In the world of free-to-play games, there are a variety of different ways to go about steering a player toward making a purchase. As a CRM, your role is getting players to play more and more, which fights churn and boosts DAU and MAU. But how can your role contribute to spends? How does a CRM encourage players to become spenders in the game?
Notifications are the primary way you as a CRM ask players to come into a game and play, and because of this, they play a significant but indirect role in driving purchases. And the right strategic notifications can nudge spending behavior without harming engagement.
Today, this guide will get into how to do that.
Tip #1: This guy won’t spend if he’s not in the game.
The CRM Role in Purchases: Notifications Retain Players, and Retained Players Make Purchases
As a CRM, your job entails a lot of different to-do lists and tasks in a day. We outlined a typical day in the life of a CRM in a guide here to help outline everything a bit more clearly. But one thing a CRM doesn’t do directly is drive conversions.
It’s important for marketing teams and managers to remember that a CRM can only get people into the game. From there, it’s the responsibility of the product and game development team to get them to purchase.
Notifications keep players playing. Players can’t purchase if they’re not playing. And players who play more, purchase more.
At Teak, we see that the majority of revenue for games comes from players who are playing daily. Our data shows that players who play daily spend 75% more than players who play 6 days a week.
A solid always-on notification strategy for your various player groups to maintain or bump them into daily play is the first step in driving purchases. We have some helpful guides on notification strategy for you here and here.
Understanding Purchase Opportunities
Once you have a solid base of daily players, you can add additional messaging to increase conversions by specifically reaching out to players who are primed to make a purchase.
The key monetization points in a game to create notification schedules around are:
- When a player runs out of currency
- During promotions
- After visiting the store
By focusing on these 3 moments, you’re able to meet players at points when they’re primed to make a purchase. The notification seems far less out of left field when coming at these moments and ensures they will be more receptive to it, and thus more likely to make a purchase.
When crafting messaging for the notifications in response to these 3 behavioral moments, it’s important to remember our notification best practices to not resort to begging. Instead, focus on the players experience - why would it be beneficial for them to make a purchase now? How can you help them to make progress in the game and meet their goals?
Leveraging Notifications During Sales & Events
Sales and special events are going to be the time when notifications really have a chance to impact whether or not a player makes a purchase. They are opportunities not only for regular spenders to get a deal, but they’re also a time when a player who doesn’t normally spend might want to.
While running a sale, additional personalized targeted notifications are the key to unlocking those purchases. You’ll want to layer those notifications on top of your usual ones, but be more granular and specific in how you’re targeting based on when players viewed the store or sale or not.
A good example of a sample audiences could look something like this:
- They viewed the store 2 hours ago, but they did not make a purchase and are now out of coins
- Consider giving this audience 1-2 minutes of free play time to get them back in the store. Use reward tiers to make sure the reward amount you are giving is meaningful to the player.
Overall, you want to create that sense of urgency for the sale or event. You especially want to look at players who could benefit the most from it - players who, as we mentioned above, are low on coins or even out entirely. Players who maybe don’t purchase often and would welcome a discount event. Players who haven’t purchased in a long time but are still playing daily. Look for the audiences that would get the most satisfaction out of a sale.
You also want to remind players of the sale as the end of it draws near. No need to be overly pushy - the same guidelines we went through above still apply: provide them with a reason to purchase and an incentive. Something as simple as, “We noticed you’re low on coins - get in on our sale before it’s gone!” can be enough to convince a player to make a purchase.
Show them why the sale benefits them in their game progress.
Keep Your Messaging Balanced
A good rule of thumb when planning your notification strategy is to make sure that no more than 1/3 of your messaging is about purchasing. Additionally, always know your audience and who you are sending notifications to - if someone has been playing for a year but has never made a purchase only message them for your best offers that are most likely to drive initial conversions.
Using Teak to Drive Purchases
Teak makes it easy to create measurable, always-on notification schedules that can be automated and optimized through our dashboard. Want to get more into the nuances of driving purchases through notifications? We’re happy to help talk through the strategy, just reach out or schedule a conversation with us.
Erica + Teak Team