User-Friendly Monetization Tip #3: Surprise Users With Rewards for No Reason

[:en]As we’ve been saying in our blog series on “User-Friendly App Monetization,” F2P app developers no longer have to choose between driving plenty of revenue and providing a top-notch user experience. You can read all about it in our white paper titled App Monetization Strategies That Put Users First.

In this installment, we’ll examine a strategy that relies on the element of surprise to delight users and engender loyalty.

As any man who has ever given a woman flowers “just because” knows, sometimes the most appreciated gifts are those that were completely unexpected. Something about the element of surprise makes the gift seem more valuable, or at least more gratifying.

App developers can leverage this phenomenon by giving their users currency or rewards for no reason in particular other than wanting to surprise and delight them. For instance, try giving them free currency if they open your app for the third day in a row, even though you never told them that you would. Or give them free currency for a “job well done” if they complete a certain level or pass a certain test. Many apps present non-rewarded video ads in between levels, but why not run rewarded videos there instead and tell your users that you’ve decided to give them free currency even though they never asked for it?

Your users will surely thank you for the free currency, and as an added benefit you’ll also be “training” them on what they can do with your currency. You don’t want to give them so much free currency that they never feel the need to purchase or earn it on their own, but just enough that they get a taste for it and then start to crave more.

Stay tuned next time for a blog post about “Showing Paying Players Fewer Ads,” or read through previous posts in the series on User-Friendly Monetization Tip #1: Allow Players to Boost or Extend Gameplay After Failure Moments and User-Friendly Monetization Tip #2: Conduct Currency Sales and IAP Promotions.[:]