Top 10 Social Gaming Metrics

Kontagent AnalyticsMetrics for Social Gaming - 10.26.09

Jeff Tseng – jeff@kontagent.com

Kontagent Multiple F500 & Top-10

App/Devs Customers!

Hundreds of applications

Tracking millions of DAUs

Tracking > 50 million MAUs

Working closely with many devs

How Are We Different Than GA? Deep viral tracking information

Tracking of individual viral channels Viral K-factor tracking

User-centric model Track user IDs and NOT cookies More accurate measurements User behaviors at a UID level Actions on individual user basis

Metrics Are a MUST for Social Games

Decide what apps to focus on

Aids in making business decisions

Understand how your app actually works

Takes guesswork out of your design decisions

Multiply the end results of your product

Metrics are part of the PROCESS

Social Gaming Metrics are Different

Vs. Web Metrics Social metrics Persistent user ID User app model

Vs. Gaming Metrics Social metrics Real-time user data Monetization metrics

Data-driven Design

• A/B Testing• Cohort Split

Testing• Funnel/

Conversion

• Iterate on the product based on the results

• Measure based on metrics you’re optimizing for

• Pick a hypothesis to test• Design experiment to

test the hypothesis

Hypothesis

Measure

TestingImprove

What Makes a Good Social Gaming Metric?

Simple – understandable

Actionable – results in direct action

Accessible – easy to measure

High-leverage – big results

Monetizable – increases revenue

Relative measurements Ratios/conversions are useful Trending – 7 day works well

The Social App User Funnel

Acquisition

Activation

Engagement

Retention

Revenue

Top 10 Social Gaming Metrics

(in order of use flow)

#1 Entry Event Distribution Measures - First action the

user takes in a session

Metrics - Distribution of entry events (which events lead to the highest time on site – hard to do but useful)

Action - Test to see what entry events are the most effective at bringing users back

8.23.2

1.4

1.2

Receive GiftRead MessageBuy ItemBuy currency

#2 Outbound Messages/User

Measures – Outbound virality

Linearity - Non-linear results(1/1-x)

Metrics - Posts/user (broadcast messaging), Sent messages/user (direct messaging

Action - A/B test flow and content/copy

#3 Viral Message CTR/Conversion

Measures – Messaging click-through rates and install conversion

Linearity - Non-linear (1/1-x)

Metrics - Click-through rates (direct messaging channels), post-to-click ratios (broadcast channels), conversion to install

Action - A/B test content/copy

#3 Viral Message CTR/Conversion

Min Average Max Max vs. AvgInvites Sent/Event 3.9 4.3 4.9 +12%Conversion 6% 8% 11% +35%Accepted/Event 0.25 0.35 0.47 +34%

Application A - A/B Tests (50K+ MAU)

Min Average Max Max vs. AvgInvites Sent/Event 3.5 6.7 9.5 +42%Conversion 6% 10% 17% +73%Accepted/Event 0.31 0.63 1.17 +85%

Application B - A/B Tests (700K+ MAU)

Kontagent App - A/B Tests (50K+ MAU) Min Average Max Max vs. Avg

Invites Sent/Event 1.2 11.7 17.2 +48%Conversion 4% 11% 22% +103%Accepted/Event 0.9 1.2 2.0 +61%

#4 Virality (K-factor) Measures – Organic growth

Linearity - Non-linear (1/1-k)

Metrics - k-factor (average branching factor) for 1, 3, 7 and all days

Action - Decide to focus on virality engagement, retention or monetization. 0.1 0.3 0.5

0.700

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0001 0.9

0.04.08.0

K-factor

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#5 Engagement

Measures - How engaged is a user spending in the application

Metrics - Time on site is a good universal metric

Need to be careful since time on site can be tricky, best to normalize to something that is equal for all users, i.e. page views.

Actions – Add more to do in the game. Cohort test to see if that improves the time on site. Funnel testing to see if users are getting stuck somewhere.

#6 Exit Event Distribtion

Measures - The last thing the user does before he/she leaves the session

Metrics - Exit event distribution

Actions - Funnel testing to get the user to move on after the steps where they leave the session. Add additional game play so there is more to do. Improve the user experience of the last event!

#7 Retention – Revisit Rate Measures – Do users come

back? How sticky is the game?

Linearity – Non-liner (1/1-x)

Metrics – Daily and weekly revisit rate by daily and weekly cohort.

Actions – Social engagement (optimize messaging channels), add in timer based events, add events that occur when the user is not there.

High virality with low retention means low long-term growth.

#8 Lifetime Network Value

Description - Value of a User including viral effects (LifeTime Network Value)

Metrics - Actually very hard to calculate accurately, but here’s a first-order approximation:

Actions - Calculate the LTNV for your application. If:

economical to buy traffic.

LifetimeUserARPUMonthlyk

**11

CostAcqustionUserLTNV

# 9 Conversion to Paying Users Measures – How many of your

users are willing to pay

Metrics - % of your users that are paying users

Actions - Funnel testing to increase pay conversion funnel. Increase the monetization touch points. Increase currency demand by creating scarcity and creating desirable goods for your demographic.

#10 Average Revenue Per Paying User

Measures – How much paying users are spending (don’t focus on CPM model, it’s not monetizing well)

Metrics – Average Revenue Per Paying User per Month

Actions - Add more points of monetization, generate demand and scarcity.

“The game is just the engine to acquire users, the money is made from the creative goods.”

-Greg Thomson (Creator of YoVille and Fishworld)

Metrics Tools

In-house Tools – Easy to start, very hard and expensive to maintain

Google Analytics - FREE, so use it

Kontagent – Social analytics

Final Words - It’s About Balance!

Balance Data Driven Design

and Creativity

Thanks!

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