Six stages of a player in social f2p games

Original author: Jeff Grubb
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Candy Crush is one of those games that is best understood by its players.

Social game developers have a difficult task: to try to keep players returning to the game for as long as possible. But no strategy can reach everyone, and Optimove wants to help you with this.

Optimove is a user retention and marketing company. She has divided social game players into six main categories and talks about the steps that developers can take to conquer users and maximize the life of the game. Most of the f2p games market is obsessed with attracting players and marketing costs. However, more and more studios are beginning to work to retain and understand their users, because it is more cost-effective. Optimove wants to make this task even easier.

Here are the six types Optimove has divided social players into:

Non-Spending Beginners


These are the players who installed the game or registered in it, but did not complete a single game transaction within the first 14 days. About 34 percent of all paying players complete their first transaction after the first two weeks, and this is a fairly large share of potential profit.

Optimove Strategic Services Director Moshe Demri:
“The goal in this segment is conversion. Here is patience above all: it is critical to quickly interest newcomers within the first few days after registration in order to motivate them to become highly active players, and only then try to push them to their first purchase. A suitable strategy would be to increase brand interest, marketing content based on player behavior, and only then - an incentive to make a first purchase. ”

“Also, this is a good stage for using predictive models to study consumer benefits and finding the optimal amount of payment for each player. Please note that according to the available data, there is a direct correlation between the activity levels of non-spending newcomers and their conversion into paying players, generating profit for the site or game. Non-spending newcomers with high levels of activity are on average more valuable to the game owner. ”

New customers


After completing the first purchase, the behavior of the players usually changes. New customers are players who are at the stage of a 14-day period after the first purchase. The emphasis on their desire to spend money requires the developer to quickly target, because second purchases are made in 39 percent of cases the next day. And 64 percent in the first week.

Demry:
“According to our data, new customers with fast conversion (up to two days after registration) have a longer playing time compared to players with a late conversion. During this time period, be aggressive, make sure that the players have a good feeling from the game. Gamified campaigns can work here (for example: three payments within three days open bonus stages on the fourth day) and “starter kits”. It is important to treat new customers as being in the “incubation” stage. Your goal is to offer them something that motivates them to become active customers while maintaining the desire for shopping. Give them various rewards based on their previous actions. For example, players who were very active prior to their first purchase should receive attractive offers, such as gamified campaigns,

“Players who had no activity prior to the first purchase should be handled differently. These players are not yet aware of the brand, and may not be completely familiar with the product. In cases where they are very active, try to increase their shopping activity. Otherwise, try to attract them to the product first. ”

“It should also be borne in mind that if the two-week stage takes place without additional charges, the cost of re-activation is usually the same as the cost of attraction.”

Active buyers


These are players who spent two separate days in the past two weeks. This category includes “whales”: 1 top percent of buyers, generating 30 percent of the profits of most games.

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Demry:
“Since 5 percent of active players generate 55 percent of monthly profits, game owners need to be sure that they have a good knowledge of the top 5 percent. This means that you need to daily monitor their actions and communicate with them after important events (big victories or defeats and level changes). Make these players well aware that they are VIP. If you do not have a VIP tariff, then this is the very first thing to enter. They should receive games with limited access and special games, invitations to events, special gifts and a personal approach. ”

“In addition, it is important to keep track of the highest bar achieved by each player. Players who entered the five percent group and left it should receive more attention because they have increased potential. "

Active non-spending players


These are the players who spent money in the game but failed to make subsequent payments for more than 21 days. Optimove claims that this group potentially signals problems in the economy of the f2p game.

Demry:
“The goal in this segment is to encourage the player to the next purchase, because after it the probability of losing the player decreases. To understand the potential of such players, we use segmentation of payment activity based on three attributes: the number of days after the last purchase, the number of purchases and the amount of purchases. This segmentation identifies “lost” players with a high spending level, players with a low spending level, for whom a lot of time has passed since the last purchase, etc. In other words, the amount of past purchases [reflects] the probability of a player buying in the next month and the potential for his loss in the event of an outflow. "

“Players with high spending levels who have recently stopped shopping should receive more attractive offers with bonuses for large amounts of purchases. On the other hand, players who have long stopped paying should receive small offers that can stimulate them to make another purchase. Also note that for some of these players there is a risk of leaving. Of course, you can include in this logic the detection of the risk of players leaving, and try to attract them with the game before motivating them to make another purchase. ”

Occasionally returning buyer


When a player leaves the game for more than 21 days, he is called the "occasionally returning customer." Developers can potentially return this group with appropriate targeting and updates.

Demry:
“The goal in this segment is reactivation. In the [segment] of occasionally returning buyers, there are many easily accessible ways to make a profit. To determine the future potential of each player in this group, it is important to monitor the duration of the absence of the player and the level of his activity before leaving. ”

“Another parameter that needs to be monitored is the first transition to the stage of the life cycle of occasionally returning buyers (IWP). By observing the number of transitions to the IVP cycle, we can assess if there is a risk of withdrawal and non-return for individual players, or if they simply took a short pause. Players who first entered the IVP cycle should receive stronger offers and should be paid more attention to than players who have left and returned several times. ”

“Another important factor is the longevity of the game. Players who quit after 90 days of the game are much more likely to return than players who remain in the game for a shorter or longer time. Ninety days is the peak duration of the game, because the players who have lasted so long, on the one hand, are already familiar with the brand, and on the other hand, they have not played long enough to leave the game forever. After 90 days of inactivity, the likelihood of reactivation is significantly reduced. You can try to “sell” them other developer games. ”

Reacted Buyers


And finally, the players who have completed the full cycle. They switched from active purchases to making purchases occasionally, and now they are back in the game. According to Optimove, it is very likely that they will quickly leave the game again, so it’s important for developers to pay attention to them.

Demry:
“The goal here is to“ grow ”the players again so that they remain active for as long as possible. First you need to distinguish them by the method of reactivation. Players who reactivate with a purchase usually remain more likely than players who reactivate to just play. ”

“Experienced players who recently quit and then reactivated do not need to be familiar with the brand and product. Players who haven’t been around for a long time and who haven’t played so much may need to become familiar with the brand. Therefore, these types of players need to send different messages. ”

How to use this information


At this stage, it is clear that all successful mobile developers are aware of the various stages in the relationship of social players with the game. But creating an understanding of these categories and how to interact with them is still very important for any developing studio.

Of course, understanding and influencing players requires the collection and processing of large amounts of data. Knowing this and knowing what to do with it are two completely different things. Therefore, the market for b2b tools for social and mobile games is so large.

And so we see how even the largest developers like Blizzard choose a universal approach, which includes the constant addition of new content and events that attracts all types of players in the Optimove classification.

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