One of the best ways to get your application development skills noticed is through self promotion. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is by having users who download your application rate your work. This capability is available in Windows Phone 7’s marketplace yet it requires end users to discover the “tap and hold the application icon” sequence in order to rate your application. What if you were able to simplfy the way your customers could rate your application?
Launchers available within Windows Phone 7’s OS allow for code to take your user to the marketplace page to rate your application. An example of this can be found below.
MarketplaceReviewTask task = new MarketplaceReviewTask();
task.Show();
Adding these two lines of code could be an effective way to increase your number of rating and/or your rating score in general. Remember, application discovery can be greatly enhanced through Marketplace promotion. Simplifying a way for end users to rate your application through Marketplace will secure your application being promoted.
Another great tool for feedback is the ability for developers to be in contact with their customers to gain insight on how the applciation could be improved. This too can be simply accomplished by adding the code below to your application.
EmailComposeTask task = new EmailComposeTask(); 
Thanks for posting this. Do have any recommendations on where inside the app the “rate me” button should be? On a settings page or the about page? Or a prompt after the app has been used for a certain number of times?
Both the About page or the settings page would work. You may have more end users rate your app if the Rate Me button was found on the bottom of the start screen. Simple ideas bring the best results.