GameDev 2017 - Mike Hines "What the Top 50 Apps Do With In App Purchasing That The Rest of Us Don’t"
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The document compares the in-app purchasing strategies of the top 50 grossing apps to other freemium apps. It finds that the top apps have higher conversion rates, average selling prices, and average revenue per paying user due to strategies like engaging users early, making it easy for users to return, differentiating their in-app catalog, and designing in-app purchases into the core game experience. The top apps also have longer user sessions and retention through social features, adjustable difficulty levels, and catering to their best customers.
GameDev 2017 - Mike Hines "What the Top 50 Apps Do With In App Purchasing That The Rest of Us Don’t"
- 1. WHAT THE TOP 50 APPS DO WITH IAP THAT THE REST OF US DON’T Reach Engage Earn MIKE HINES DEVELOPER EVANGELIST, AMAZON @MikeFHines mikehines45 mihines@amazon.com
- 2. I N T R O D U C T I O N Mike Hin es Developer Evangelist, Amazon Appstore @MikeFHines Founder @ 2 Financial Services Startups Founder @ 2 Software Startups QA Engineer @ Now Software QA Manager, Product Manager @ Microsoft Evangelist @ Amazon.com Mentor @ GameFounders, Dev Bootcamp Games Judge @Casual Connect Indie Prize, White Nights, and Pocket Gamer Very Big Indie Pitch Speaker @ GDC, GDCE, Casual Connect, Pocket Gamer Connects, AnDevCon, White Nights, CES, PAX Dev
- 3. How the Top 50 apps did vs. the rest of us
- 4. Cohort Analysis Group A: Top-50 Grossing Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium
- 5. Day 1: Installs Group A: Top-50 Grossing iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 100100 installed
- 6. Day 1: Active Users Group A: Top-50 Grossing iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiii 4142 In active 5958 active
- 7. Day 1: Uninstalls Group A: Top-50 Grossing iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiii1318 uninstalled 5958 active
- 8. Day 1: Paying Users Group A: Top-50 Grossing iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiii1318 uninstalled 5958 active 33 paying
- 9. 2.6 2.9 Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Day 1: Engagement Group A: Top-50 Grossing iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Group B: Rest of Freemium iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiii1318 uninstalled 5958 active 33 paying # of sessions / active session length / active (minutes) × = avg. session length (minutes) 6.9 7.4 1822
- 10. 6.9 7.4 2.6 2.9 Day 1: Revenue Group A: Top-50 Grossing iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiii =× # of items / paying 100% 112% avg. selling price 100% 136% 100% 154% ARPPU 1318 uninstalled 5958 active 33 paying # of sessions / active session length / active (minutes) × = avg. session length (minutes) 18 22
- 11. Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 1 Day Later… Group A: Top-50 Grossing ii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Group B: Rest of Freemium ii Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii # of sessions / active session length / active (minutes) × avg. session length (minutes) 1725 uninstalled 3437 active 11 paying =× # of items / paying 100% 106% avg. selling price 100% 107% 100% 114% ARPPU 6.7 7.7 3.2 3.5 21 27= # of sessions / active
- 12. 3 Days Later… Group A: Top-50 Grossing iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii # of sessions / active session length / active (minutes) × avg. session length (minutes) 1928 uninstalled 1923 active =× # of items / paying 100% 107% avg. selling price 100% 122% 100% 131% ARPPU 5.9 7.9 2.6 3.2 15 25 = # of sessions / active
- 13. 1 Week Later… Group A: Top-50 Grossing iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii # of sessions / active session length / active (minutes) × avg. session length (minutes) 2032 uninstalled 1418 active =× # of items / paying 100% 102% avg. selling price 100% 121% 100% 124% ARPPU 5.7 7.4 2.6 3.2 15 24 = # of sessions / active
- 14. 2 Weeks Later… Group A: Top-50 Grossing iiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii # of sessions / active session length / active (minutes) × avg. session length (minutes) 2134 uninstalled 1014 active =× # of items / paying 100% 111% avg. selling price 100% 108% 100% 120% ARPPU 5.7 7.3 2.5 3.1 14 22= # of sessions / active
- 15. 1 Month Later… Group A: Top-50 Grossing iiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 Group B: Rest of Freemium iiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii # of sessions / active session length / active (minutes) × = avg. session length (minutes) 2236 uninstalled 48 active =× # of items / paying 100% 103% avg. selling price 100% 128% 100% 131% ARPPU 5.9 7.3 2.4 3.1 14 23 # of sessions / active
- 16. Hours Since App Download IN-APP PURCHASING BY HOUR Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 0 24 48 72 96 120 144 168 192 216 240 264 288
- 17. PRICE INCREASES OVER TIME Days User Owned App 80% 90% 100% 110% 120% 130% 140% 150% 160% 170% 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 +60% average selling price
- 18. WHAT WE LEARNED The top have higher average price points You can charge more in the right place and time. Session length and count are important Retention is not the only important metric.
