Windows store - certification failed because 'didn't seem useful'

Question

I tried publish my app: http://pomidoro.codeplex.com/ on Windows Store and certification failed because: 'Your app doesn't meet requirement 1.1. Comment from tester: This app didn't appear to provide value or didn't seem useful to the reviewer.' Is that means that I do not have any chances to publish it anymore?

Answer 1

No, you can make some tweaks and publish again. Here are some thoughts:

• It may be an issue of marketing, and modifying the description that you submit with your application will fix the issue. Your description at http://pomidoro.codeplex.com is pretty good, but maybe you could add some data around how it helps you work more efficiently in case the reviewers aren't familiar with Pomodoro. There are tips on writing a good description/app listing here.
• Otherwise, you could add some extra features to the app so it's more than just a timer. Can the user record their whole To Do list in the app, and then choose what to focus on during the pomodoro from that? Or, allow them to rank each pomodoro as effective/not effective after the timer goes off and keep historical data so they can see what times of day they are most effective? And so on...

Here is the first post in a blog post series on common certification failures for the Windows Store and how to fix them which might also be useful.

Good luck!