The viral goldrush is over. Customer acquisition (CPA) costs are rising. The solution: use game mechanics to drive retention and engagment. Here are practical examples and behavioural psychology examples to retain users and drive revenue.

1. Harnessing gameplay to keep them coming
back again and again
Nicholas Lovell, GAMESbrief

2. Nicholas Lovell, GAMESbrief
 Author, How to Publish a Game
 Director, GAMESbrief
 Clients include Atari, Channel 4,
Channelflip, Firefly, nDreams and
Rebellion
 @nicholaslovell / @gamesbrief

3.  I’ll get some visitors
 Some who visit will register
 Some who register will
subscribe
 Subscribers will spend an
average of £10 per month
 I’ll put my Maserati on order
1% convert = £1,000.00
1% convert = £10.00
Say each costs £0.10
Only if the average user
stays for 100 months!
How most people start

4. ARM yourself
 Hoping for the best is not good enough, you need to
ARM yourself
 ACQUISITION: How do I get people through the door
cost-effectively?
 RETENTION: How do I keep people coming back for
more?
 MONETISATION: How do I build money-making
strategies into gameplay
 Most developers focus on one of these
 All three are really important

5. The funnel
Users
Profits

6. The equations

7. Why the funnel matters
 The funnel matters because it is your entire business
 To emphasise that, we need Equation I
CPA < LTV = good business
CPA > LTV = trouble
 Where:
 CPA is cost to acquire a user
 LTV is the Life Time Value of a user
 You can improve your business by decreasing CPA or by
increasing LTV

8. The old Holy Grail: virality
 A viral business can be an insanely profitable business
 CPA is close to zero, so even if LTV is low, your business is
great
 Time for Equation II:
Viral coefficient = A% x B x C%
 Where
 A% = Percentage of your users who invite a friend
 B = Number of friends they invite
 C% = Percentage of friends who accept the invitation
 If viral coefficient > 1.3, time to order the Maserati

9. Viral businesses
TRUE FALSE
 Virality != spam
 Viral businesses add value to their users through virality,
not just to themselves
 Chasing virality is a fool’s errand; chase retention instead

10. The new Holy Grail: Retention
 Buying customers is expensive
 Buying customers is necessary
 Pouring customers into a leaky bucket is stupid
 Ergo: Retention is the new Holy Grail
 And the most forgotten

11. How to chase retention
 Retention is in your control: it is all about gameplay
 Ask yourself:
How can I make it fun and rewarding to
come back every day
 Remember that different gamer-types find different things
rewarding

12. Special Offers

13. Three days in a row

14. Maintenance

15. Commitment I

16. Commitment II

17. Six social techniques
 Social proof
 Reciprocity
 Commitment / consistency
 Authority
 Likeability
 Scarcity

18. Read this book

19. Conclusion
 RETENTION is a gameplay issue
 Think about game mechanics which can reward,
delight and entertain players (while making them
come back)
 Make the transition from ONE MORE GO to COME
BACK TOMORROW