Mobile gaming shapes new customer experience.

Mobile takes a leading position, while the gaming industry shapes new expectations in terms of interactivity. Developers are constantly striving for improving the customer experience.

On a daily basis app stores are flooded with new game uploads and these games can be often downloaded for free and very quickly tested. It is also why the decision time for customers to download the game can be very short. Making a good impression, fast and effectively across all the touch points and fighting for micro-moments is critical for marketing teams.

One of the biggest challenges that marketers are facing is to keep the players interest overtime as many customers do not return to the game after first play test and when they do not get immersed it is game over but for the developers. This is why Preparation of the content is key and a game needs to be tested across target groups, with beta releases and by professional testers extensively before it is fully launched. Developing games requires constant iterations and optimizing to ensure the best possible customer experience aiming for no less than perfection. From the very first moment the customer finds the product, to keeping the customers interest for the long run by winning his brand loyalty.

Un-intuitive or too hard to read user interface, wearisome tutorial, long loading time, poor performance, too many adverts and aggressive in-app selling can result in customer to delete a game almost instantly and move on to another brand. There are also factors outside the game that play a role in decision making, like general evaluations, the amount of space needed for installation.

The Customer Journey for mobile gamers usually starts with Exposure and Discovery of the game, and this can be through various channels. Those channels can be divided into organic discovery: organic search, App Store Optimisation, social media, word of mouth, forums, digital content, banners, links, community, top selling charts, streaming. etc. And a paid exposure: On appstore and google store user can see editor’s picks, as well as highlighted new releases, could be emails with promotions, social media, affiliate programs and networks etc.

Choosing the right target audience, adapting creative content and optimising keywords are the most important elements of any strong ASO strategy. Many app publishers forget to consider though that what works in the Apple App Store may not not apply same way to the Google Play Store.

Once the game initially catches the customer attention, conscious users then enter the Awareness phase, which then provokes further research. Players in favor of a specific genre or game then try to evaluate the best game within that genre. Customers are constantly looking for trust signals through: app videos - gameplay, trailers, teasers, check the screenshots, looks for 5-star ratings, reviews and comments, research for bugs by more serious and dedicated gamers. Then the customer is starting to consider downloading or purchase the game.

In the Consideration phase, the customer checks the pricing, in app purchases, compares the pricing models with other similar games, checks comments, availability, hardware, big factor for downloading is the size of the games.

If successful the next phase is Conversion. This is the phase, where the purchase or download is made. The player buys the game and if immediately starts playing it, goes through sign up process, gives permission or not for game notifications and sales alerts.

Then the Customer Relationship starts building, which contributes to the enjoyment with the game: personalised in app purchases and notifications with the users name, email communication, product updates, of course the gameplay experience and immersive storytelling need to be right and properly branded - every detail need to be thought through, customer services (really important when the game crushes or bugs, problems after update installs should be addressed really fast with engagement), rewards (for example daily rewards for opening the games, special rewards depending on how long have the customer have been playing - 1h, 4h, 3 days, 18th day log in etc. ad rewards, level up rewards etc.).

The gameplay sessions on mobile are very short. Keeping the player engaged for a 15 - 30 minute session is an achievement. Often a good reward system contributes to that. it is important for retention as it can form a habit and result in better long term monetisation.

Retention is the final stage which means creating a great long term customer experience: by sending news of your products or services, moments of delight, thanking messages, feedback outlets, endorsements, special holidays promotions or unique levels/items etc.

Retention means fostering your existing customers. It is much easier to sell a new product to the loyal players and far less expensive than gaining new ones.

Retention is where marketing team can really start building a strong and lasting brand by building relationships with the players,

by offering the customers great experiences, special

rewards, and respond to their feedback, engage with the community, companies invite the players to stay engaged with the particular game or brand.

Listening to customer feedback: Gamers are more likely to leave a positive feedback and rating when a company asks for it directly after a finished game session. Also when the company responds to customer feedback it may also result in customers staying loyal to that company or particular game, keeping their interest for longer.

Feedback for developers is one off the biggest sources of information that helps to shape better mobile games experience and simultaneously making the customers feel like they are part of the process. Those customers will be more likely to return or search for more games created by the developer that really takes feedback into the account, and communicates it to the players.

Releasing fresh game content and active marketing content: It is imperative to regularly post new content like adding a new level to the game, and improved interactive features, updates based on feedback, new items, unique one time sales offers, new stories, artworks and merchandise to collect. By offering customers something fresh it helps to keep the experience exciting.

Push notifications: these are the messages and alerts that appear even when the player is not actively in the game. When done right, they can encourage gamers to return to the forgotten game, check the status and download what is new. If these are done in a customer-friendly manner, sometimes even with humor or personalised, they can drive retention.

Loyalty programs: Loyalty programs are a great way to convert the casual players into active ones. Rewards help to encourage engagement and build love towards the brand and company, for example when players will hit specific thresholds in the gameplay experience they will be rewarded with unlocks that cannot be purchased.

Making the rewards and leader-boards worth sharing on social media, is one of the goals for the mobile game developers.

Beta testing invites: The sooner the developers and marketing team can collect the feedback the better for the very costly development. Sometimes if the games do not receive enough positive feedback or spark interest during beta testing the projects get cancelled, as applying the changes to the games would be more expensive than the possible return, or even making a new game. Which is why it is important to engage loyal players from even the first stages in the development. Inviting to beta-test is a fantastic way to bind gamers at an early stage to the game and get focused feedback from the targeted group.

Giving help and advice: making sure to be very transparent with the community about the updates and dates of releases is highly appreciated by the community, what is in the release available exactly, to hear out the community and inform if there is anything causing difficulties to deliver the update and why, help with bugs crushes, installs, reply on the social media and forums shows players that the developers really care for their experience.

Interactive gameplay. Since I first took my fathers Nokia 3310 to play the original Snake game there has been a huge technology leap within mobile gaming sphere. We used to have test rooms that were filled with hundreds of different mobile devices and as a team had to export the graphics separately on each one of them, spending countless hours on adapting the whole game to the different device capabilities. Ensuring that the end result of the customer experience will feel equally fun despite the devices limitations. To later, use the touch screen - tilting and swiping - for the first time to craft new gameplay experiences. Now with the rise of AR, Voice technology and AI, perhaps even biotechnology soon to revolutionize the smart gameplay.

There is still a lot ahead for us developers to truly understand the psychology of the players and how to craft the experience that will be loved. Creating a great customer journey is a constant process of tracking user behavior and applying iterations. This will create a strategy based on valuable facts, not assumptions to deepen the understanding of what is liked or disliked by the customer, what is expected now and where we are heading, shaping the future of gaming together as a community.