In this talk, we sketch out a few of the individually complex aspects of monetization (for example, annuity design) and make the case for a new role in the gaming org: monetization designer.

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The Case for Monetization Design
September 5, 2016

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About Us

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When We Do Initial Sales Calls, We’re Often Surprised
People are not tracking key metrics
People are not sure how their monetization funnel works
People are not taking advantage of key design decisions
(read: are not making key design decisions)
What we’ve come to realize is that there’s often an unfilled
job position: monetization *designer*

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In Retrospect, We Shouldn’t Have Been Surprised
Scientific Revenue recently benchmarked industry best
practices using IAPs.

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This is In Spite of Things like This:
Most of our respondents use IAPs

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Old News: The No Brainer First Purchase

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Wisdom from England

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How to use Rewarded Video Effectively
From http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/04/5-ways-to-accelerate-app-
monetization-with-rewarded-video/

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Purchases and Training Effects
• Random game from the ones we manage:
• D7 Retention of D{1-3} purchasers: 39%
• D7 Retention of non-purchasers: 21%
• Another random game from the ones we manage:
• D7 Retention of D{1-3} purchasers: 43%
• D7 Retention of non-purchasers: 16%
• In general the pattern holds:
• People who buy, retain at about a 2X rate

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Note Also That People Who Buy Also Buy Again
• (Same) Random game:
• Second Purchase Rate: 36%
• (Same second) random game:
• Second Purchase Rate: 29%
• In general the pattern holds:
• Most games have a 20% to 60% second purchase
rate

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Annuities
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/IsaacKnowles/20160512/272484/Want_to_Increase_Your_FreetoPlay_Ga
me_Revenue__Retention_Experiment_With_Virtual_Currency_Annuities.php

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Daily Login Rewards
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WilliamGrosso/20160613/274759/The_Science__Craft_of_Designing_Daily
_Rewards__and_Why_FTP_Games_Need_Them.php

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My Favorite Daily Login Reward of All Time

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Etcetera
• Your game has a coin store
• Your game has a virtual goods store
• At some point, your game will have flash sales
for virtual goods
• At some point, your game will have flash sales
for currency

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Wisdom from England (Yes, Same Slide)

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Key Takeaways
You have to have an economy before you can optimize it
There’s a lot of (design) work involved in getting IAP
monetization right
What “Free to Play” really means is that you control the
point of sale
This talk is an attempt to kickstart the “monetization
design” conversation

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The Library
• Our Resources Page. http://www.scientificrevenue.com/resources/
• On Daily Login Bonuses.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WilliamGrosso/20160613/274759/The_Science__Craft_of_Desi
gning_Daily_Rewards__and_Why_FTP_Games_Need_Them.php
• On Annuities.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/IsaacKnowles/20160512/272484/Want_to_Increase_Your_Free
toPlay_Game_Revenue__Retention_Experiment_With_Virtual_Currency_Annuities.php
• Our IAP Survey. http://www.pocketgamer.biz/data-and-research/63436/scientific-revenue-survey/
and http://www.scientificrevenue.com/iap-survey/
• On Feeder Apps. http://www.scientificrevenue.com/blog-posts/how-to-turn-free-viral-apps-into-
feeder-apps-that-actually-make-money/
• On Powerup Design. http://www.scientificrevenue.com/blog-posts/rescues-buffs-skips-how-to-
design-mobile-game-power-ups-for-optimal-iap/
• On Payment Wall Design. http://www.scientificrevenue.com/blog-posts/how-to-design-an-in-app-
purchase-paywall-that-earns-you-money-without-annoying-your-players/
• On Non-virtual-currency IAP Strategies.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WilliamGrosso/20160202/264646/IAP_Strategies_Most_Mobil
e_Gamers_Dont_Hate__And_Most_AAA_Publishers_Should_Try.php

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The Library: Coming Soon
• The Annuity Design Worksheet
• Window Shopping and Stickershock
• Monetization Myths (a series)
• How to Use Subscriptions Effectively
• ….

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Continuing the Conversation
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SciRevenue
Excellent Mailing Lists:
https://twitter.com/SciRevenue
https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/gsb-videogames
https://gaminginsiders.mobilize.io/users/sign_in

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Thank You
William Grossobill@scientificrevenue.com
bill@scientificrevenue.com