Getting reviews is endlessly important, but you need to contact people to get them to see your stuff. Even when you do there's only a 1% chance they'll even notice you unless you have something mind-blowing to show off. When requesting reviews it's important to provide all the info reviewers would need, along with some spare download codes if necessary. Instead of giving friends & family freebies, this is where your free copies should be given out.
I follow a basic structure just barely under the character limit. I try to keep it polite, humble, and easy to read. I'm no gaming giant so I assume my emails merit an eye-roll when someone first sees my request. I really am just some kid submitting one out of a thousand apps that day. Someone has to sift through all those emails and I want mine to leave a good impression. Take a look at what I send out to people. It might give you a starting point or something to compare with.
Hi~
I just do reviews on my indiedb blog, and I'm not that popular yet. I'm hoping to make an actual gaming/whatever else blog in the future, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Anyway, just wanted to say that your games look cool and I'll play them when I get the chance.
I wish I had the guts to make games. I dabbled in horror rpgs for a while, but I never ended up publishing it...
Oh. Whoops! Didn't mean to give you my life story. Anyway, good luck!
No, I like life stories. Also, don't give up on making games! Keep it up and publish them if you can. You won't believe how often I get slapped down just to get back up and keep trying.
My goal is to make the greatest RPG on mobile devices when I graduate.
Thanks for the kind words. You're an inspiration, dude. And if you do make that RPG, I'll be one of the people playing it~ When I repair my various broken mobile devices...but stil...
Hahaha.