The viral goldrush is over. Customer acquisition (CPA) costs are rising. The solution: use game mechanics to drive retention and engagment.
Here are practical examples and behavioural psychology examples to retain users and drive revenue.
2. Nicholas Lovell, GAMESbrief
Author, How to Publish a Game
Director, GAMESbrief
Clients include Atari, Channel 4,
Channelflip, Firefly, nDreams and
Rebellion
@nicholaslovell / @gamesbrief
3. I’ll get some visitors
Some who visit will register
Some who register will
subscribe
Subscribers will spend an
average of £10 per month
I’ll put my Maserati on order
1% convert = £1,000.00
1% convert = £10.00
Say each costs £0.10
Only if the average user
stays for 100 months!
How most people start
4. ARM yourself
Hoping for the best is not good enough, you need to
ARM yourself
ACQUISITION: How do I get people through the door
cost-effectively?
RETENTION: How do I keep people coming back for
more?
MONETISATION: How do I build money-making
strategies into gameplay
Most developers focus on one of these
All three are really important
7. Why the funnel matters
The funnel matters because it is your entire business
To emphasise that, we need Equation I
CPA < LTV = good business
CPA > LTV = trouble
Where:
CPA is cost to acquire a user
LTV is the Life Time Value of a user
You can improve your business by decreasing CPA or by
increasing LTV
8. The old Holy Grail: virality
A viral business can be an insanely profitable business
CPA is close to zero, so even if LTV is low, your business is
great
Time for Equation II:
Viral coefficient = A% x B x C%
Where
A% = Percentage of your users who invite a friend
B = Number of friends they invite
C% = Percentage of friends who accept the invitation
If viral coefficient > 1.3, time to order the Maserati
9. Viral businesses
TRUE FALSE
Virality != spam
Viral businesses add value to their users through virality,
not just to themselves
Chasing virality is a fool’s errand; chase retention instead
10. The new Holy Grail: Retention
Buying customers is expensive
Buying customers is necessary
Pouring customers into a leaky bucket is stupid
Ergo: Retention is the new Holy Grail
And the most forgotten
11. How to chase retention
Retention is in your control: it is all about gameplay
Ask yourself:
How can I make it fun and rewarding to
come back every day
Remember that different gamer-types find different things
rewarding
19. Conclusion
RETENTION is a gameplay issue
Think about game mechanics which can reward,
delight and entertain players (while making them
come back)
Make the transition from ONE MORE GO to COME
BACK TOMORROW