Learn tips from Memrise to increase in-app conversions with pricing experiments

Posted by Tamzin Taylor, Partner Development Manager at Google
Play, & Kristina Narusk, Head of Production at Memrise




Getting people to install your app is one thing, getting them to sign up to your
paid offering is quite another. It's important to understand the complete
journey your users take from installing your app to paying for something. Once
you do, you can experiment on the flow to try and increase conversions. Memrise
has found great success in experimenting on their language learning app to
increase the number of paying users.




Four experiments Memrise use to improve conversions




Memrise
makes languages fun with a number of different learning modes you can play to
help increase your vocabulary in a chosen language. You can download the app for
free and play some of the modes or take advantage of their premium subscription
offering called 'Memrise Pro' which offers new game modes and additional
features like offline learning. Memrise recently ran a number of conversion
experiments with the main objective of increasing the Average Revenue Per Daily
Active User (ARPDAU). These experiments tested multiple user experience and
pricing experiment scenarios.




1. A/B test how messaging different user benefits can impact
conversion




What they did: Memrise wanted to know what motivation and call
to action would convert the most users to buy a Pro subscription from a locked
game mode in the app. To do this, they ran an A/B test with two similar designs,
featuring different reasons for the user to upgrade, and compared the results to
their original upgrade messaging.

                       

Test A: Focus on �difficult� words with an orange background.	Test B: Focus on �favorite� words with a pink background.

Results: Test A performed the best. Conversion to Pro in Test A
was 28% higher than in Test B. Pro mode usage was subsequently 9.7% higher in
Test A compared to Test B too.




Next steps: After seeing how test A won the experiment, Memrise
applied this creative across the board. Subscribers driven by that particular
mode increased as a percentage of all subscriptions in the app by 16%. Memrise
plans to run additional A/B tests at others points of conversion in the app to
see if they can increase the results even further. They'll also try different
text for the call to actions.




2. Test whether adapting to local price points results in sustainable
uplift




In 2015, Google Play launched new minimum local price levels in countries around
the world. To take advantage of the new price points, Memrise tested lowering
localised prices in certain markets to better match purchasing power. Prices
were an average of 6 times lower during this experiment.




Results: After 30 days, Memrise saw the following changes in
conversions to paid users:

????	Turkey	?180%
????	Brazil	?182%
????	Russia	?99%
????	Mexico	?115%
????	India	?5.1%
????	Indonesia	?152%
????	South Korea	?120%
????	Thailand	?70%
????	Malaysia	?27%

Next steps: The change in price affected the subscription
dynamics with more users taking advantage of Memrise's in-app discounted offer
in most countries. The offer was for annual subscribers only and has led to a
positive effect on LTV. One insight from the experiment was that Indian users
prefered to have the option to subscribe in weekly or monthly increments and not
just annually. Memrise is still tracking carefully to see whether the discounted
subscription pricing will lead to an increase in conversions.




3. Test when and how often you offer free trials to see if that affects
conversion rate


Memrise occasionally offers users, who aren't Pro subscribers, a free trial of
one of the Pro game modes while cycling through the various free modes. After
the free trial session, users are presented with an offer to subscribe. Memrise
experimented with the offer's timing making it appear more frequently while
users were cycling through normal free sessions Instead of after every 49th
session, users saw the unlocked mode after every 21st session.

                

An example of a free trial of a Pro mode.	After completing a free trial, users see a discounted subscription offer.

Results: Offering a free trial more frequently paid off. The
conversion rate increased by 50% while all other conversion rates remained the
same.




Next steps: Memrise maintained the more frequent offer cadence
and has seen revenue growth as a result.




4. Test whether seasonal discounts result in more conversions

Memrise launched a 'Back to School' campaign presenting all users with a
discounted annual plan offer for a week in September 2016. The aim was to
convert more users and generate higher value users from annual subscription
plans.

Results: Memrise saw two effects from the seasonal offer. As a
result of only presenting an annual period and removing weekly and monthly, 20%
fewer users per day converted to Pro. However, because more people were taking
an annual subscription than a shorter subscription, the average revenue per day
increased by 32% justifying the change.




Next steps: Memrise plans to test different offers in the
future with a combination of subscription offerings. They'll also focus offers
in countries like Turkey and Mexico, where they saw the biggest increase in
conversions.




