an informed decision. Moreover, a significant cue for making such type of decision can be found in the existing or past experiences. Typically, users depend on their own experiences but when they do not have experiences with certain services or applications, they depend on their past social experiences, or even the experiences of others who have used similar applications, as expressed in the form of online reviews. For instance, in the context of application websites, online reviews have been determined to be the most critical and significant cue predicting whether users would purchase the product or not.

When it comes to the evaluation of online reviews, customers tend to not only concentrate on the argumentation in reviews but also all the heuristic reviews. In general, a heuristic cue among these is associated with the number of reviews that are received by an application. The volume of reviews can serve as an indicator of the trustworthiness of general and universal opinion on the product. The idea is that if a specific product evaluation is shared by many online customers, credible information is presented by it in comparison with the opinions which are shared by a comparatively low number of customers. Therefore, the volume of reviews by customers can act as a bandwagon cue which indicates whether customers have reached a consensus on the universal or generation analysis of the application (Elwalda, Lü, & Ali, 2016).

Another important clue is whether online reviews are even trustworthy or not. For instance, online reviews can either have a neutral, negative, or a positive image of the application. It has been indicated by several pieces of research that if the net valence of reviews is seemingly positive, the attitude of customers towards the evaluation service or product also becomes positive. It means that if other users had a positive experience previously with the service or the application, this might lead and cause new users to expect that they will be having a positive experience with the application.

Although such impacts of heuristic cues like valence and volume in online reviews have been indicated for different services and applications, there is not sufficient information that can prove their importance in the case of applications. One difference between applications and products is that the decision of installing an application is less risky. Therefore, this might imply that customers want and hope to invest less time in choosing to install an application or not, which makes them more open to all the suboptimal decisions. For example, one heuristic which is used by customers in deciding in application stores or platforms is “taking the first.” This means that customers tend to pay only a little attention to the information which is offered by the application, but rather they simply take the first application that appears in the search. Despite this low risk, it is expected that customers want to have a positive experience with the application. Therefore, they also serve to look for positive reviews (Trenz & Berger, 2013).

An interesting point is made by Gao, Zhang, Wang, & Ba (2012) that other than the information which is offered by online reviews about the application, visual information might also be utilized as a cue in such online environments. In the context of applications, it has been determined that the use of visualization in different breathing-training applications led to far greater improvements and enhancements in comparison with applications that only contained audio instructions. A type of visual that tends to stand out in applications is the logo of the application that is utilized as the icon (Gao, Zhang, Wang, & Ba, 2012).

In addition to it, Liang, Li, Yang, & Wang (2015) determine that in recent years, mobile applications have increased significantly in both popularity and utilization. The 2015 survey of IDC or International Data Corporation reported that international smartphone vendors had shipped approximately 333.4 million units of smartphones. Mobile applications are a type of software that runs on these smartphones and they complete some specific tasks. Several factors influence the success of applications. A factor that is different from the factors which influence traditional systems is eWOM or online word of mouth. As has been explained above as well, word of mouth seems to have a significant part in influencing the intention of a person to purchase an application. Several marketing pieces of research have determined the effect of eWOM on the purchases of customers beyond the inhered brand and product effects. It has been argued that reviews of customers serve to offer product-matching information for users to research and find those applications which meet their needs. Such type of supplementary information assists customers in decreasing uncertainly about applications and it helps in facilitating sales as well. Previous research has noted that comments of customers are more trustable and dependable than opinions given by experts in several scenarios.

In studies related to marketing, it has been determined that WOM is quite an important factor in influencing the behavior of customers about purchasing a specific product. It has been determined that customers are likely to create conversations that are associated with products and they request information from relatives and friends if they are not properly sure about a specific purchase. In addition to it, WOM influences both long-term and short-term judgments about a product, especially when uncertainties are faced by a customer. Various scholars consider online WOM to be a predictor of the success of an application which is moderated by the specifications of applications. It has been determined that external sources of WOM have a significant influence on the sales of applications (Liang, Li, Yang, & Wang, 2015).