- 19. What the top 50 do differently -- Selling
- 20. THE TOP DEVELOPERS KNOW THE NUMBERS ? ENGAGE CUSTOMER EARLY MAKE IT EASY TO COME BACK GIVE THEM A REASON TO COME BACK 37% of users who will purchase, purchase on the first day 48% of repeat purchases happen within one hour of a previous purchase 64% of revenue comes from 3rd order + 74% of revenue occurs after first 7 days 56% of revenue occurs after first 30 days
- 21. THE TOP DEVELOPERS KNOW THE NUMBERS ? ENGAGE CUSTOMER EARLY MAKE IT EASY TO COME BACK GIVE THEM A REASON TO COME BACK 37% of users who will purchase, purchase on the first day 48% of repeat purchases happen within one hour of a previous purchase 64% of revenue comes from 3rd order + 74% of revenue occurs after first 7 days 56% of revenue occurs after first 30 days
- 22. Apps with tutorials that introduce IAP items HAVE A 2.5x HIGHER CONVERSION RATESource: Amazon Appstore, July 2013
- 23. Apps showing users how to “consume” GET MORE REPEAT ORDERS Games that providing a post-purchasing tutorial generated 65% more repeat orders than the market average. Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
- 24. Games with bigger selection RECEIVE MORE ORDERS PER CUSTOMER Developers that add new items regularly are able to re-engage their paying customers. 1.14% of the customers generate 30% of sales. Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 69% 100% 145% 1-5 Items 6-10 Items 11-15 Items ARPPU by # of IAP items for sale
- 25. Conversion Rate INDEX: Average = 100% Don’t confuse your customer OFFER VARIETY, BUT NOT TOO MUCH Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014 147% 101% 52% 0% 50% 100% 150% 200% 1-5 Price Points 6-10 Price Points 11-15 Price Points
- 26. Where do apps GENERATE THE MOST REVENUE A 2016 study by Swrve shows that disproportional revenue is generated from higher end price points. © Swrve 2016 Mobile Monetization Report – used with permission
- 27. To sell more IAP items, BE CLEAR ABOUT VALUE Make it obvious what the benefit is for buying different price items. Confused customers don’t buy anything.
- 28. WHAT WE LEARNED Games with bigger selection RECEIVE MORE ORDERS Tutorials that introduce in-app items HAVE HIGHER CONVERSION Showing users how to “consume” GETS REPEAT ORDERS Treating in-app items like a catalogue MAKES IT EASY TO SHOP 1.14% of paying customers generate 30% of sales
- 29. What the top 50 do differently -- Engagement
- 30. REDUCE BARRIERS TO FREQUENT USE
- 31. Tuning Game Difficulty WILL ENCOURAGE LONGER SESSIONS Too hard, and users will abandon. Too easy, and they can get bored. Just right, and it becomes addictive!
- 32. An active community can IMPROVE ENGAGEMENT, ACQUISITION AND RETENTION By creating: • Influencers • Content Creators • Revenue Opportunities
- 33. Leaderboards and Achievements are THE MINIMUM BAR FOR SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
- 34. FAN CREATED CONTENT IN YOUR COMMUNITY
- 35. To be in control, HAVE A LOT OF LEVERS Measure with Analytics, and use A|B Testing to fine-tune everything from game difficulty to IAP menu choices.
- 36. Design IAP into the fabric of your game MAKE IT EASY TO BUY Offering ways to buy your IAP items when they are needed will increase conversion. Apps that made it easy to shop INCREASED REVENUE 75% (ARPPU)
- 37. WHAT WE LEARNED Add social and tweak game difficulty to INCREASE TIME AND COUNT OF SESSIONS Cater to your best and longest customers with clear value DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG Give yourself control of your game in the wild IMPLEMENT A|B TESTING
- 38. IF YOU ONLY DO ONE THING… Cater to your best and longest customers DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG
- 39. IF YOU ONLY DO TWO THINGS… Cater to your best and longest customers DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG Make sure your IAP catalogs are CLEAR ABOUT VALUE
- 40. IF YOU ONLY DO TWO THINGS… Cater to your best and longest customers DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG Make sure your IAP catalogs are CLEAR ABOUT VALUE
Editor's Notes
- #36: Content creators also share their work in other ways. Here’s an example of fan art in Club Penguin. Disney doesn’t send lawyers after 9-year olds who make Club Penguin art, they help promote the art!