TL;DR: Is it a good suggestion to launch a sport instantly when an individual clicks on a sport advert, or is it higher to ship them to the sport’s touchdown web page/web site first?
Me and a mate have been engaged on creating a web-based massively multiplayer on-line real-time technique sport (MMORTS) for a while now. We determined that we have been prepared for a really early pre-alpha pre-release delicate launch – insert as many euphemisms in right here as you’ll be able to – the sport is playable however should still be buggy and so on.
We ran a small, normal advert marketing campaign by a social media platform the place a click on on the advert would take you to our sport’s net web page (i.e. the web page that holds details about the sport and has a “Play Now!” button, not the net web page of the sport itself). We obtained the next outcomes:
- ~43k impressions
- 505 clicks
- 1.16% click on by fee (CTR)
- $93.52 value
- $0.19 common value per click on (CPC)
From googling, the typical click on by fee (CTR) for show adverts is 0.46%. We’re at 1.16%, which is 2.5x the typical. That’s large! It both means the adverts work rather well, or they’re focused very nicely.
About the associated fee per click on (CPC), once more from Professor Google: The typical value per click on varies from $1.55 to $9.21, relying in your sector. For instance, a CPC above $3 within the know-how sector might be thought of excessive if it does not result in proportionate conversions.
We’re at $0.12 which is fairly laborious to imagine. I imply that’s grime low-cost!
Nonetheless, I’m undecided all which means that there are lots of people who need to play an MMORTS, as a result of we should always have gotten no less than one actual account created out of 505 views of our sport’s net web page (we obtained zero). I feel it is vital to notice that clicking on the “Play Now!” button takes you to the sport’s net web page, of which the primary web page is a straightforward account creation web page (normal username, password, e mail deal with).
My improvement companion had an thought: as a substitute of working laborious on the sport’s net web page attempting to make the “Play Now!” button extra distinguished and attempting to squeeze out a number of conversions per hundred clicks, why do not we simply dump gamers straight into the sport with a temp account once they click on on the advert?
So I’ve developed that – clicking on an advert would load the sport’s web site with a brief username (e.g. user1234) and fully bypass the sign-up course of. Gamers are prompted to create a “everlasting” account throughout gameplay, however the particulars of this are usually not vital for this query.
My major query is: is that this a good suggestion? I see loads of analysis on methods to a/b check and enhance conversions, however is there any analysis on the market to assist this “direct” strategy of dumping individuals straight right into a sport? Have many web-games carried out this, and to what degree of success? How do gamers really feel about this – or do they not care?
This strategy actually solves our conversion drawback – 100% of advert clicks will lead to an precise participant! And sure after all we are going to then take a look at retention, what number of gamers really play the sport vs. shut the web page instantly and so on. However as poor indie devs with what we predict is a good sport on our arms, we’d like precise, actual gamers to see if our sport is gratifying. I would favor to work on enhancing our sport at this early stage, slightly than spending a number of time tweaking advertising and hoping in opposition to hope that we get a number of measly participant accounts.
