Google Play Store Now Lets Developers Respond To Reviews
That’s why we’re adding the ability for Google Play developers to respond to reviews from the Google Play Android Developer Console. Developers can gather additional information, provide guidance, and — perhaps most importantly — let users know when their feature requests have been implemented.
I’ve certainly wanted to be able to do this for Bingo Machine in the iTunes App Store. I don’t think Apple has done this as of yet, as they foresee the functionality being abused by some developers who post snap-retorts to 1-star reviews.
Even Google is wary in rolling this feature out; a response cannot turn into a threaded conversation and the permission has only been given to a small curated set of developers, for now. A developer can only respond once, per comment. I think this great, and stunts most trolling opportunities upfront. If a customer wants to talk more, they are encouraged to take the discussion to a private channel, like email.
I think these restrictions are very sensible. This could be a really helpful addition to the store.