How do you increase player engagement and spending with in-game events, promotions, and rewards?

1 Know your goals

Before you launch any in-game event, promotion, or reward, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Do you want to attract new players, re-engage existing ones, or increase the lifetime value of your loyal fans? Do you want to boost your in-app purchases, ad revenue, or subscriptions? Do you want to celebrate a special occasion, create a seasonal theme, or introduce a new feature? Having a specific and measurable goal will help you design your event, promotion, or reward accordingly, and track its performance and impact.

2 Know your players

Another key factor to consider is your target audience. Who are your players, what are their preferences, motivations, and behaviors, and what are their pain points and needs? You can use analytics, surveys, feedback, and user testing to gather insights about your players, and segment them into different groups based on their characteristics. This will help you tailor your event, promotion, or reward to suit their interests, expectations, and values, and increase their engagement and spending.

3 Choose the right format

In-game events, promotions, and rewards come in many different forms, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Limited-time events can create a sense of urgency and scarcity, driving players to play more and spend more; however, too much frequency, difficulty, or repetition can lead to fatigue and frustration. Seasonal events can provide a sense of relevance and immersion, while also appealing to players' emotions; however, they can become predictable and boring if they are too similar to past events or irrelevant to certain cultures. Personalized events offer tailored rewards that match players' needs; however, they can be complex and costly to implement. Cross-promotions can increase reach and leverage the popularity of another brand; however, they can also be intrusive if done too frequently or aggressively.

4 Balance the rewards

When considering any in-game event, promotion, or reward, the value and type of the reward is essential. You want to make sure that it is attractive enough to motivate players to participate and spend, but not too generous or easy to obtain. The reward should also be relevant and useful to the players, and fit the theme and context of the event. Rewards can come in several forms: in-game currency, in-game items, in-game content, or real-world rewards. In-game currency is the most common and flexible type of reward. In-game items can add variety and functionality to the game. In-game content can add depth and diversity. Real-world rewards can add value and novelty. However, each type of reward has its own potential drawbacks that must be taken into consideration.

5 Test and optimize

Finally, you need to test and optimize your in-game event, promotion, or reward before, during, and after its launch. To ensure it works properly and meets your goals and players' expectations, as well as to avoid any negative effects on your game's performance, quality, or balance, you can use various methods and tools. A/B testing is a method of comparing two or more versions of your event, promotion, or reward and measuring their outcomes and impacts. You can use this to test different aspects such as duration, frequency, format, reward or messaging and see which one performs better. Analytics is a tool that collects and analyzes data about your event, promotion, or reward and your players' behavior and feedback. It can measure metrics such as participation rate, retention rate, conversion rate, revenue, satisfaction or retention to see how they change over time. Feedback is a tool that gathers and evaluates your players' opinions and suggestions about your event, promotion, or reward. This can help you understand your players' preferences, motivations and pain points to see how they perceive and respond to your event, promotion or reward.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?