Mike Hines, evangelist of the development department in Amazon.com , told at White Nights St.Petersburg 2016 how the top 50 box office games differ from other projects.
Company Amazon.com I studied what and how the top 50 highest-grossing games are sold. To do this, user groups and their behavior were considered. The purpose of the study, according to Hines, was the urgent need to improve the ecosystem of the industry as a whole. Since so far more than half of developers on Amazon Fire Os earn less than $500 per month on their own applications.
The study was conducted on the retailer’s own gaming platform. The following patterns were found out.
On the first day, user activity in the top 50 apps (Group A) and in other apps (group B) remained almost the same. These are 58 and 59 people, respectively.
The number of aninstalls on the first day in group A turned out to be, oddly enough, higher. 18 people deleted the application. In Group B, this number was only 13 users. Paying users there and there turned out to be equally: 3 people.
Then the differences began. On the first day, the statistics revealed the following: the average length of sessions in group A is 7.4 minutes, and in group B – 6.9 minutes. On average, users from group A played 2.9 times a day, and users in group B only 2.6 times. In total, the session length in the top applications was 22 minutes per day, and in group B – 18 minutes.
Users of top games bought more often (112% vs. 100%) and at a more expensive price (136% vs. 100%). Which eventually gave 54% of the difference in ARPPU.
A month later, the difference remained. The length of sessions in Group A remained longer, ARPPU was 31% higher.
What made such a difference? From the point of view of the cost of the iAP, Hines highlighted several points.
The price of in-game purchases in Group A grew over time. Engaged users paid 60% more in a month than at the very beginning.
In cash applications, purchases were demonstrated in the tutorial. As well as the value of these purchases – what they are needed for and what they give. In addition, successful games demonstrated the benefits of IAPs even after purchase. That is, they reminded users about their benefits. And as a result, they received 65% more repeat purchases than the rest.
The next important point is that the more choice there is, the more willing users are to make purchases. Games in which there were 6-10 IAP options were accepted for 100%. ARPPU in projects where there were 11-15 iAP options turned out to be 45% more.
But the previous paragraph only concerns the choice of purchases. The variety in prices confuses the user and makes him buy less willingly.
Another important point is not to force the user to count. If the developer offers a link, then you need to tell the user how much he will benefit from this purchase.
An unequal way to offer bundlesThe right way
