Player Re-engagement Strategies - Games

Player Re-engagement Strategies - Games

My game went live in all major app stores and it got huge number of organic downloads and things were looking good. However, after a few days, it was observed that a number of valuable players are churning out. what to do now?

Should I go and spend a lot of money on user acquisition (UA)? Sounds reasonable because my game is doing well. In my opinion, instead of spending 100% money on UA let's spend some % on Re-engagement and rest we can spend on UA. As per the current market, we need to spend minimum $2 to get new user. But with the same cost, we can convert 3-4 valuable inactive players to active users if we apply the correct re-engagement strategy.

Follow me to know more about re-engagement strategies.

In my post I am going to cover below elements:

-- What is meant by re-engagement & its importance?

-- Why should I go for re-engagement campaigns?

-- Analyse before spending on re-engagement campaigns.

-- Inactive player segments.

-- Re-engagement strategies.

-- Sources/Networks to conduct re-engagement.

-- Challenges in re-engagement.

What is mean by re-engagement & its use:

It's a process of getting back our churned/dropped out most valuable
players back to the game and re-engage them to play.

Below are the uses of re-engagement:

-- Can convert paid inactive users to active users.

-- Make players to re-install our game again.

-- Can improve rolling Retention.

-- Can improve DAU and MAU.

-- Can improve revenue.

-- Improves LTV, ARPU etc.

-- More chance to improve free to paid player conversion.

Why Should I go for re-engagement campaign:

Let’s say my game has 1 million downloads and once players deleted
my game then how can I approach them? Also, how to get them back
to my game? It’s a very big challenge and here, re-engagement campaigns
come into the picture.

Analyse before spending on re-engagement campaigns:

We should do below things before we start re-engagement campaigns.

-- First and foremost thing is we should understand the game mechanics
completely to apply correct strategy.

-- Better understanding of user behaviour. (In my coming posts will give
in-depth analysis)

-- Identifying right segment of inactive players.

-- Should understand game KPIs.

-- Should understand where users are dropping out.

-- Needs in-depth analysis on game revenue and future scope.

Inactive player segments:

We need to identify the inactive player segments, based on which, we should
apply re-engagement strategy and start campaign on selected segment of users.
Below are the most identified player segments to select for re-engagement
campaigns.

-- Segment of players who are not playing from past 3-4 days.

-- Players who have not reached a particular level in game and inactive.

-- Players who have not completed particular content and inactive.

-- Whales & dolphins who are inactive based on game version.

-- Players who have not paid and are inactive. (free users)

-- Players who made at least one IAP and inactive. (Paid users)

-- Players who completed entire game content and waiting for new content.

-- Players who are waiting for new mechanics.

Re-engagement strategies:

When we apply right strategy on right segment of players then with less cost
we can re-engage most of our churned out players.

Below are the most identified strategies.

-- Showcase newly added content.

-- Newly added discounts and offers.

-- Limited time offers.

-- New game update.

-- New game mechanics introduced.

-- If any premium content prices decreased.

-- New game controls introduced.

-- Players feedback fixes.

-- Progression block fixes, if any.

-- Overall price changes.

-- Give free in-game currency.

-- Give some free content.

-- Live events.

Priority segment:

Mobile Re-engagement platforms:

 -- Facebook
 -- Twitter
-- Google Adwords
-- DBM
-- Third party networks

Re-engagement cycle:

Deep Linking:

Deep linking plays a major role in re-engagement. Here is the reason.

When player clicks on re-engagement ad then it should redirect to game,
if game is in the device, or it will redirect to store. This will happen when
deep linking is present.

Challenges in re-engagement campaigns approach:

Below are the  challenges we have in re-engagement campaigns.

-- Reach percentage:

We need to identify and choose the network/platform which have more database

to reach most of the segmented or targeted players.

-- Conversions:

To increase the player conversions (inactive → Active → IAPs) should apply

correct re-engagement strategy on segment.

-- Right message or impression to the right person 

Tips:

-- Understand the game and your player's behaviour.

 -- Identify right segment of users based on their paths/actions in the game.

 -- Apply right strategy to right segment.

 -- Impressions should be based on re-engagement strategy.

 -- Should try different impressions in campaigns to identify the impressions which are giving most conversions.

 -- Identify the right platform/network to run campaigns.

 -- Closely monitor the campaigns and spendings.

 -- Closely monitor the conversions.

Thanks for reading and stay tune for new posts related to Mobile game engagement and monetisations.