One of the things I don't like about the Windows Marketplace for Mobile is that there's no method provided for reaching out to customers. There will be an occasional customer that has a problem using an application and it's not the application's fault. This can occur if the .Net framework failed to install, if the user is using a cooked ROM that doesn't conform to normal behavior, or the OEM has changed an API and given it non confurming behaviour causing the application to not work properly on that one phone.
When ever something like this happens the customer doens't try to determine who has responsibility for the failure. The customer will quickly conclude the application is faulty and will some times leave negative feedback on the download page for the application. And a one star rating can do significant damage to the sales of your application. Som other users may see it as a warning sign and will steer clear of your application because of it. To make matters worst you've got no way to reach out to the customer to determine what is wrong or provide any assistant to correct the issue.
Microsoft's heard the developer feedback on this issue and is said to have a solution in the works. In the mean time whether than waiting on the rollout for the solution I've got another solution implemented. I've provided a method for the users to reach me within the application. This won't help for the instances when a user cannot start an application. But a majority of the issues Iv'e seen are not from the application ont starting so this solution provides good coverage. My thoughts on the matter are that a customer will take the easiest most visible pathway for expressing their thoughts on an application (satisficing) and providing a feedback mechanism within the application will help pre-empt negative feedback.
In putting my thoughts to the test I've included an option to provide feedback in the "FindMe" application that I submitted to the Marketplace and plan to see what type of feedback that I get. I'm not really interested in sales for this application, but at the same time I don't want to cause the sales of the two other similar applications to flatline. So I've made the application free in the marketplace for now but plan to raise the price back up (possibly as early as this evening).
Tags: Marketplace, Windows Phone