question

Cheryl avatar image
Cheryl asked

Can't see reviews - known issue?

Hello all - My skill "Trainer Tips" went live about 2 weeks ago, and I've had several reports from friends and customers reporting they reviewed my skill. However, I'm still seeing a review count of zero in the Alexa app. I also noticed a thread from Dec 15th where there was a previously known issue with devs seeing their own skills' reviews. Ostensibly this was fixed, but perhaps not for everyone? Or is there some sort of moderation delay? (I also know that there were some irregularities internally when trying to turn my skill live, and I'm curious if the churn that affected my skill could have affected the review feature somehow as well. If you went live about 2 weeks ago and also think you're having issues, please chime in here.) If you know of a workaround to see reviews for your own skills, please let me know. Obviously this seems like a major issue for healthy developer-customer relations. Thanks!
alexa skills kit
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

Galactoise avatar image
Galactoise answered
Going point by point: -The thread from Dec 15 was presumably jjaquinta's request to be able to see reviews of our own skills? That was resolved, and hasn't been an issue since. -There's no moderation delay on reviews. -The issue isn't on your side - I just looked up your skill and it has no reviews showing up. -There are a lot of issues, especially surrounding developer-customer relations, that aren't being addressed as quickly as some of us would like. The only thing I can think of is that your issue sounds similar to this one: https://forums.developer.amazon.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=11091&tstart=0
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

Steve A avatar image
Steve A answered
I don't have any really good evidence, since I have a sample size of 1 (me), but I have experienced a "moderation delay" on reviews. This is in the case of my reviewing my own skills. I have done this a couple times as a way to provide feedback to users, and then have deleted those reviews after a couple of days. I can report that I can no longer review my own skills. Either this is because I have reviewed/deleted the review too many times, or for some other reason. But I take this to show that reviews are moderated. Amazon generally does have a policy against posting reviews which are biased (i.e., if you're the developer, or a member of the same household as someone who has already reviewed the product.) It's possible that those safeguards are slowly coming to the Alexa skills tab. I'm not sure if this is related to your issue. If, for example, the "friends" who reviewed the skill were part of the same household/amazon account, it could be that the reviews are just not posting. This is all pure conjecture on my part, though. Steve
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

jjaquinta avatar image
jjaquinta answered
I've got the opposite problem. There's a whole bunch of negative reviews on Knock Knock that relate to a (Amazon introduced) problem that was solved with the last release. I've been trying to get them deleted. Spent 45 minutes on phone support and the guy said he would forward it to specialist to do the work. The "specialist" got back to me and asked me for the ISBN number of the product. >_< I guess the "specialist" could not read since it said "Alexa Skill" all over the ticket. I've had no reply since to my clarification that this is an Alexa skill. Sigh.
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

Steve A avatar image
Steve A answered
I'm sympathetic, but I don't ever remember seeing a site where people's reviews are erased en masse (e.g., it's not like Yelp is going to erase Chipotle reviews once they stop poisoning people, or Amazon product reviews get cleared when a new version of a product comes out.) But certainly the skills rating system should be tied to versions of the skill. That seems like the rational way to do it! Steve
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

jjaquinta avatar image
jjaquinta answered
I believe Google Play tie it to the version of the skill. It was only, absent that, that I was asking for the reviews talking about the fixed problem to be removed. And, since that was about 30 out of the 33, I proposed deleting them all, just for expediency. I'm not really trying to game the system, just get customers accurate information so they can make informed decisions. [The other case on a different skill was where one reviewer who complained that you couldn't raise or lower the volume on my skill. Since this isn't a feature under the control of the skill, but rather an Echo feature, I asked it be deleted for similar reasons.]
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

Sanyu avatar image
Sanyu answered
Hi Cheryl, Please take a look a the following two Amazon Customer Review Guidelines to see if the missing skill reviews may fall into one of the listed categories: - https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201602680 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201749630 Thanks, sanyu
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

Galactoise avatar image
Galactoise answered
Sanyu, that's great that you guys are tackling the astroturfing problem. How do reviews get flagged as potentially in violation of these policies? The first article mentions that rating a review as not helpful would give an opportunity to say why that was the case, but that doesn't seem to be true of Alexa reviews.
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.

jjaquinta avatar image
jjaquinta answered
Yeah, those are general Amazon policies. It's not clear they are being enforced for Alexa. I'm still getting the runaround trying to get inaccurate reviews removed.
10 |5000

Up to 2 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 512.0 KiB each and 1.0 MiB total.