Interview Questions › Root Cause Analysis

App store rating has dropped from 4.5 to 4.3 over a month

Your iOS App Store rating for Spotify dropped from 4.5 to 4.3 stars over the last 4 weeks. Identify what is driving negative user sentiment.

Context

Total review volume increased by 40%. The majority of 1-star and 2-star reviews were submitted after the latest major UI release.

Clarifying questions to ask first

• Are negative reviews coming from Free or Premium subscribers?
• Did the rating prompt timing change?

How to approach it

1. Perform sentiment analysis on 1-star and 2-star review text clustering
2. Segment ratings by App Version, OS Version, Subscription Tier (Free vs Premium), and Device Model
3. Examine technical issues (crashes, background audio stutters, battery drain) vs UX changes (nav overhaul, paywalls)
4. Formulate immediate PR and product remediation steps

Framework: Review Text Categorization (Bugs vs UX vs Pricing) -> Version / Device Segmentation -> Technical Telemetry Correlation -> Action Plan

Sample answer

• Unprompted in-app rating modal shown after a playback error
• UI navigation redesign moved favorite playlists into a submenu
• Severe background battery drain on iOS 17 devices

1. Cluster review keywords: "battery drain", "overheating", "queue button moved"
2. Telemetry confirms iOS v8.8 background audio thread CPU utilization increased by 300% on older iPhone models

Background audio thread bug caused battery overheating on older iPhones; pushed emergency hotfix v8.8.2 and updated in-app review prompting logic.

What interviewers look for

• Average App Rating
• 1-Star Review Ratio
• Crash-Free Sessions %
• Battery Consumption Index