作者：Darren Keyes

在此要向那些不熟悉“cohorting”这一术语的人解释一下，它指的是创造用户分类，或者从技术上来说，是指一些人作为群组一样聚集在一起。你可以基于不同方式去划分用户群组。从手机游戏来看，最明显的群组划分是基于国家，设备或应用版本。根据这些常见的群组划分数据相对比较简单。而基于玩家行为（游戏邦注：不是通过简单的目标用户群体）去划分并分析用户更是创造出一款成功应用的关键。

cohort-laptop21（from venturebeat）

让我们假设你希望根据应用内部购买（IAP）去了解应用的深度。这时候你便可以根据用户的消费行为进行划分。参考赌场世界，大多数应用开发者将这些群组称为“鲸鱼”，“海豚”和“小鱼”，它们分别代表着“最大”，“中等”以及“最小”的消费者。基于消费群组而分析参数能够帮助你更好地判断是否应该投入更多去提高用户留存，可以说这是应用能否成功的指示器。较高的用户留存代表着愿意长久留在游戏中的用户越多，而这也意味着你能从中赚取更多利益。

消费群组很常见，只能勉强称得上是“定制群组”。在Fuse Powered，当我们谈论定制群组时，我们是根据他们消费的天数，或者他们当前所处游戏关卡去划分用户。这是一种强大的参数。举个例子来说吧，虽然校验你的最大买家很重要，但是如果你能够明确那些未在10天内继续玩游戏的最大买家，并想办法留住他们，这才更加重要。你应该基于用户的具体行为而使用具有个性和目标的告示将他们再次带回游戏中。

更深入的定制群组让你能够获得一些更有意义的数据，如了解那些对游戏做出一定贡献的玩家的平均收入。掌握这些详细信息能够帮助你为添加新关卡或为新玩家调整难度曲线建立一份商业案例。

如果你发现玩家陷入游戏中某一特定关卡时你会怎么做？你可以在这个关卡中面向所有玩家创建一个群组，即针对那些更经常玩游戏的玩家而言，并利用推送通知的方式给予提示。或者你可能想要看到玩家在首次进行IAP后能够更频繁地玩游戏。掌握了这些知识，你便能更早地将IAP呈现在玩家面前。定义和执行定制群组的选择和能量是无限大的。

我们能够使用手机应用工具供应商，如Fuseboxx等提供的定制群组工具而更好地回答这些问题。真正的问题将变成，你是否能够利用这些工具并根据用户行为对他们进行分析？如果做不到这点，你便有可能呈献给用户一些次优的体验，并错失大量利益。

（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）

The power of custom cohorting in mobile games

by Darren Keyes

For those unfamiliar with the term, ‘cohorting’ refers to creating user segments, or technically, a group of people banded together as a group. You can segment a user base in many different ways. Some of the more obvious cohorts in mobile gaming are based on country, device, or app version. It’s relatively simple to segment your data based on these common cohorts. However, one of the keys to making your apps successful is the ability to segment and analyze your users based on player behavior, rather than by simple demographics.

Let’s say you want to know how deep your app is in terms of in-app purchases (IAPs). You could segment your users based on spending behavior. Borrowing from the glitzy world of casinos, most app developers refer to these cohorts as “Whales,” “Dolphins” and “Minnows,” equating to “big,” “medium” and “small” spenders. Analyzing your metrics based on spending cohorts will provide insight on whether spending more increases retention, an indicator relevant to your app’s success. Quite simply, retention means your users are engaged, which means you’re making more money.

Spending cohorts are still fairly common and barely fit the definition of “custom cohort.” At Fuse Powered, when we talk about custom cohorts we’re referring to things like segmenting users based on how many days it took them to make a purchase, or what level of game play they are currently on. These are the metrics that pack a powerful punch. For example, it’s good to examine your big spenders, but it’s far more powerful to be able to identify and message your big spenders who haven’t played in 10 days to re-engage them. Win your users back by using a personalized and targeted notification based on specific behaviors.

Deeper custom cohorts allow you to dive into meaningful data like knowing the average revenue earned from all players who have made it to a specific point in your game. Having this detailed knowledge may help you build a business case for adding new levels, or steepening the difficulty curve for new players.

What if you found out players are getting stuck on a specific level in your game? You could build a cohort for all the players at this level who have played more times than average and send them a hint through a targeted push notification. Or maybe you want to see if players are playing more frequently after making a specific IAP as their first purchase. Having this knowledge could lead you to introduce this IAP earlier in the app experience. The options and power of defining and actioning custom cohorts are endless.

All of these questions can be answered and acted on with the custom cohort tools available from mobile app tool providers, like Fuseboxx. The real question becomes, are you taking advantage of these tools and analyzing your users based on their behavior? If not, you are most likely giving your users a sub-optimal experience, and leaving significant money on the table at the same time.(source:venturebeat)