growtalks - level up your engagement - insider tips from a mobile games leader - derek yip

LEVEL UP YOUR ENGAGEMENTINSIDER TIPS FROM A MOBILE GAMES LEADER

ABOUT MYSELF

‣ Product Team Lead at A Thinking Ape

‣ 12 years in the video and mobile game industry

‣ Grew up on games, and still play them today

‣ I am not here to talk about the gaming industry

‣ I am here to talk about ENGAGEMENT

USER ENGAGEMENT

‣ ATA has two very popular mobile games

‣ Ranked on the Top Grossing Charts

‣ Why? A Highly ENGAGED Player Base

PARTY IN MY DORM KINGDOMS AT WAR

KINGDOMS AT WAR

‣ Consistently a Top 50 Grossing Game

‣ #20 just this December

‣ Released Four years ago

‣ One of the oldest, if not the oldest, game that is on the top grossing charts

KINGDOMS AT WAR VS OTHER PRODUCTS

‣ What is the secret to its success?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Day 1Day 10

Day 30Day 90

Day 180Day 360

‣ Shown Above - Retention Data

‣ Key Difference Maker - Long Term Engagement

WHERE DID WE GO WRONG?

‣ When designing a product, we focus on

‣ Design - Does it give users what they want?

‣ Art/Sound/UX - Is it Satisfying and intuitive to use?

‣ Content - Do users want your content?

‣ Both games executed equally well in these areas.

ANALYZING THE DIFFERENCE

‣ Started looking beyond the core product

‣ Examined the communities and social relationships formed

‣ Actions performed between two players

‣ Actions performed as a group

‣ Actions involving messages and chat

‣ The above actions, on a per user basis, has a direct correlation with the success of our products

THE KEY DIFFERENCE

‣ Our users do not naturally want to be Social

‣ We created the Incentives for our users to initiate Social Actions

‣ Social actions is what led to a high level of Engagement

INCENTIVESare the key to

ENGAGEMENT

ENGAGEMENT NEEDS INCENTIVES

‣ Incentivize User to User Interaction

‣ Incentivize Community Actions

‣ Incentivize Community Competition

‣ Incentivize their Next Visit

INCENTIVIZE USER TO USER INTERACTION

‣ Get your users interacting with each other at every opportunity possible

‣ In Games - User to User Gifting

‣ On Facebook - Likes

‣ On Linked In - Endorsements

‣ All these examples require 1 Button Press and incentivize your users to respond

INCENTIVIZE COMMUNITY ACTIONS

‣ Make group actions more rewarding than any individual actions.

‣ In Games - Let groups tackle challenges together

‣ Online Store - Give out free bonuses to all buyers when X number of a product is sold

‣ Kickstarter - Gated content until it has reached a number of supporters

‣ Give them an incentive to work together and communicate with each other.

INCENTIVIZE COMMUNITY COMPETITION

‣ Competing with real people is extremely compelling

‣ Keys to creating an amazing competitive environment

‣ Real People - Get your users competing with each other

‣ Make them work - Points, Trophies, Posts, Reviews, Check-ins

‣ Visible Reward - Not Real, but Visible

INCENTIVIZE COMMUNITY COMPETITION

‣ Examples Include

‣ Games - Leaderboards w/Prizes

‣ Yelp - Yelp VIP Status and Events

‣ FourSquare - Mayorships

INCENTIVIZE THEIR NEXT VISIT

‣ Treat your users as if it is the last time you will see them

‣ Give them a reason to return

‣ But how?

INCENTIVIZE THEIR NEXT VISIT

‣ It is already done. Your users are now the ones driving each other to return because they are all connected.

‣ Every time a message is sent between users, it brings them back

‣ Every time a group needs help, it brings them back

‣ Every time a competition is updated, it brings them back

You have created a

POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOPfor User Engagement

BOTTOM LINE

‣ No matter how great your product’s Design, UX, Art, and Sound is, it can be replicated

‣ In a competitive marketplace, any success will inspire others just like you

‣ You have no competitive advantage

FOCUS ON CREATING SOCIAL CONNECTIONS

‣ You need to create something that cannot be replicated

‣ Incentivize your users to create social connections

‣ These social connections will keep your users coming back

‣ #1 Reason why our players keep playing our games

‣ They care who they play with. The only place they can do that is within our games.

THE PILLARS OF ENGAGEMENT SUCCESS

‣ Incentivize User to User Interaction

‣ Incentivize Community Actions

‣ Incentivize Community Competition

‣ and it will incentivize their next visit.

‣ Returning users are the key to long term user engagement.

THANK YOUQUESTIONS?