Keep experimenting and take advantage of new features to improve the
user experience and increase conversions




At Playtime San Francisco, we
announced that introductory pricing for subscriptions would be coming soon
and the feature is now live. By continually testing messaging, pricing, offers,
and free trials or discounted trials, you could increase the conversions in your
app and your ongoing revenue just like Memrise. Learn more about Google
Play in-app billing subscriptions and get
the Playbook for Developers app to stay up-to-date with features and best
practices that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

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Android Developer Story: Papumba grows revenue globally by localising its family titles on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Papumba is an educational games developer based in Argentina, with a core team of four people and a vision to grow a global business.

Watch Gonzalo Rodriguez, CEO, and Andres Ballone, CFO, explain how working with a team of experts from across the world and adapting their games to local markets helped them find success globally.

Learn more about localized pricing and translation services to grow your app or game business globally on Google Play. Also, get the Playbook for Developers app to stay up-to-date on new features and learn best practices that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

5 Tips to help you improve game-as-a-service monetization

Posted by Moonlit Wang, Partner Development Manager at Google Play
Games, & Tammy Levy, Director of Product for Mobile at href="http://developers.kongregate.com/">Kongregate

In today�s world of game-as-a-service on mobile, the lifetime value of a player
is a lot more complex, where revenue is now the sum of many micro transactions
instead of a single purchase with traditional console games.

Of course you don�t need a sophisticated statistical model to understand that
the more time a player invests in your game, and the more money they spend, the
greater their LTV. But how can you design and improve monetization as a mobile
game developer? Here are 5 tips to help you improve game-as-a-service
monetization, with best practice examples from mobile games publisher, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=7580247376460930437&hl=en_GB">Kongregate:

1. Track player behavior metrics that have a strong and positive correlation with LTV

D1, D7, D30 retention indicates how well a casual player
can be converted into a committed fan.


Session length and frequency measures user engagement and
how fun your game is.


Completion rate at important milestones can measure and
pinpoint churn.


Buyer and repeated buyer conversion, represents your most
valuable user segment.

2. Optimize for long-term engagement and delight your best players

Retention is the first metric that can distinguish great games from mediocre
ones. Games with higher retention rates throughout the user� lifecycle, monetize
better consistently. Retention is king, and more importantly, long-term
retention should be prioritized. Therefore, when designing your game,
aim to create a sophisticated and engaging experience to delight your most
committed fans.

[This chart shows the retention of top games / apps over time]

When considering long term retention, focus on achieving a strong D30, but
also look beyond the first 30 days. Measure long term retention
by assessing the following rates: D30 to D60, D30 to D90, and D30 to D180. The
higher the rate, the stickier your game is in the long term, which will increase
your LTV.


Players are willing to pay a fixed amount of money per hour of �fun�, so
think about updates when designing your game, to make
the content rich and fun for those who will play at very high levels and
spend the most time within your game, don�t gate your players or hinder
their in-game progression.


Use the href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-features-to-better-understand.html">Google
Play Games Services - Funnel Report to help you track different
milestone completion rates in your games, so you can identify drop off points
and reduce churn

.

3. Increase buyer conversion through targeted offers

First-time buyer conversion is the most important as player churn rate
drops significantly after the first purchase, but stays relatively flat
regardless of the amount spent. Also, past purchase behavior is the best
predictor of future purchases. Find your first-time and repeated buyer
conversion rate directly in the href="https://developer.android.com/distribute/users/user-acquisition.html">Developer
Console.

Use A/B testing to find the price that will maximize your total
revenue. Different people have different willingness to pay for
a given product and the tradeoff between price and quantity is
different for different products, so don�t decrease prices blindly.


Tailor your in-game experience as well as in-app purchase offers
based on the player�s predicted probability to spend using the href="https://developers.google.com/games/services/android/stats">Player Stats
API,
which predicts players churn and spend.

For example, in href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Kongregate&hl=en_GB&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">Kongregate�s
game href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kongregate.mobile.spellstone.google&hl=en_GB">Spellstone,
testing two pricing points for a promotion called Shard Bot, which provides
players with a daily �drip� of Shards (the premium currency) for 30 days, showed
players had a much stronger preference for the higher priced
pack. The first pack, Shard Bot, priced at $4, granted players 5 daily
shards, and the second pack, the Super Shard Bot, was priced at $8 and granted
players 10 daily shards.

[Two week test results showing preference for the more expensive pack, which also generated more revenue]

Kongregate decided to keep the higher priced Super Shard Bot in the store,
although both packs resulted in very similar retention rates:

4. As well as what monetization features to implement, take into consideration why, when and how to do so

Why: �Buyer intent� is most important. Any item with a
price tag should serve to enhance your players in-game experience. For
example, a new map, a new power, something exciting and additional to the free
experience. Don�t gate your players with a purchase-only item as happy users
means more time spent with your game, which will lead to higher
revenue. Educate users by gifting some free premium goods and currency during the tutorial, and let users experience the benefit first.

