Analyzing Google App Store Ratings
Analyzing which elements contribute to apps on the Google App Store achieving better ratings than others
Scenario
You are working for an app developer. They are in the process of brainstorming a new app. They want to ensure that their next app scores a high review on the app store, as this can lead to the app being featured on the store homepage. They would like you analyze what factors increase the rating an app will receive. They would also like to know what impact reviews have on the final score.
Files: Python Notebook App Store Ratings App Reviews
Objectives
- Analyze data for which genres and categories tend to get the most amount of high reviews
- Prepare data by removing duplicates and empty data cells
- Illustrate the relationship that positive or negatively written reviews have on the final score of the top apps
Process
- Data was acquired from an open source dataset (available here)
- Data was cleaned to remove empty or incorrectly formatted data
- Data sorted such that only apps with scores above 4.7 out of 5 stars was remaining
- Analysis was conducted determining which genres and categories had the largest amounts of apps above 4.7 stars
- Impact of the sentiment of written reviews was inspected
Analysis
Genres and Categories
Amount of Ratings By Genre
The data supplied allows for the presentation of the app categories with the greatest number of reviews above 4.7 stars. From this data we could suppose that making a useful tool which people appreciate the convenience of would be a good strategy for making a successful app.
Ratings by App Category
Looking at the dataset, the conclusion can be drawn that apps under the 'Family' category are the most popular, with games and tools coming next. Curious as to the breakdown of genres within the family category, I analyzed further, as you can see below.
Breakdown of 'Family' category
From analyzing the breakdown of genres within the 'Family' category, one can see that the most popular highly rated apps are those within the 'Entertainment' and 'Education' genres.
Impact of Written Reviews on Final Rating
Ratio of Reviews Compared to Rating
For apps with large amounts of positive ratings, the ratio of positive to negative written reviews does not seem to be very significant. This could signify that most positive reviews on these apps are given without any comment.
Conclusions
I think we can infer that apps that fall into the specific categories and genres mentioned in this study are most likely to be profitable from analysis of the publicly available dataset. Particularly, a family-oriented app with an entertainment focus is most likely to receive favourable reviews. A family-focused app focusing on child education is another app idea that could be successful given that customers appear to rank this particular sort of app extremely highly.