Mobile App Store Rating Drivers Study
Identifies what actually pushes users toward 5-star versus 1-star app store reviews — crashes, speed, ads, pricing, support — and what specifically would change their rating. Built for product and growth teams; the AI follow-up reconstructs the real incident behind each respondent's rating instead of generic complaints.
Sample questions
A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.
In the last 30 days, how often have you used this app?
- Daily
- A few times a week
- Once a week
- A few times a month
- Rarely, or this is my first time
Have you left a star rating or written review for this app in an app store (Apple App Store or Google Play) in the past 6 months?
- Yes, 5-star
- Yes, 4-star
- Yes, 3-star
- Yes, 2-star or lower
- No, I haven't rated it
If you were to rate this app in the app store right now, what rating would you give it?
How much do you agree with each statement about the app?
- The app is stable and rarely crashes
- The app loads and responds quickly
- Ads or upsell prompts feel excessive
- The price feels fair for what I get
- Customer support resolves issues well
- +1 more
Which of these changes would move your rating the most, and which the least?
- Fewer crashes and bugs
- Faster performance
- Fewer or less intrusive ads
- Better value for the price
- Faster, more helpful customer support
- Simpler, more intuitive design
- More features I actually need
- Fewer permission or data requests
What, if anything, prompted you to consider leaving an app store rating or review?
- An in-app pop-up asked me to rate it
- I had a frustrating experience I wanted to warn others about
- I had a great experience I wanted to share
- Customer support asked me to leave a review
- I wanted to help other users decide
- I haven't considered leaving a rating
How likely are you to recommend this app to a friend or colleague?
Reconstruct the specific incident behind the respondent's current or most recent rating: what happened, when, and how it made them feel about the app. If they rated it high, find out whether anything almost cost them a star. If they rated it low, dig into whether it was a one-off glitch or a recurring problem, and whether they've actually left that rating publicly or just feel it privately. If they've never rated the app, probe what would need to happen for them to bother.
What's the one change that would most likely turn your rating into a 5-star rating?
Which platform do you primarily use this app on?
- iOS (iPhone/iPad)
- Android
- Prefer not to say
That's everything — thank you! Your responses feed directly into a report on what's driving our app store rating, so we can fix what's costing us stars and double down on what's earning them.
What’s included
AI follow-ups
Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.
Attention checks
Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.
AI-drafted copy
Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.
Auto report
Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.
How it compares
We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.
Why this template
- Includes a dedicated AI follow-up interview block that reconstructs the specific incident behind each respondent's rating instead of relying on generic complaint checkboxes
- Pairs a star rating and rating-scale (recommend likelihood) with a matrix of agreement statements and a best-worst trade-off exercise to rank which changes (crashes, speed, ads, pricing, support) matter most vs least
- Asks directly what prompted the respondent to consider leaving a review, then closes with a open-text question isolating the single change that would flip the rating to 5 stars
- Auto-generates a report from these combined structured and open-ended responses, with transparent prompts so product/growth teams can see exactly how the AI probed each incident
SurveyMonkey
Mobile App Survey Template & QuestionsA ready-to-field static template covering general mobile app satisfaction and usability questions. It's built for broad app feedback rather than specifically diagnosing what drives 1-star vs 5-star app store ratings. Good starting point for general sentiment tracking, but not incident-specific.
What it does well
- Fielding-ready template with pre-written mobile app feedback questions
- Backed by SurveyMonkey's established survey logic and distribution tools
- Broad applicability across different app types and use cases
Where it falls short
- Fixed question set with no adaptive AI follow-up to probe individual respondent incidents
- No mechanism to reconstruct the specific event behind a rating (e.g., which crash, which ad) — relies on generic multiple-choice complaint categories
- No published methodology or prompt transparency since there's no AI-driven questioning involved
QuestionPro
Smiley rating survey questions and sample questionnaire templateThis is a generic rating-scale survey template/guide using smiley-face scales, not one built around app store review dynamics or mobile app usage specifically. It's useful as a reference for simple satisfaction scoring but reads more like a general template guide than an app-store-focused study. Teams would need to heavily customize it to capture crash, speed, ads, pricing, and support drivers.
What it does well
- Simple, visual smiley-scale format that's easy for respondents to complete
- Flexible for many use cases beyond app feedback
- Includes sample questionnaire text as a starting reference
Where it falls short
- Generic satisfaction template, not tailored to app store rating behavior or mobile-specific drivers like crashes/ads/pricing
- No adaptive AI follow-up or incident reconstruction — just static scale questions
- No automated quality scoring or auto-generated diagnostic report tied to responses
Ready to launch?
Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.