In an era where the scale of player-tracking event data is not only huge but also highly accessible, it is easy to become swamped with charts and figures.
So, are you being selective about the charts you're using?
Checking the charts
While the ability to dive deep into your players' behavior is important, the insight generated is not necessarily for mass consumption.
Do your UA experts need to know that your players struggle on mission 3 if they don't buy the lightning booster first? …Probably not.
Here are six of the best dashboard charts for keeping your game on track that you can use across the whole team.
The volume of players in your game impacts many decisions; the contrast between Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU) gives you a feel for which way the game is trending, and how 'sticky' it is.
2
Day-1/-7/-30 retention
The key metric for free-to-play games; people can't spend if they aren't playing.
Getting players into your game is hard (and expensive) enough, so it is vital to understand if they are churning straight away.
Player progress through the first few minutes is often crucial to long term engagement.
A typical free-to-play game might lose 20-30% of players within the first 2 minutes, so the First Time User Experience (FTUE) is the place where small improvements can make a big difference to game performance.
Many excellent games have been felled by a poor or broken on-boarding process, so it's important to get it right and keep new players happy.
4
Percentage of spenders vs. days since install etc.
Once you are sure that you have a base of retained players, it's time to work on growing your number of payers.
The spender rate amongst engaged players is the key to balancing the game economy. If you can't get 10% of players who have been active for over a week to pay, there is likely something seriously wrong with the game economy and/or the premium IAP you have on offer.
5
Number of payments distribution
The free-to-play model only works if spenders can be monetized multiple times; if you just want people to pay once, why not make a premium game?
6
ARPDAU
Finally, spenders need to spend.
Understanding Average Revenue Per Daily Active User (ARPDAU), alongside retention, allows accurate revenue forecasts and ultimately a measure of ROI and how it is tracking.
7
Making the most of Dashboard charts
When using these dashboard charts, it's important that you filter and hone the specifications to suit your game. This might involve, for example, configuring the region or platform, or using session number to track progress rather than days since install.
Or once you're set up to track your FTUE, you may need to add or edit steps as you adjust your game. Accurate dashboards are at the heart of reliable game analysis and are the starting point for any investigation with advanced game analytics tools.
They are critical to quickly identify emerging problems, as well as providing a focal point for optimizing free-to-play game performance. When set up and used properly, you should find that your whole team will reap the benefits.
Visit the deltaDNA website to find out more about our advanced analytics and marketing platform created for gamers by gamers.
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