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从行销角度谈可用于产品层面的用户留存策略

发布时间:2017-06-30 09:39:22 Tags:,

本文原作者:Pepe Agell 译者游戏邦ciel chen

如何正确地守住用户留存量是非很艰难的。来自Appboy的近期报道表明有超过75%的新用户在第一天使用应用过后就不再登陆应用了。

我们举个《精灵宝可梦》的例子:除去所有的炒作和这款游戏在手游市场上最初优秀的表现不提,最近的报道都表明这款游戏在7月份丢失了大概1000万的日活跃用户人数——这造成了这款游戏在用户留存量上的骤降。

用户留存量就是衡量游戏成功的标志。众多的用户留存量意味着为积累用户投入的资金正在被充分利用——更多的用户就意味着应用内购买行为的概率增加。

而且用户留存会比用户获取更划得来,基本上用户获取的成本比用户留存多六到七倍。

根据Verto Analytics提供的数据分析,Supercell的《冲突部落》和《Boom Beach》自发行起已经过了两年,然而它们仍保持着39%的第7日用户留存率。

Boom Beach(from pocketgamer.biz)

Boom Beach(from pocketgamer.biz)

《Boom Beach》发行了两年以后,仍然有着39%的第七日用户留存率。

所以独立游戏开发者可以沿袭Supercell的哪些方面来提高手游用户留存量呢?

去了解玩家需求

一款手游,一旦它可以在App store上下载,开发者就要开启分析游戏的最大档位,尽可能多地去了解玩家基础。

“玩家留存最终会以去吸引每个玩家的方式去施行。”《Perchang and Warhammer Quest》的创作人Ben Murch这样说道,“我们【游戏行业】经常把游戏想成一个很广泛笼统的概念,然而,要做到让每个玩家愿意赏脸留下来玩你的游戏真的很重要。”

通过游戏的后台分析,开发者可以收集到构成游戏玩家基础的结构资料,从而更好地根据玩家喜好来做出符合玩家胃口的游戏更新。不仅如此,这种分析还能帮助开发者辨析游戏可能出错的地方并快速地修复漏洞。举个例子,在GDC的一次著名演讲中,《糖果粉碎》的创作人就讲述了他们是如何利用分析学来分析哪些关卡太简单,或者哪些关卡太困难。

King游戏公司利用分析学来提高《糖果粉碎》这样游戏的用户留存量

Candy Crush Saga(from pocketgamer.biz)

Candy Crush Saga(from pocketgamer.biz)

然后他们根据分析的结果对困难关卡进行调整,确保能在60秒内通关困难关卡的玩家之后得以在一些简单些的关卡进行放松和充电。

由于Apple和Google现在承诺对游戏更新内容的审批时间在24小时以内,开发者因此可以快速地用游戏内分析法根据玩家行为进行调整——这防止了短期挫折所造成的混乱。

多和玩家交流

曾几何时游戏都是没有动态交流的——比如《俄罗斯方块》还有每个用CD安装的电脑或者电子游戏。而如今,大部分游戏恰恰相反——在它们进行初期发行后,往往存在需要多次迭代的可能性。

因为玩家希望开发者能支持单款游戏长时间运作下去,所以手游都开始以服务为主要运作原则。这就意味着开发者必须花时间和精力来把服务支持模型作为游戏设计的一部分看待。

一个有效的、基于服务的用户留存策略就是同玩家的有效交流,比如说让玩家时刻跟上游戏动态就是这样一种有效交流。

像Facebook、Twitter和Youtube这样的社交渠道就是开发者可以用来给自己游戏的粉丝推送游戏新特色的很好途径。比如说,Supercell就让它们信赖的YouTube主播来介绍《皇室战争》的新卡——这即让更广泛的群体知道了这个游戏,同时又将游戏新内容的信息推送给了玩家。

同时,游戏内交流也可以被很好地利用从而通过在合适的时间对合适的玩家群体来发布一些相关信息。

根据Marketing Land网站我们那些向指定用户群体(比如说24岁的都市男性)推送提醒的应用开发者能获取13%的点击率——这基本上是对应用的全体用户无差别推送消息所获点击率的两倍,这表明:开发者需要对推送信息进行提炼,让这些信息更有效地被那些关键用户接收到。

要制定匹配自己游戏类型的变现策略

最后,开发者要细心考虑它们的盈收(变现)策略:它是否能鼓励玩家重返游戏?