Yaylı & Bayram (2012) determine that the reason why eWOM is considered so important is that it can convey the reputation of the complementary applications, the brand, and the main application itself. This reputation can be conveyed in both the valence and volume of eWOM. In comparison with reputation, online reviews tend to convey more information. It has been argued that product-matching information is provided by customer reviews and it helps customers in finding those applications which meet their expectations and needs. Such supplementary information serves to help customers in reducing uncertainly about applications and it facilitates the sales of applications as well. Consequently, the extent of readability, informativeness, and subjectivity of reviews are determined to have a significant effect on sales. In some cases, it has been found that negative reviews can also seem to have a positive influence on installations of an application as they might increase the publicity of an application (Yaylı & Bayram, 2012).

Conceptual Framework of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Methodology of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

The methodology that has been considered in this research will be explained and described in this section. In general, it will include all the necessary steps and measures which have been considered for conducting the study and collecting all the critical and relevant information. Furthermore, all methods which have been taken for the collection of data will be elaborated. Other than just elaborating on the methods, they will also be justified as to why they have been considered in the first place in this study. Lastly, it will be determined in this section whether all the legal, health and safety and technical guidelines have been considered in this research or not.

Typically, the methodology is recognized as a part of undeniable significance in a study. It would not be wrong to suggest that it is a bridge or an interconnector between the objectives and aims of the research and all the results that are obtained from it. In simple words, it is the base of any type of research as it serves to justify and outline why certain methods have been recognized and considered for performing the study. It helps in the justification of selected approaches and methods of research for the study instead of all other available methods. Therefore, as a part, the methodology cannot be replaced in research (Flick, 2015).

Philosophy of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

There are various research philosophies. In this research, a combination of both interpretivism and positive has been utilized. These philosophies are recognized to be two fundamental philosophies for performing research. For instance, primary methods and techniques are considered by positivism while interpretivism considers only qualitative methods. The aim of positivism is concerned with obtaining precise outcomes and results by making the use of statistics. Therefore, for obtaining such results, either survey is conducted or questionnaires are distributed. In this case, a combination of these two philosophies is considered because some gaps are left by them if they are utilized individually. For addressing these gaps and ensuring that no gap exists in this study, these philosophies have been combined.

Literature Review of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

In general, the development of research and its association with the already existing information is recognized as a basic block of all activities and processes which are included in academic research. With time, however, this process has seemingly become quite complicated and difficult. In every field, the development of research is increasing significantly. Still, in this field, it seems to remain fragmented. Therefore, a literature review has been selected for complimenting this research (Galvan & Galvan, 2017).

It can be said that a literature review presents a methodical and systematic method of finding and collecting reliable information and using it in research. An effective literature review can develop a powerful base that aids the clarification of an existing concept and development of a new idea. With the incorporation of different concepts and ideas of different empirical researches, the goals of this research can be achieved with a power that is certainly not possessed by a single study. In addition to it, it also helps in offering an overview of all the areas where the study is interdisciplinary and requires more research. Furthermore, it is quite a useful and reliable way of synthesizing findings of research for identifying all areas where more study is needed.

The recognition of relevant and prior information is considered quite an important part of every research project. Generally, whenever a researcher reads a journal article, he tends to begin by explaining all the previous researches for the assessment of research and emphasis on its objectives. Now, this is determined as either a literature review or a research background. In this research, prior researches on the importance and influence of customer reviews on the download of mobile applications have been studied and analyzed. Generally, such a type of literature review is performed for evaluating and analyzing the knowledge state of an existing idea or theory. It is capable of being used for the creation of new research agendas, explanation of a specific issue, and determination of all the gaps in the study. In this case, it has been ensured that only relevant studies have been analyzed.

Sampling and Population of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Data is collected from the users of the various apps and the questioners have been sent out to the social media apps to know about the reviews of the respondents and get their views either there must be the reviews of the online customer published or not. It is a good source to know about the viewer’s comments on the various particular topics. The simple random sampling technique has been used for this particular type and purposes and this is a good source for analyzing data in good ways. This is the unique point of measuring the impacts of the online customer's reviews on the numbers of mobile app downloads. The sample size is 100 users of the mobile app. To find out the users of the mobile is not such a difficult task. From these users data has been collected by utilizing the self-administrated questionnaires.

