Free Player Retention Guide Get Now
Competition in the world of video games is intense. In 2023, users had more than 700,000 games to choose from. With so many games competing for players’ attention, attracting and retaining users gets harder every year. Finding ways to increase user satisfaction is one of the most critical components of developing and maintaining games that retain users.
Key Takeaways:
User satisfaction measures how well a game meets the expectations of the people who play it. Many factors influence user satisfaction, including usability, performance, functionality, value, and customer support.
The majority of games are free to play. Free-to-play games rely on large, engaged, player bases to generate revenue. Highly satisfied users are more likely to be loyal to the games they play.
Loyal users have better retention rates, spend more money, and are less sensitive to price changes. They also help grow your audience by leaving good reviews and promoting your game to friends, family, and social media contacts.
Most games have high churn rates on the first day after installation. As a result, your game needs to make a flawless first impression to keep users. There are several key components to designing a game that will create satisfied users.
You can’t satisfy your users if you don’t understand what they want. Use market research, surveys, focus groups, and analytics to determine what your target market values and wants out of your game.
Segment your customers into groups based on shared demographics, interests, and preferences. Create user stories, scenarios, and personas. Identify the satisfaction drivers for each group and test your game to see what works best before release.
Boost user satisfaction by recruiting players early in the development process. Players can provide you with feedback, identify problems, and validate your assumptions. Get players to test prototypes and beta versions of your game to identify potential issues before release.
Use an iterative design process to adjust and refine your game based on the feedback you get from players. Start building communities and communicating with players on social media, forums, and blogs. This will help you build a loyal fan base before your game releases.
You want to get players excited to try your game but don’t promise features you can’t deliver. It is better to underpromise and overdeliver than to get players hyped up about a feature that your game either doesn’t include or implements poorly.
Test your game to ensure it is stable, functional, and polished at release. Don’t release a buggy game and then rely on patches to fix it.
Manage the scope, schedule, and budget of your game so that it releases on time without seeming unfinished. Define your game’s value proposition and clearly communicate it to players.
Whether your game’s launch went exactly how you hoped, or you have run into some bumps in the road, continuing to focus on user satisfaction after release is important. These are some best practices you can follow to boost satisfaction.
Define and track metrics to measure your retention, engagement, satisfaction, and revenue across the entire customer journey. Make changes to your game based on the results of your analysis.
Respond to players’ issues promptly. Provide self-service options for common questions and technical issues.
Create a customer loyalty program to reward players for their loyalty and ensure they feel appreciated. Empower your employees to take appropriate actions to resolve issues and delight customers.
Gauge user satisfaction by engaging with players on social media and player forums. Solicit feedback through user surveys and your customer service staff.
Read and respond to player reviews. Identify common pain points and take action to resolve them. Aim to create a frictionless experience in your games.
Performance issues, such as bugs and slow load times, can quickly erode user satisfaction. Even loyal players will quit playing if the process becomes too frustrating because of technical issues.
Keep an open line of communication with players about technical problems and provide them with an accurate timeline in which they can expect to see a fix. If your players trust you, they will stick around to wait for a fix, but avoid promising resolutions that you can’t deliver. Once you lose player trust, it is hard to win it back.
The older your game gets, the more challenging it becomes to keep long-term players interested. The key is to provide a steady stream of new content so that players never feel like they have done everything there is to do in your game.
In addition to adding new levels and features, use live ops to keep players entertained by running time-limited events. Time-limited events create a sense of FOMO and give players a reason to log in to see what is new.
Sonamine’s user engagement and retention services will help you identify opportunities to increase user satisfaction and implement the strategies necessary to achieve the desired result. We have the skills and experience you need to turn your players into satisfied users. Contact us today to get started.
For a limited time until June 2024, Sonamine is offering a 60 day money back guarantee to Braze customers. Come experience the ease and simplicity of the First Time Spender Nudge package and watch your conversions soar.
For a limited time until June 2024, Sonamine is offering a 60 day money back guarantee to Braze customers. Come experience the ease and simplicity of the First Time Spender Nudge package and watch your conversions soar.