尽管大部分游戏开发者都倾向于应用内购买和手游广告的变现策略,Apple 和Google公司却决定开始激励使用订阅模式,这可以让开发者在服务上保持高效性——这是Tin Man Games的共同创始人Neil Rennison提出的。

《Choices: And The Sun Went Out》使用订阅模式来使游戏变现以及留住玩家。

“对于《Choices: And The Sun Went Out》来说,我们决定采取订阅模式,因为我们的游戏主要是以故事为基础内容(每周会更新新的内容),所以订阅模式确保了我们长期的用户留存量。”

虽然订阅模式并不是对每个游戏开发者都适用的,但开发者可以对如何调整盈收模式来匹配他们的用户基础做做考虑。

Bethesda游戏工作室的F2P模拟游戏《Fallout Shelter》在2015年发行的时候,盈收情况比较紧张,但是它的低成本增强包机制符合其铁杆游戏粉丝的快节奏游戏风格。

对于那些希望通过广告盈收的游戏,它们会发现游戏中途的停顿会让玩家直接地与支付酬金登广告的广告商进行有意义的交互行为。

所以并不存在能增加手游用户留存率的统一适用法——每款游戏都各有各的不同,每家游戏公司都会找到各自不同的方法来增加这个关键指标。

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Getting retention right is tough. A recent report from Appboy showed that more than 75% of new users fail to return to an app the day after first use.

Take Pokemon GO for example: despite all the hype and initially excellent performance in the mobile games market, recent reports suggest the game has lost 10 million DAUs during July – leading to a dramatic decline in retention.

Retention is paramount for game success. Strong retention numbers means the money spent accumulating users is being put to good use – and more users means increased in-app purchasing opportunities.

What’s more, retention is actually more cost-effective than acquisition, which can cost six to seven times more.

Fortunately, many game developers have taken the retention challenge head-on and succeeded with a focus on game design and retention tactics such as monetisation and effective in-game communication.

According to Verto Analytics, Supercell’s Clash of Clans and Boom Beach were still achieving Day 7 retention rates of 39% – nearly two years after each game had launched.

Boom Beach had Day 7 retention rates as high as 39% two years after launch.

So, how can indie devs follow Supercell’s lead to improve their mobile game’s retention?

Know your players

Once a mobile game is available in an app store, devs should kick their analytics game into high gear to learn as much about the player base as possible.

“Player retention ultimately comes down to appealing to the individual player,” says Ben Murch, creator of Perchang and Warhammer Quest.

“We [the games industry] often think of games in broad, sweeping terms. However, getting individuals to buy into your title on a personal level is the most important thing.”

By implementing back-end analytics, devs can glean the demographic makeup of their game’s player base, making it easier for them to update or support the game to suit the tastes of those players.

Analytics will also help a developer identify where a game might be going wrong and fix it quickly. For example, in a famous talk at GDC, the makers of Candy Crush Saga spoke about how they used analytics to determine when levels were too easy or hard.

King uses analytics to improve retention in its games like Candy Crush Saga.

They then tweaked the difficulty level to ensure that a player who cleared the hard to beat levels in the mid ‘60s was able to relax and recharge with some simpler levels afterwards.

And with Apple and Google now committing to update approval times of less than 24 hours, developers with in-game analytics can rapidly adjust to user behavior – stopping short-term frustration from turning into churn.

Communicate with players

Mobile games used to be static – think Tetris and every PC and console game that was contained in a CD. Most mobile games today, in contrast, have the potential for many iterations after the initial release.

Because devs are expected support a single game for a long time, mobile games have come to operate like services. That means devs must expend time and effort toward supporting the service element of the model as part of the game design.

One effective service-based retention tactic is effective communication, i.e. keeping players up to date with what’s going on in a game.

Social channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be great places to inform avid players of new features. For example, Supercell allows trusted YouTube influencers to introduce new Clash Royale cards – feeding the broader community and informing players at the same time.

Meanwhile, in-app communications can be used successfully to spread relevant messages by targeting the right players at the right time.

According to Marketing Land, app developers who send push notifications to users segmented by profile (e.g. 24-year-old, urban male) generate an average CTR of 13%.

This is nearly twice as effective as sending a notification to an app’s entire user base, suggesting that developers need to hone in their message to hit key user groups effectively.

Match monetisation to genre

Finally, devs should carefully consider their monetisation strategy: does it encourage players to keep coming back?

While most game developers currently favor in-app purchases or mobile advertising, Apple and Google’s decision to encourage the use of subscription models could help developers with services to retain effectively – according to Neil Rennison, co-founder of Tin Man Games.
Choices: And The Sun Went Out uses the subscription model to monetise and retain players.

“For Choices: And The Sun Went Out, we decided to go for a subscription model,” Rennison explains.

“As our game is mainly story based (with new content delivered weekly), subscription ensures we can retain players over a long period.”

So, while subscription might not be right for every developer out there, developers can think about adjusting monetisation to fit the habits of their userbase.

Bethesda Game Studios’ free-to-play simulation game, Fallout Shelter, might have only monetised briefly when it launched in 2015, but its low-cost booster pack mechanics fit the fast play style of its hardcore fans.

For games looking to monetise with advertisements, finding pauses in play will allow players to meaningfully interact with revenue generating display adverts.

There is no one-size-fits all approach to improving mobile game retention. Every game is different and each company will find different ways to increase this all-important metric.(source:pocketgamer.biz


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