When you are monetizing your online efforts, such as your app, whether it is a game or another type of application, you naturally want to make as much money as possible. The monetization tools you use, and how you implement them into the application, can make a massive difference in just how successful you are. Let’s look at how you can improve on the monetization tools that you are using, and what you should be measuring.
How to Design Game Monetization Tools
Developing the application that you are offering is a monumental task in and of itself, and now you also have to think about the monetization tools that are being used for that game. It tends to take different knowledge and a different skill-set.
However, there are some things that can be done even in the developmental stage of the game itself that can help. For example, think about how the player will be using the game. Naturally, you need to make sure that the game is fun and engaging, and that there is a reason for the users to continue coming back to it. One of the ways that you can do this is by offering a progression and reward system.
Using reward ad videos can be a fantastic way to reward the players while you are also monetizing the game. The videos that the user can watch can provide them with items in the game that will help them through the game. There are some ingenious ways that you can use these ads in the game, too.
You might want to have advertisements as reward videos before or after a game as they can provide in-game rewards, such as in-game currency that can be used to purchase items in the game. Depending on the type of game, you can also offer hints for areas where players are having trouble. By watching a video, they can get a hint that can help them move on to the next section. If you have areas of the game that can be difficult, based on the feedback you are given from people who have been playing, you could have in-game items that can help to make that section easier. Of course, the player will only get the item after they have watched one of the reward Ad videos.
As you can see, there are many different ways that you can design game monetization tools that are not intrusive to the players, but actually help them and provide them with items they might want more need. This just scratches the surface.
What Should You Measure with Monetization?
Of course, you want to measure your success with monetization. This will let you have a much better understanding of how well you are doing, and perhaps some areas that might need a little bit of help going forward. What should you be measuring, though?
The lifetime value, often known as LTV, is a very important indicator. This tells you how long a person utilizes your application before they stop using it. Remember that this is the lifetime value, so it is typically calculated in a term of months. This can give you a better indication of just how valuable each of the users are over the lifetime they will use your app. In addition, you will want to track the effective cost per install or the eCPI. This is how much it costs you to get new users to use the application. The retention rate, which is how long the customer uses the app each day, and the return rate, or how often they use the app, are important, as well. They can give a better indication of how much could be made.
Naturally, you will also want to measure the average revenue per user, ARPU. This is typically determined over the course of months, as well. It will help you to have a better understanding of how much you can expect to make per user, on average. You can use this calculation to extrapolate and determine how much more you could make if you have more people who download and use the app.
How to Measure Monetization
You need to find quality tools that can help to measure these and other parts of app use by customers. Some of the tools that you may want to consider include Appsee, Flurry Analytics, Apple App Analytics, Google Analytics, and Amplitude.
When you have the right tools and the right knowledge, it will help you to make the most out of your app and the monetization tools that you are using.
AppLixir is a Reward Video Ad Platform for Facebook, Web and Mobile Games
