01/31/2013 | 11:09 AM
Want to know how your app is doing? Just listen to uTest’s Applause
Should you invest your limited developer resources into a design overhaul or streamlining the purchase process? uTest’s new Applause service lets you quickly analyze customer reactions and helps steer you toward a better product.
Based in Southborough and with an office in Kendall, uTest offers a range of tools to help developers make sure their apps are stable, secure, and usable, and this latest offering is designed to aggregate various metrics (including both an app store’s review scores plus sentiment analysis based on what their reviewers are actually saying).
Applause then suggest specific metrics that it thinks deserve extra attention, flagging areas like privacy, performance, and pricing based on user sentiment.
Applause is currently a free service, and you can even look up an app’s Applause score without even registering.
uTest made a related acquisition (its first) over the summer when it acquired Apphance, which offers tools to gather user feedback. Now uTest offers an even broader way to collect user experiences.
Some area apps I checked out:
LevelUp: 89 score
Timbre: 93 score
Spogo: 100 score (See Scott Kirsner’s take on this football app)
There’s a lot of ways to manage user reviews, but it looks like uTest is developing a comprehensive portfolio to help companies ensure that their focus is in the right place.
Given Twitter’s recent acquisition of Crashlytics, there appears to be a strong demand for that kind of offering and expertise.
