This document provides 6 hacks backed by science to boost game retention in mobile games. The hacks are: 1) Emphasize investment and progress by allowing continued progress. 2) Encourage collection through collectible sets and achievements. 3) Use specific calls-to-action in push notifications. 4) Foster community through social features. 5) Add randomness to reinforce returning behavior. 6) Listen to why users are dropping through in-app surveys to understand drop-off points.

1. BOOST GAME RETENTION WITH
6 HACKS BACKED BY SCIENCE

2. WHEN IT COMES TO FREEMIUM,
GAME USER RETENTION IS KING

3. Use psychology to drive up
game retention

4. A game that monetises
well but only retains for
short periods may
generate revenue in the
short term...

5. But will burn through
users and fail long term.

6. On the
other hand...

7. Higher game retention will
lift you on Apple and
Google’s app store
rankings algorithm.
Bringing in more users in a
virtuous cycle.

8. Higher game
retention
=
More In App
Purchases

9. 1/ Emphasise investment
and progress

10. In mobile, this means
people will be more willing
to return to a game if they
perceive they have made
progress.

11. Example: Township

12. You begin with a basic city
up and running rather than
being asked to start it from
scratch.
Giving you the sense of
investment and ownership.

13. 2/ Encourage collection

14. Humans have the desire to collect items

15. Increase mobile game
retention through the use of
collectible sets to complete
and achievements.
Encouraging users to stay
longer to finish a collection
they have started.

16. Example: Mystery Manor

17. 3. Have specific calls-
to-action

18. In this study, researchers found
that adding a specific call to
action greatly increased the
amount of students getting their
tetanus shots.
The number of participants getting
vaccinated rose from 3.3% to an
impressive 33%.

19. Use push notifications

20. 4/ Foster community

21. Human are hardwired to seek
out interaction and
relationships with others.

22. Facebook studies have shown
that users retain longer and
spend more when using a social
login to an app than not.

23. Include community
features
● Facebook page
● Social feedback
● “Popular with the community”
sections
● Commenting, sharing and following

24. Example: Candy Crush incorporates
cooperation and competition in its gameplay

25. 5/ Add randomness

26. There’s a reasons casinos keep
sucking players back in.

27. Since the 1920s and the famous
experiments of B.F. Skinner,
science has shown a variable
reinforcement schedule (eg payoffs
or rewards, both physical and
psychological) can greatly help
reinforce behaviour patterns.

28. Adding some “luck” to your
app or game can help keep
users keeping coming back.

29. 6/ Listen to why users
are dropping

30. Whether in the first day or
after the first year, users will
drop out.

31. Use your statistics package
(Flurry, Mixpanel etc)
to understand where the drops
occur.

32. And use an in-app prompts (polljoy).
It lets you directly ask for feedback
from the users just before the drop
points, analyse results and identify
what needs to be fixed.
It can also reward users for giving
the feedback.

33. t
www.polljoy.com/blog
For more tips on how to improve your
Mobile app & game ranking and get
more 5 star reviews, follow our blog:

34. Confidential - polljoy, Inc - 2014 Learn more at polljoy.com
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