Questionnaire of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Other than just conducting a literature review, questionnaires have also been considered in this research as a primary method of finding information and collecting reliable data. A questionnaire is an important source of collecting information because it enables researchers to find information on their own without any type of uncertainty involved in it.

As it had been explained above, a mix of secondary and primary methods of research has been considered in this study. With the use of questionnaires, direct responses of respondents have been obtained and they have been analyzed to determine whether customer reviews even have an influence on downloads of mobile applications or not. In this case, normal people who use smartphones have been considered as respondents. This decision has been taken to ensure that eligible responses can be obtained because this study aims at exploring the effect of reviews on the general public (Clough & Nutbrown, 2012).

Guidelines of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

In this research, it has been ensured that all legal, health and safety, and ethical guidelines have been considered. For research to be effective and reliable, it has to be ensured that it meets all the necessary and compulsory guidelines and requirements. If research does not meet these guidelines then it means that it is not credible. In this case, all the guidelines were considered critical. It was considered a top-priority to meet these standards.

Results and Analysis of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Two kinds of the analysis have been conducted in this paper by utilizing the SPSS software. These analyses are descriptive and inferential analysis.

Descriptive analysis of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

In the descriptive analysis demographic profile of the respondents has been analyzed.

Interpretation of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

The information related to the frequency distribution and the relevant percentages for the respondents of the age is given in the above table. 6% of the respondents are a part of the age range of fewer than 25 years and the frequency for the said age range is 36% of the respondents belong to the age range of 25-35 years and the relevant frequency is 36respondents. The respondents who belong to the age range of 35-45 years and 45 years plus have a frequency of 37 and 21 respondents along with the relevant percentages of 37 21% respectively. Most of the respondents are part of the age range of fewer than 25 years with 6.2%.

 

Interpretation

            The varying percentages for the respondents of the age are shown with various attractive colors in the above pie-chart. The major area of the pie-chart is covered by grey color which is showing the frequency of the age range 35-45 years. The second, third, and fourth number is the age ranges 25-34 years, 45 years plus and less than 25 years which are shown in the pie-chart by the colors green, blue and purple, respectively.

 

Interpretation

The details related to the frequency distribution and the relevant percentages for the respondents of the gender are given in the above table. 75.6% of the respondents are a part of the gender male with the frequency 189. 24.4% of the respondents are a part of the gender female with frequency 61. This frequency distribution shows that most of the respondents are male.

Interpretation

            The varying percentages for the respondents of the gender are shown with various attractive colors in the above pie-chart. The major area of the pie-chart is covered by blue color which is showing the frequency of the male gender. The second number is the gender female who is shown in the pie-chart by the blue color.

 

Interpretation

The information related to the frequency distribution for the educational level and the relevant percentages for the said respondents is given in the above table. 49.2% of the total respondents are a part of the bachelor’s degree and the frequency for the said educational level is 123. 27.6% of the respondents belong to the Master's degree and the relevant frequency is 69 respondents. The respondents who belong to the M-Phil and the Intermediate educational level have a frequency of 46 and 12 respondents, along with the relevant percentages of 18.4% and 4.8% respectively. Most of the respondents are part of the educational level Bachelor with the frequency 123.

Interpretation

            The varying percentages for the respondents of the educational level are shown with various attractive colors in the above pie-chart. The major area of the pie-chart is covered by blue color which is showing the frequency of the educational level bachelor. The second, third, and fourth numbers are the respondents from the Bachelors, Others, and Masters, Mphill and intermediate which are shown in the pie-chart by the colors blue, purple, and green, respectively.

Interpretation:

The details related to the frequency distribution for the employment status and the relevant percentages for the said respondents are given in the table. 49.2% of the respondents are serving as the private officials and the frequency for the said employment status is 123. 27.6% of the respondents are the government officials and the relevant frequency is 69 respondents. The respondents who belong to the other employment status have a frequency of 46 respondents, along with the relevant percentage of 18.4%. Most of the respondents are the part of the employment status as the government officials with the frequency 123.

