How the Top 50 Succeed With IAP
What the top apps do that the rest of us don’t
MIKE HINES DEVELOPER EVANGELIST, AMAZON
@MikeFHines mikehines45
CREDIBLY INNOVATE PHOTO HERE
IAP: Way beyond the item list
TODAY’S AGENDA
How the top 50 did vs. the rest of us What the top 50 did differently What you can do
Amazon’s Large and Active Audience
3 Android devices
Fire phone
Kindle Fire
The Appstore supports a large
ecosystem
Customers are 1-Click purchase ready
Available on Android tablets and phones
The only store for Amazon devices
Amazon Appstore reaches FireOS, Android, and Blackberry 10 customers
Fire TV
BB 10
How the Top 50 apps did
vs. the rest of us
Cohort Analysis
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
Day 0: Installs
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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installe
d
Day 0: Active Users
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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41 42
In
active
59 58
active
Day 0: Uninstalls
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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13 18
uninstalled
59 58
active
Day 0: Paying Users
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iii
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uninstalled
59 58
active
3 3
paying
Day 0: Engagement
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iii
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uninstalled
59 58
active
3 3
paying
# of sessions / active
session length / active (minutes)
× =
avg. session length (minutes)
6.9
7.4
2.6
2.9
18
21.6
Day 0: Revenue
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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= ×
# of items / paying
100%
112%
avg. selling price
10
0%
13
6%
10
0%
15
4%
ARPPU
13 18
uninstalled
59 58
active
3 3
paying
# of sessions / active
session length / active (minutes)
× =
avg. session length (minutes)
6.9
7.4
2.6
2.9 18
21.6
1 Day Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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# of sessions / active
session length / active (minutes)
×
avg. session length (minutes)
17 25
uninstalled
34 37
active
1 1
paying
= ×
# of items / paying
100%
106%
avg. selling price
10
0%
10
7%
10
0%
11
4%
ARPPU
6.7
7.7
3.2
3.5
21.2
27.5 =
3 Days Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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# of sessions / active
session length / active (minutes)
×
avg. session length (minutes)
19 28
uninstalled
19 23
active
= ×
# of items / paying
100%
107%
avg. selling price
10
0%
12
2%
10
0%
13
1%
ARPPU
5.9
7.9
2.6
3.2
15
23
=
1 Week Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iiiiiiiiiiiiii
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# of sessions / active
session length / active (minutes)
×
avg. session length (minutes)
20 32
uninstalled
14 18
active
= ×
# of items / paying
100%
102%
avg. selling price
10
0%
12
1%
10
0%
12
4%
ARPPU
5.7
7.4
2.6
3.2
15
23 =
2 Weeks Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iiiiiiiiiii
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# of sessions / active
session length / active (minutes)
×
avg. session length (minutes)
21 34
uninstalled
10 14
active
= ×
# of items / paying
100%
111%
avg. selling price
10
0%
10
8%
10
0%
12
0%
ARPPU
5.7
7.3
2.5
3.1
14.2
22.6 =
1 Month Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iiii
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# of sessions / active
session length / active (minutes)
× =
avg. session length (minutes)
22 36
uninstalled
4 8
active
= ×
# of items / paying
10
0%
103%
avg. selling price
10
0%
12
8%
10
0%
13
1%
ARPPU
5.9
7.3
2.4
3.1 14.1
22.1
Hours Since App Download
IN-APP PURCHASING BY HOUR
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
0 24 48 72 96 120 144 168 192 216 240 264 288
WHAT WE LEARNED
The top have higher average price points You can charge more in the right place and time.
Session length and count are important Retention is not the only important metric.
What the top 50 do differently
THE TOP DEVELOPERS KNOW THE NUMBERS
?
ENGAGE
CUSTOMER
EARLY
MAKE IT
EASY TO
COME BACK
GIVE THEM A
REASON TO
COME BACK
37% of users who will purchase, purchase
on the first day
48% of repeat purchases happen within one
hour of a previous purchase
64% of revenue comes from 3rd order +
74% of revenue occurs after first 7 days
56% of revenue occurs after first 30 days
PRICE INCREASES OVER TIME
Days User Owned App
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
140%
150%
160%
170%
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
+60%
average
selling price
Games with bigger selection
RECEIVE MORE
ORDERS PER
CUSTOMER Developers that add new items regularly are able to
re-engage their paying customers. 1.14% of the
customers generate 30% of sales.
