Best Practices To Help Optimize Monetization In Your Game
This post is part of a series of articles discussing game monetization concepts and strategies in Core. The goal of this series is to help creators improve the monetization in their games by sharing knowledge and information, as well as learning from the experiences of the Core community. If you would like to contribute your own article, please contact the author.
Introduction
This article covers best practices and other guidelines to help optimize the monetization in your game. Topics include retention, motivating factors, store design, converting buyers, and testing.
Retaining Players Is Essential
Retention plays an essential role in monetization. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense since the longer someone plays a game, the more likely they are to buy something. In fact, not only is a player more likely to buy more things, but they also become less price sensitive over time. The lifetime value of a player increases the longer they play, which has a significant impact on monetization. Retaining players is the most important thing you can do to increase your monetization.
Build A Great Game
Use retention strategies to build a game that players love and want to return to.
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Enjoyment
The game is fun to play and a source of entertainment. -
Progression
Progress gives a sense of achievement and power. -
Social
Social elements promote feelings of friendship and belonging. -
Personalization
Personalization options allow for individualism and uniqueness.
Update The Game Regularly
Regular updates, new features, special events, and other developer activity is essential to the monetization of a game. The goal is to keep players coming back by updating your game frequently to keep things fresh and interesting. Each time you do, you will realize the immediate impact it has on your monetization.
Motivating Players To Buy
Once you build a great game that players want to return to, it is time to think about what motivates players to purchase things. Knowing this will help you decide on the types of products to sell. Some of the most common factors that drive purchasing are listed below.
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Power
To gain more power or obtain a competitive advantage. -
Time
To save time to achieve things faster. -
Progression
To progress faster in the game. -
Utility
To have items that are very useful in the game. -
Convenience
To obtain items that make things more convenient. -
Prestige
To gain prestige by having rare or unique items. -
Personalization
To gain a sense of customization and individualism. -
Collection
To collect things and complete collections.
Optimizing Store Design
The design of the store can have a dramatic impact on monetization. Follow these best practices to get the most out of your store.
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Easy To Find
The store should be easy to find anywhere in the game. Add a button to the main UI. Add additional entry points, such as showing store options when it is most relevant and needed by the player. -
Easy To Use
The store should be easy to use and intuitive. Some games even provide a shop tutorial that gives the player some money, and guides them through a purchase. -
Clean User Interface
The UI should have a clean and appealing graphical design. The categories and products should be well organized. Don’t overwhelm users with too many choices. Make comparative shopping easy by calling out the bonuses, and the best and most popular deals. Content should be reached in as few clicks as possible. -
Rewarding Buying Experience
Make players feel great about their purchase by filling it with anticipation, excitement, and fulfilment. The product should offer value to the player, and the purchase should feel great. Use sounds, special effects, and animations to make the purchase feel like a rewarding experience. -
Incentives To Come Back
Give players incentives to visit the shop regularly. Update the store regularly with new items, special offers, and sales. Include recurring free awards, such as timer based rewards. Unlock new items as players level up. Add seasonal or time limited items.
Converting Players Into Paying Customers
There are many ways to help convert players into paying customers.
General Principles
In general, follow these principles to appeal to the widest audience possible.
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Value
Your products should provide good value and benefits to the player. Players should feel rewarded, and that the money was well spent. -
Different Price Points
Offer products at many different price points that are obtainable for all player types. -
Variety Of Items
Provide a large variety of items to buy. -
All Player Levels
Offer products for early, mid, and late game players. -
No Caps
Do not limit how much a player can buy. Players who love your game may be willing to spend a lot of money over a long period of time.
Specific Offers
Create specific types of offers for various types of players and game events.
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First Time Buyer Offers
Offer an attractive bundle of products at a great price to encourage a player to make their first purchase. -
Targeted Offers
Track players and provide targeted offers appropriate for them. Provide targeted offers as players progress or reach certain milestones. Provide offers for lapsed spenders, for big spenders, for long-time players, for cosmetic lovers, etc. -
Special Event Offers
Special game events or seasonal events are a great time to offer deals and bundles related to the events. -
Limited Time Offers
Limited time offers add a sense of urgency, and may increase conversion rates. Such limited time offers can be used with any of the above techniques.
Analyzing Results
Monetization requires a lot of testing, experimentation, and iteration to determine the optimal items, pricing, timing, offers, etc that are right for your game.
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A/B Testing
Use A/B testing extensively to determine which options work the best. Community Content has a component called Funnel Analytics by Team META that makes A/B testing very easy to implement. -
Analytics
Use analytics in your Creator Portal to analyze the retention and monetization of your game. Creator analytics provide information about your game, such as play count and retention. Perk analytics provide information on each of your Perks, such as the quantity and date of each purchase. -
Learn
Use the results to learn about your players. What do players value? What will enhance their experience? What are they interested in buying? What prices are they willing to pay? -
Iterate
Keep iterating and trying new things to see what works best for your game.
Join The Discussion
Please join the discussion and let us know about your ideas or experiences in Core related to this topic.