Interpretation

            The varying percentages for the respondents of the employment status are shown with various attractive colors in the above pie-chart. The major area of the pie-chart is covered by blue color which is showing the frequency of the employment status of private officials. The second and the third number are the respondents from the government sector and others which are shown in the pie-chart by the colors blue and skin, respectively. The purple color shows the frequency of the respondents who did not mention their employment status.

Data Reliability Analysis of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

The data reliability is accessed by using the Cronbach Alpha Value for the current study variables. The idea of Cronbach Alpha was introduced in 1951 by Cronbach. The range for the Cronbach Alpha lies between 0 and 1. It shows that all the items of the questionnaire are better evaluated on the similar concept & idea. The data set for which the value of Cronbach Alpha is more than 0.70; it means that the data is highly reliable (Nunnallly, 1978). For the present research work, the overall value of the Cronbach Alpha is shown in the below-given table.

            The above-given table is showing that the overall Value of Cronbach Alpha is greater than 0.70 such as 0.738. It means that the data items are highly reliable.

Inferential Analysis of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Meanwhile, inferential analyses are utilized to explain the relationships and effects of variables on each other. The responses of the respondents are better evaluated through the frequency distribution. The following is given the frequency distribution along with the respective pie-charts for the demographic variables.

Regression Analysis of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

 

a. Predictors: (Constant), numbers of mobile app downloads

 

Interpretation

In the regression model, the value of R-Square provides the measure for the goodness-of-fit. This value tends to depict the %age variance change in the dependent variable due to the independent variables. Based on the regression analysis for the current data set, it is evaluated that the value of R is 0.955. As far as the value of R-square for the current study variables is concerned, it is 0.911. This value is determining a significant percentage change on the dependent variable (number of mobile app downloads) due to the study's independent variables (i.e Developer experience, Platform type, and Consumer rating) are the good techniques for estimating beta.

Correlation of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Interpretation

The relationship of the study dependent and the independent variables are determined by using the Pearson correlation coefficient. For p<0.01, the value of the Pearson coefficient is showing that there exists a strong positive correlation between the study dependent and the independent variables. These variables are positively significantly associated with each other.

Conclusion of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Overall, it can be said that customer reviews have a significant influence on the download rate of mobile applications. This research had the objective of determining whether reviews of customers about different mobile applications had any type of influence on downloads of smartphone applications or not. To accomplish this research objective, two types of research methods were employed. These research methods have been properly detailed in the section of methodology. These methods primarily included questionnaires and a literature review.

To ensure that the literature review would be effective, only relevant and credible studies were explored and were collected from credible resources such as Google Scholar and other online libraries. For keeping their relevancy in check, some specific keywords related to the topic were used. Meanwhile, for ensuring that validity, only those research sources were considered which fell from 2010 through 2020. This helped in ensuring that only up-to-date researches were considered for conducting the research. Several pieces of research were explored and a specific number of people were questioned. It is important to note that results obtained both from the literature review and the questionnaires pointed in the same direction. Although some studies noted that further studies are required for solidifying the direct relation between the reviews of customers and downloads of smartphone applications, they still have affirmed that eWOM is indeed influential on the purchase decision of users.

Recommendations of the impact of online consumer reviews on mobiles apps downloads

Following are the recommendations which must be considered by application developers to ensure that their applications are downloaded at higher rates:

·         First of all, mobile application developers need to recognize that user reviews play an important role in influencing the decisions of other users about installing the application. If others have reviewed negatively about their application then it would be unlikely for new users to download the application.

·         Next, mobile application developers need to understand that positive reviews can be gained only by meeting the requirements and needs of their users. It is difficult for an application to be perfect and to meet every need of the user. Therefore, they must honestly reach out to their users, understand their needs, and make sure to act on them. Developers should reply to their feedback with a positive answer and should make them reassured that actions will be taken to resolve the issues. This serves to create a positive impression on users that developers are responsive to the needs of customers.

·         Lastly, developers should understand that there is a time when their users are willing to leave a positive review of their application. For instance, they can use scripts to give a popup that asks for their review. This popup should appear when users clear several levels in a game consecutively without failing or when they get a reward for it. This will help in gaining a positive review of the application and will influence other new customers as well.

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