building successful free-to-play apps on android

Building Successful ���Free-to-Play Apps on Android

Agenda •  Introduction to Tapjoy

•  Android Market Stats

•  Acquisition

•  Retention

•  Monetization

• Founded 2007 • Headquarters San Francisco

• Offices in the US, Europe and Asia • Reach 600+ million mobile consumers on Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7 & HTML5

• Funding $70.5 million from •  J.P. Morgan Asset Management •  Rho Ventures •  North Bridge Venture Partners •  InterWest Partners •  D.E. Shaw Ventures

About Tapjoy

®

Recent Recognition

Tapjoy recognized among the world’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company

#1

#2

Most Innovative in Gaming

Most Innovative in Mobile

World’s Most Innovative Company #27

She can buy Pet Points with real money.

She can earn Pet Points by engaging with ads in Tapjoy’s Marketplace.

How it Works: Vivian needs more Pet Points to hire another employee in Pretty Pet Salon.

Tapjoy Value Exchange

Vivian CHOOSES to watch The Avengers trailer and earns 59 Pet Points.

Power of Choice

Standard Banners

Full Screen Banners In-App Video

Offerwall

Tapjoy Ad Units

Android Market ���

���

Android continues to grow Android DAU’s continue to climb on the Tapjoy Network

Tapjoy Network - 2012 Android Daily Active Users45,000,000

40,000,000

35,000,000

30,000,000

25,000,000

20,000,000

15,000,000

10,000,000

5,000,000

0

1-Jan

8-Jan

15-Jan

22-Jan

29-Jan

5- Feb

12-Feb

19-Feb

26-Feb

4-Mar

11-Mar

18-Mar

25-Mar

1-A

pr8-A

pr

15-Apr

22-A

pr

29-A

pr

Android DAU

App traffic spikes up on weekends

 2.10    

 4.80    

 -­‐        

 1.00    

 2.00    

 3.00    

 4.00    

 5.00    

 6.00    

2011   2016  (Projected)  

Projected In-App Purchase Revenue (in Billions)*

61%

39%

January 2011

Paid

Freemium

35%

65%

June 2011

Paid

Freemium *Juniper Research – The Mobile Games Briefing 2011-2016

…and the future is even brighter!

Free-to-play apps are dominating

Revenue from Top Grossing iOS Apps

Freemium revenue and distribution has increased ���significantly over the last year, and continues to grow.

There is only ONE paid app in the Top 25 Grossing Android apps! 96% of the Top 25 Grossing Android apps are free-to-play

Top Grossing Apps

Free-to-Play: It’s not just for games

A

Acquisition

R M

How are developers promoting free-to-play apps?

Mobile Acquisition Channels

•  Rewarded installs •  Non-rewarded installs •  Video ads •  Cross promotion

•  Social discovery (FB, Twitter, etc.) •  Organic discovery (top charts, search,

word of mouth, etc.)

A R M

The Holy Grail – Getting Featured on ���Google Play

A R M

200,000

160,000

120,000

80,000

40,000

$.05

$.04

$.03

$.02

$.01

Sessions New Users DAU’s ARPDAU

8-01

8-02

8-03

8-04

8-05

8-06

8-07

8-08

8-09

8-10

8-11

8-12

8-13

8-14

8-15

8-16

8-17

8-18

8-19

8-20

8-21

8-22

The Holy Grail – Getting Featured on ���Google Play

Featured!

A R M

Suggest an app into the wall of suggestions: http://goo.gl/mod/DfIv People vote on the apps that are on the wall of suggestions The apps with the most positive votes are reviewed every Friday by Google’s Android Develop Relations team (2pm PT on “Hangouts”): http://www.youtube.com/user/androiddevelopers The apps they like most are passed on to Google Play’s editorial team to be considered for featured / staff picks placement on Google Play

Google Play Featured Process

1  

2  

3  

4  

A R M

The new user flow is one of the most important parts of a successful game

•  Optimize the download •  Great tutorial •  Use clear directions

•  Give rewards •  Get the user playing as���

soon as you can

New User Flow

You have 30 seconds to hook your users and 5 min to teach them. The goal is to shoot for 70% tutorial completion rate.

A R M

Tapjoy Network Android Conversion Rate: (clicks to installs)

Optimize the Download

TotalMegabytes

ConversionRate (CVR)

0-50 50-100

100+

50-60%30-45%14-20%

The smaller the file, the better the CVR.