When: Time offers based on when users may need it.
If your IAP is to continue gameplay after timeout, then you should surface it
right when the timer ends. If your IAP is to offer premium equipment, then you
should surface it when users gear up their characters. The offer should be
contextually relevant, such that the content should cater to the player�s
current status and needs in-game.




In particular, Starter Packs or New Buyer Promos need to be well timed. Players
need to understand the value and importance of all the items before they are
shown the promotion. If surfaced too early, players will not feel compelled to
purchase. If surfaced too late, the offer will not be compelling enough. The
Starter Pack should appear within 3 to 5 sessions since install, depending on
your game. Additionally, limiting its availability to 3 to 5 days will urge
players to make a quicker purchase decision.

For example, href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kongregate.mobile.battlehand.google&hl=en&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">BattleHand�s
starter pack is surfaced around the 4th session, it is available for 36hrs and
contains the following items to aid players in all areas of the game:

Powerful cards that have an immediate effect in battle


High rarity upgrade materials to upgrade your card deck


A generous amount of soft currency that can be used in all areas of the game


A generous amount of hard currency so players can purchase premium store
items


Rare upgrade materials for Heroes

[Example starter pack offer in Battle Hands]

Thanks to the strength of the promotion over 50% of players choose the Starter Pack instead of the regular gems offerings:

How: There are many ways you can implement premium content and goods in your game, such as power-ups, characters, equipment, maps, hints, chapters etc. The two most impactful monetization designs are:

Gacha - There are many ways to design, present and balance gacha but the key is to have randomized rewards, which allows you to sell extremely powerful items that players want without having to charge really high prices per purchase.

[Example of randomized rewards in Raid Brigade�s boxes]

LiveOps - Limited time content on a regular cadence will also create really compelling opportunities for the players to both engage further with the game and invest in the game. For instance, Adventure Capitalist has been releasing regular limited themed time events with their spin on the permanent content, their own progression, achievements and IAP promotions.

[Example timed event for Adventure Capitalist]

Through this initiative, the game has seen regular increases in both engagement and revenue during event times without affecting the non-event periods:

[Timed events drastically increase engagement and revenue without lowering the baseline average over time]

5. Take into account local prices and pricing models

Just like different people have different willingness-to-pay, different markets have different purchasing powers.

• Test what price points make sense for local consumers in each major market.
  Don�t just apply an umbrella discount, find the price points that maximize total
  revenue.
  
• Consider charm pricing but remember it doesn�t work everywhere.
  For example, in the United States, prices always end in $x.99, but
  that�s not the case in Japan and Korea, where rounded numbers are used. Pricing
  in accordance to the local norm signals to the customers that you care and
  designed the game with them in mind. The Google Developer Console now
  automatically applies href="https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6334373?hl=en&ref_topic=6075663">local
  pricing conventions of each currency for you.

href="http://android-developers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/android-developer-story-vietnamese.html">Check
out the Android Developer Story from games developer, Divmob, who improved
their game�s monetization threefold simply by adopting sub-dollar pricing
strategies. Also, href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Google_Inc_The_Building_for_Billions_Playbook_for?id=cJEjDAAAQBAJ&e=-EnableAppDetailsPageRedesign">learn
more best practices about building for billions to get more tips on
monetization.

href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.secrets">Get
the Playbook for Developers app and stay up-to-date with more features and
best practices that will help you grow a successful business on Google Play.

Android Developer Story: Vietnamese games developer Divmob finds more users with localized pricing on Google Play

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Google Play team

Based in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, games developer Divmob has grown quickly from an original team of five people to 40 employees since
it was founded three years ago. Divmob now has over 40 million downloads across
its various titles, including the popular game, Epic Heroes War.

Watch Ngo Van Luyen, CEO & Founder at Divmob, and his team explain how
introducing sub-dollar pricing in various markets resulted in a 300% increase
in daily transactions, and increased the number of paying users threefold.

Find out more about local pricing models on Google Play

We recently introduced new features in the Google Play Developer Console to
help you meet local expectations when setting prices, to make purchases more
attractive to your users. The Developer Console will now automatically round
pricing to local conventions in each market, and you can also set up pricing
templates to manage pricing across multiple currencies more efficiently, and
easily make bulk changes to the prices of multiple apps and in-app products in
a single click. Learn more about the improved local pricing tools.