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
69%
100%
145%
1-5 Items 6-10Items
11-15Items
ARPPU by # of IAP items for sale
Conversion Rate
INDEX: Average = 100%
Don’t confuse your customer
OFFER VARIETY,
BUT NOT TOO MUCH
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
147%
101%
52%
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
1-5PricePoints
6-10PricePoints
11-15PricePoints
Apps with tutorials that introduce IAP
items
HAVE A 2.5x HIGHER
CONVERSION RATE Source: Amazon Appstore, July 2013
Apps showing users how to “consume”
GET MORE REPEAT
ORDERS Games that providing a post-purchasing tutorial
generated 65% more repeat orders than the
market average.
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
To sell more IAP items,
BE CLEAR
ABOUT VALUE Make it obvious what the
benefit is for buying different
price items. Confused
customers don’t buy anything.
Apps that made it easy to shop
INCREASED REVENUE 75% (ARPPU) Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Most of us have too much
CONCENTRATION ON LOW
PRICES Total Marketplace: Assortment by Price Point
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
31% 29%
7%
12% 11%
5% 3%
1%
14% 11%
6% 3%
16% 16%
11% 9%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
0.99 1.99 2.99 4.99 9.99 19.99 49.99 99.99
% of Assortment % of Sales
We find that the
TOP GAMES ARE MORE
BALANCED
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Top 50 Apps: Assortment by Price Point
28%
15%
10% 13%
11% 9% 9% 5%
32%
19%
7% 4%
10% 12%
5% 4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
0.99 1.99 2.99 4.99 9.99 19.99 49.99 99.99
% of Assortment % of Sales
WHAT WE LEARNED
Games with bigger selection
RECEIVE MORE ORDERS
Tutorials that introduce in-app items
HAVE HIGHER CONVERSION
Showing users how to “consume”
GETS REPEAT ORDERS
Treating in-app items like a catalogue
MAKES IT EASY TO SHOP
1.14%
of paying customers generate
30% of sales
+60%
Increase average
selling price over 30 days
How you can increase session
count and minutes per session
REDUCE BARRIERS TO FREQUENT
USE
Tuning Game Difficulty
WILL ENCOURAGE
LONGER SESSIONS Too hard, and users will abandon. Too
easy, and they can get bored. Just right,
and it becomes addictive!
Adopting Social
CAN CREATE BUZZ
AND KEEP USERS
ENGAGED This will result in more friend-to-friend marketing
as players share their achievements and ranks.
Players will also compete with friends and leaders
and stay engaged.
Leaderboards and
Achievements are
THE MINIMUM BAR
FOR SOCIAL
ENGAGEMENT
Hosting Special Events
WILL ENCOURAGE
MORE ENGAGEMENT Offering special levels and unique item rewards
during a specific time window will generate
excitement and participation.
Design IAP into the
fabric of your game
MAKE IT
EASY TO BUY Offering ways to buy your IAP
items when they are needed
will increase conversion.
To be in control,
HAVE A
LOT OF
LEVERS Use A|B Testing to
fine-tune everything
from game difficulty to
IAP menu choices.
Market your app to all customers
BE IN ALL THE STORES If you’ve invested in building an Android app, sell it everywhere.
https://developer.amazon.com/public/resources/marketing-tools
WHAT WE LEARNED
Add social and tweak app design and behavior to
INCREASE TIME AND COUNT OF
SESSIONS
Cater to your best customers with clear value
DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG
See behind the scenes and give yourself levers
IMPLEMENT ANALYTICS AND A|B TESTING
Learn more: developer.amazon.com/welcome
Contact us: forums.developer.amazon.com
developer.amazon.com/help/contactus.html
Follow us:
/AmazonAppstoreForAndroid
@AmazonAppDev @MikeFHines
developer.amazon.com/blog