Why the Chrome Web Store Sucks(firertc.com)
firertc.com
Why the Chrome Web Store Sucks
http://www.firertc.com/blog/why-the-chrome-web-store-sucks
4 comments
I don't think the Chrome web store is something Google is actively moderating and developing.
We added a B2B app on there a few years ago. Generated lots of traffic, most of it crap. About a year or so ago the traffic started to die off.
My guess (although this is completely unsubstantiated) is that Google realised their Chrome Web Store was another free channel app developers could use to promote their products. There's little upside for Google, and they would much rather the developers use paid (Adwords!) channels instead. Just a theory...I could be way off the mark.
We added a B2B app on there a few years ago. Generated lots of traffic, most of it crap. About a year or so ago the traffic started to die off.
My guess (although this is completely unsubstantiated) is that Google realised their Chrome Web Store was another free channel app developers could use to promote their products. There's little upside for Google, and they would much rather the developers use paid (Adwords!) channels instead. Just a theory...I could be way off the mark.
I agree it is terrible. And I have to manually check the Chrome Web Stores developer panel to actually find out if anyone has left any user feedback which is annoying because if someone uses that to report an issue I won't know about it right away and will look bad as I am not replying fast.
100% this. We sometimes have feedback in there for a week plus. Talk about setting you for failure!
Yep I had multiple bits of feedback for my extension that were from a few weeks ago stating the extension was no longer working and that was also causing people to write poor reviews for it as it was not working. It was a simple one line code fix, however it stayed unresolved for almost a month because I had no way of knowing feedback was given unless I manually checked the dashboard.
The stats don't make any sense and there's been a constant complaint in the forums about the difference between impressions and installations (don't forget if a user signs into multiple chrome devices/browsers those all count as separate installations).
In short, I agree with everything you've said. It's not enough just to have a place to list your app, having good store tools and user communication tools goes a long way to delivering a good product.