作者：Brendan O’Kane

提到一般的游戏玩家，我想多数人脑海中浮现的就是一个少年的形象，他手中持有最新的游戏控制器，以及装载着热门游戏应用的强大移动设备。

虽然这是人们对于游戏玩家的一个典型印象，但可能未必准确。

据ESA数据显示，今天的一般游戏玩家平均年龄为30岁左右（游戏邦注：过去这一数据为37岁，但ESA最近更新了数据），并且拥有12年的游戏史。其中有三分之二为成人，女性玩家占半数比例。可见当前的游戏玩家群体所呈现的多元化已经超出多数人的想象。

除此之外，这些玩家在游戏上的消费潜力也十分惊人，他们2011年在游戏及其设备上的投入高达247亿美元。这一群体正是游戏应用营销人员所瞄准的目标市场。

移动营销信息：物以稀为贵

今天的手机游戏玩家可以接收到由营销人员发送出的数十亿条推送通知，手机邮件信息，甚至是一些即时通讯信息，其目标可能是鼓励玩家进行注册、社交分享或购买IAP内容。尽管移动设备比之前的任何创新产品更具品牌粘性的潜力，但其中的许多营销信息并未达到预期效果。

调查研究表明，信息超负荷的现象导致69%手机用户不愿继续订阅相关服务，还有60%用户表示他们不订阅服务的原因在于，这些营销信息与自己的关联度不大。那么营销人员应该如何加强与游戏玩家的联系，以便最大化移动营销信息的效用呢？

很简单，使用一些数据分析手段。

移动信息分析或许还处于早期阶段，但已经能够帮助开发者及营销人员捕捉玩家的长期关注度、提升用户粘性以及投资回报率。移动分析工具可以结合个体信息副本、用户行为和实时数据来瞄准游戏玩家。其监测的情况包括通知发送及开启的对比情况，每次会话时长，重复访问次数、在应用中的操作，以及社交分享或升级等营销目标。

另一个测量移动信息有效性的强大方法就是进行A/B分离测试，使用不同版本的信息测试风格、紧迫性、个性化或号召力等方面的表现，不断测试，并通过反馈进行优化和改良。营销人员可通过实时数据获知哪些信息可产生最大回报率，并运用于未来的营销活动。

通过智能而具有可操作性的分析工具，营销人员可辨别出哪些信息可行，哪些不可行，并以此设计与个体手机游戏玩家相匹配的营销信息。这正是今天许多手机应用向用户发出推送通知所需注意的事项。

Mobile-Marketing(from rylanclayne)

推送通知的潜力

提到手机游戏和应用，推送通知就是这些游戏应用开发者和营销人员接触用户的首选方式。单是苹果就已经递关了1.5万亿条推送通知，日均推送、接收和执行的通知超过10亿条。

对于希望提升玩家参与度的营销人员来说，推送通知的确是最佳手段。有72%玩家表示，比起具有干扰性的条幅广告，他们对富有沉浸感的广告和推送通知更有好感。

开发者和营销人员必须创造能够在合适的时机提供价值的信息，在游戏领域中，这里所谓的“价值”可以是新关卡、“特权”或“技能树”，新扩展内容包或晋升到新关卡的XP。因此实时分析相关策略的可行性，这一点至关重要。通过A/B分离测试，然后重新定位以增化信息、品牌内容，有利于让这些营销内容在玩家心里和钱包中建立起一种价值感。

移动分析手段能够在合适的时间明确广泛游戏群体中每个成员的正确信息，这是一个双赢策略：玩家获得了更优质的游戏体验，而品牌广告也得到了长期的用户粘性及投资回报。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Pushy business: The world of mobile gaming engagement

Brendan O’Kane

When picturing the average gamer, I wouldn’t blame you if your mental image depicts a teenage male. He’s got the latest gaming console and the greatest mobile gadgets – loaded with every imaginable game app – all but surgically attached to his hands.

That image, though classic, would be inaccurate.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, today’s average gamer is 30 years old (it had been 37, but the ESA recently changed its metrics for this statistic, resulting in the lower age) and has been playing for 12 years. About two-thirds are adults, and nearly half are women. Gamers clearly are a more diverse group than most people recognize.

Not only that, the buying power of gamers is evident in the $24.7 billion they spent on games and equipment in 2011. This makes the demographic an attractive target for marketers seeking to boost engagement with game apps. It’s also why marketers are following these consumers into the mobile space, where they spend so much of their time.

Mobile marketing messages: Less is more
Today, mobile gamers receive billions of push notifications, mobile e-mail, and even some SMS messages from marketers looking to drive player engagement though signups, social shares, and in-app purchases. Many of these messages, however, aren’t having their intended effect despite mobile devices holding more potential for brand engagement than any previous innovation.

Research shows that message overload results in 69 percent of mobile phone users to unsubscribe from mobile marketing updates, while 60 percent say they unsubscribe because the messages aren’t relevant to them. How can marketers seeking to enhance their connection with gamers maximize the likelihood that their mobile marketing messages will be opened and acted upon?

Simple. With measurement.

Mobile message analytics may be in its early stages, but it’s already capable of helping developers and marketers capture gamers’ long-term attention, boosting engagement, and return on investment. Mobile analytics can provide the tools to target game-playing mobile consumers by linking individual message copy to user behavior and gathering granular, real-time data. That includes pushes sent versus opened, session times, repeat visits, and in-app actions and marketing goals such as social sharing or upgrades.

Another powerful way to measure the effectiveness of a mobile message is through A/B split testing, wherein different versions of a message is used to test tone, urgency, personalization, or calls to action, which opens up a world of constant testing, feedback and improvement. Real-time data tells marketers which message gets the strongest return on investment and should be used on future campaigns.

With intelligent, actionable analytics, marketers can separate what works from what doesn’t and use that knowledge to craft well-timed messaging that is relevant to individual mobile gamers. This is the case with the push notifications that come with many of today’s apps.

And speaking of apps. …

The push-notification potential
Today, when it comes to mobile gaming, apps rule, and push notifications are the preferred method of game app developers and marketers to reach mobile gamers. Apple alone has delivered about 1.5 trillion; over a billion pushes daily have been sent, received and acted on.

For marketers who want to drive engagement with gamers, push notifications are the best bet. Gamers agree: 72 percent favor immersive ads and push notifications over banner ads, which are more like annoying mini-billboards screaming random offers.

Developers and marketers must create messaging that provides value, which in the gaming world might be reminders of new levels, “perks” for a “skill tree,” the announcement of a new expansion pack or enough XPs required to reach a new level – any one of which is delivered at the right time. Real-time analysis of what works and doesn’t is critical. Through techniques such as A/B split testing followed by retargeting to reinforce the message, brands can secure a valuable foothold in gamers’ minds, hearts and wallets.

Mobile analytics has the power to pinpoint the right messages for each member of the widely diverse gaming community at the right times. It’s a win-win: gamers get an enhanced play experience while brands score the long-term engagement and ROI they want.（source：venturebeat）