Reward amounts are just one of the many things in gaming CRM’s day that need to be strategically planned and constantly reevaluated. At Teak, we know how busy a gaming CRM’s day can get. So consider this our way of helping you wrap your head around the world of rewarded messaging.
As you know, rewarded messaging is any type of message you send to player that has a in-game reward attached. This can be a push notification, an email, or even a link sent in a DM.
Planning effective rewarded messaging starts with what you are hoping to achieve by rewarding players. There are many different ways to think about rewards, but the Player Lifecycle is a good place to start. From there, you can start layering on more complexity with Reward Tiers.
But, before we get to that, let’s talk about how we think about rewards.
Reward in Terms of Playtime
Rewards are, when you really look at them, a way of giving players free playtime or progress in your game. These things give players a nudge to start a session, relax, have some fun and possibly be swayed into purchasing something when they encounter a purchasing opportunity in your game (a “monetization trigger”).
How much you want to give the player depends on a few things:
- What are you wanting the player to do as a result of this free playtime?
- Different kinds of players will require different kinds of nudges. Someone who plays frequently only needs a little bit to be brought back into the game. But a player who has been lapsed for a long time will need more to be enticed back.
- What would the player expect given their current monetization?
- For example, a big spender in your game will expect a bigger reward. And VIPs should receive even bigger rewards. Players that are used to buying coins are used to spending them, so you can be more generous.
- On the other end, you wouldn’t want to give a huge amount of playtime to a player who has never made a purchase. Always ensure the reward matches the audience being targeted.
So, let’s get into the main amounts we would set up when it comes to spending and gameplay.
Exploring the Lifecycle Reward Amounts
A point we keep repeating in these articles is that rewards should reflect a player’s engagement level. The suggestions here are only a starting point, work with your team to figure out what rewards fit your game.
Also note that reward amounts can be implemented as part of a lifecycle specific campaign, or they can be scaled using Reward Tiers on messages to wider audiences.
#1: Your Active Players (Core/Risk) 😍
Your Active Players are players who have played in the last 7 days. They’re active, so you’re not trying to get them back, you’re just trying to give them a nudge to come into the game and play. You’re also teeing them up for, hopefully, potential monetization points.
For this group, we would suggest the following reward ideas based on your type of free-to-play game:
- Casino: 5-7 free slot spins
- Idle: A 1 minute boost or tap frenzy
- Match 3 or time management: 1 free level attempts
- RPG: A 1-2 minute double XP or double gold consumable item
#2: Your Lapsed Players 😴
Your Lapsed Players are any players who have gone a full week without playing. The goal with this reward tier is to get them back into the game and complete a session, and it’s going to take a bit more to do that since they’ve already lapsed. We would set this reward at 5 to 7 times bigger than your Core reward.
Reward Ideas:
- Casino: 25-30 free slot spins
- Idle: A free 2x prestige reset
- Match 3 or time management: 20-30 minutes of infinite lives or a significant powerup pack
- RPG: Temporary PvE invulnerability
#3: Your Dormant Players 💀
These are players who last played more than 30 days ago
Your Dormant Players have been gone for a full month, and as we’ve discussed in the past, the longer the time since play, the more currency you should give. It’s more important to get them back into the game than to be frugal with budget - when discussing this with your marketing team, a way to explain it is the cost of getting a player back vs. having to acquire a new player through user acquisition spending.
For this group, we’re not just trying to get them to have one session - we want them to have multiple. For that reason, we’d give them 5 to 10 times the amount you give Lapsed players, ensuring that they’d have at least one or two solid days of playing for free.
Reward Ideas:
- Casino: Metagame reset and progress, all slots unclocked, up to 100-150 free spins
- Idle: Two free 2x prestige reset, 20-30 minute bonus gains
- Match 3 or time management: 20-30 minutes of infinite lives, a consumable for another 20-30 minutes of infinite lives, and a significant powerup pack
- RPG: Significantly accelerated levelling or a free level up to get the player to your latest content and an item boost pack
Adding Monetization Tiers
Once you have your base lifecycle amounts in place, you can start overlaying monetization tiers - specifically: non-spender, spender, and VIP.
Monetization Tier #1: Non Spenders 🙂
For Non Spenders, we’d look specifically at players who haven’t made a purchase in the past 30 days. They are dedicated to the game and like to play, but their spend is little to nothing.
For this tier, we would recommend just a slightly lower reward amount as the Spenders audience - maybe a minute of free gameplay instead of two. Our data at Teak shows that these players have sessions that are 40% shorter than spenders. You want to be sure that you’re not giving so much away that they don’t feel like they have to spend. But it’s still important to keep them engaged – you can’t convert a player who has lapsed!
Reward Ideas:
- Casino: 5-7 free slot spins
- Idle: A 1 minute boost or tap frenzy
- Match 3 or time management: 1 free level attempts
- RPG: A 1-2 minute double XP or double gold consumable item
Monetization Tier #2: Spenders 🤑
Your Spenders are a valuable audience because they are already invested in your game and spending money, but our goal here is bump them up to VIP level.
To do this, you might want to explore giving them a higher reward than you’d expect - maybe even a full quarter of what their typical gameplay time is.
Reward ideas:
- Casino: 10-12 free slot spins
- Idle: A 1.5-2 minute boost or tap frenzy
- Match 3 or time management: 2 free level attempts
- RPG: A 2-3 minute double XP or double gold consumable item
Monetization Tier #3: VIPs 🎩
Your VIPs are the top 10% of purchasers in the last 30 days. And remember: a player who is told they are a VIP should have that reinforced with every message.
Your VIPs are your top players and top spenders. They spend nearly every session, they play multiple times a day, and they’re active in events, tapping notifications, engaging with emails. Because these players have invested so much time in your game, they should be rewarded accordingly and given special attention.
We recommend doubling all rewards for players you consider VIP, and explicitly calling out that these rewards are for VIPs only. Make them feel special and appreciated not only through the reward itself but also through language in the reward tier.
Additionally, we would create an audience for Lapsed or Dormant VIPs - players who were your VIP but haven’t played in a while. For that reward tier, talk with your team to figure out a reward amount that makes sense - but we would go as high as the team is comfortable approving. Getting a VIP back means getting a top consistent spender and player back! So spending more is worth it.
Reward Ideas:
- Casino: 20 free spins or a VIP only slot unlock with 10-15 free spins or metagame advancement
- Idle: A chance for bonus prestige currency or a 5 minute powerup
- Match 3 or time management: 5-7 minutes of infinite lives
- RPG: A chance for a free resurrect or 5-8 minutes of double XP and gold gains
Get creative with rewards
Lastly, when it comes to reward amounts and tiers, it’s important to think about not only the audiences we went through above, but also what a reward is or can be in your game. What are things in your game that get your players excited? The reward type could change based on the tier.
Sending coins or free plays is always a good call. But things like metagame progress, exclusive content unlocks, or even dedicated reengagement liveops events could excite your players more. Talk to your product team about specific items, settings, powerups, or levels and see what makes sense!
So…how do I set this all up?
Lucky for you, Teak’s tiered reward feature makes it easy to set up all of these tiers once and reuse them across all of your messaging. Reach out to us if you want any support setting this up!
Any reward tier you would add? Something you’ve seen work well for getting players back through rewards? Questions about any of this? Let us know! We are here to help.
Erica + Teak Team