A R M

Take Users by the Hand and Guide Them Into the App During the first 30 seconds put the user on rails, don’t let them get lost

•  This is your chance to take an uncertain user and create an engaged user •  You can’t display everything, show off your core loop and build from there

Start off Simple

Call to action Use arrows Gray out the screen

Show off the store

Reward/ congratulate them early

Get ‘em playing

A R M

Gray out areas that don’t

matter now

Highlight where you want the

users attention

Use arrows

Give simple info

How to do it right

Use Clear Directions A R M

Retention

R A M

Take advantage of free social channels

•  Most social networks offer free API’s and SDK’s

•  Warning: Forcing a connection to a social network can cause a large drop-off in new user conversion, so it’s best to make social connections optional

•  Orange’s TV Check app saw a 75% drop off when the app forced users to connect with FB

Social Channels A R M

Social Channels Sometimes it’s better to create your own social layer

Surface social activity to

users early on

A R M

Incentivize friend invites A R M

Reward users for inviting their

friends

Give your users a reward for coming back every day

•  In the later days of the reward cycle give the users bigger or exclusive rewards

•  Show them what they earned and also show them what is coming up

Daily Rewards A R M

Daily reward combined with chance mechanic

A R M

Remind them to keep coming back

App Re-engagement

Appointment Mechanics

Notifications

A R M

Use Challenges / Quests to keep users on track

A R M

Quests really work

Sessions New Users DAU’s ARPDAU

1-16

1-17

1-18

1-19

1-20

1-21

1-22

1-23

1-24

1-25

1-26

1-27

1-28

1-29

1-30

1-32

2-1

2-1

2-3

2-4

2-5

2-6

Quests/Achievements added.

A R M

Monetization

A R M

Direct Pay Alt Pay — Offerwalls Alt Pay — Top: Display Ad Bottom: Featured Ad

Mobile Revenue Channels Alt Pay

In app purchase through Google Wallet Allowing users to engage with advertisingin exchange for virtual currency

Direct Pay

A R M

Glu Earnings – Direct and Alt Pay monetization

A R M

Highlight a limited-time featured item when users log in

•  Items on the home page will have 150% + sales increase •  Rotate content often •  Great place for seasonal items

Featured Item Specials

Today Only Seasonal Sale

A R M

Markets and Inventory •  Do - Make the buttons large and easy to tap.

•  Do - Whenever possible use art and icons to direct the player, they look good and are universal.

•  Don’t - use small icons and text.

•  Don’t - make your users scroll through long item lists.

Do Don’t

Create Clear Virtual Goods Markets A R M

Sales and special offers Make your users feel like they are getting a good deal  •  Your  purchase  screen  should  be  clean  and  easy  to  navigate    •  Tell  the  users  how  much  extra  cool  stuff  they  get    •  Use  incenIves  to  encourage  them  to  buy  higher  priced  packages  •  Use  icons  to  make  bigger  packages  look  more  impressive    •  Users  scroll  through  long  item  lists.  

A R M

One of the advantages to the Android platform is the ability to iterate quickly •  Choose a region you want to use as your test group (ex. Canada)

•  Make changes based on metrics

•  Review data on the changes, update and repeat •  Keep updating your app with new content

Small Changes can Make a Huge Difference

Iteration and Metrics

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Key Points

55,000

44,000

33,000

22,000

11,000

ARPDAU New Users DAU’s Sessions

12-0

1

12-0

2

12-0

3

12-0

4

12-0

5

12-0

6

12-0

7

12-0

8

12-0

9

12-1

0

12-1

1

12-1

2

12-1

3

12-1

4

12-1

5

12-1

6

12-1

7

12-1

8

12-1

9

12-2

0

12-2

1

12-2

2

12-2

3

12-2

4

12-2

5

A R

A R M

Summary������

Acquisition •  Choose the right channels for acquisition •  Hold the user’s hand through the first experiences of the app

•  Keep it clear and simple

Retention

•  Use social channels and incentivize sharing

•  Offer daily rewards •  Keep users engaged by implementing quests and achievements

Monetization

•  Make the most of your monetization by adding alt pay

•  Highlight special offers and items to drive purchase behavior

•  Frequently test and measure new features within a segment of your users, and roll out successful changes to the full audience

Best Practices For:

A

R

M

Thank you ���chris@tapjoy.com���

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