At Build earlier this month, Microsoft announced that the option would soon be available for developers to respond to reviews, beginning in May. The company is taking the first step toward implementing this feature with a small private pilot program that will expand over time.
This new capability enables developers to respond to reviews of Windows Phone apps directly from the Microsoft
Dev Center. Once a developer has created a response, users will receive the comment via email from Microsoft and can even contact back directly if a support email address was provided in the app submission ‘Support email address’ metadata.
This capability is designed to help maintain closer contact with users to inform them of new features, bugs addressed, as well as to get feedback and ideas to improve an app. Microsoft warns that the capability is not to be used for marketing and does not provide the developer with the user’s personal information, such as an email address.
Currently, developers will be able to respond to reviews posted from Windows Phone 8.1 devices, as well as reviews posted from any Windows Phone device (in the US only).
The roll-out began last week with a small pilot group of developers who have been pre-selected to participate. The goal of the pilot is to ensure the capability is working as designed. Microsoft will begin scaling up participation in May with additional developers invited to participate each month. Invitations will be prioritized based on app downloads and the pace of the roll-out will be driven by user feedback.
No action is required to participate. As the program moves forward, Window’s developer accounts will automatically be enrolled in the program and and will be informed via email.