Why Other Apps Are Taking A Page Out Of Mobile Gaming’s Playbook–And Why It Is Working
Updated: Aug 16
In this blog post, learn about how popular, yet unrelated apps are taking a very specific approach to retaining mobile application users–taking a page from mobile gaming applications strategy.
Retaining Subscribers in the Era of Mobile Gaming
The main goal for any application is to retain its subscribers, year after year, but recently, applications to help with everything from cookbook recipes to workout routines have been struggling with this. So what’s the answer?
Well, taking a page from mobile gaming applications and the way in which they monetize their platform with in-app purchases, there is suddenly a boom in paywall optimization and gamified UX. This is a trend that has been proven to work, as in-app purchasing is a great way to make a customer feel like they can work towards their goal, at their own pace.
Not only this, but creating an experience within an app that mimics the real-life version of whatever that may be, from your phone or tablet, is critical. If your mobile gaming application is a first-person shooter, it should feel like I am really in battle. If your mobile gaming application is a flight simulator, I should feel like I am behind the plane myself.
The Importance of Gamified UX and Customer Retention
Making these distinctions through gamified UX is critical and many apps are doing it. For instance, as referenced in the example above, an application that is a cookbook recipe suggestion application should make you feel as if you are in the kitchen, or that the person is helping you make the food alongside you. There are many ways to do this through UX gamification and the implementation of it can be the difference in customer retention.
A great example of this is Bingo Tour. It allows users to play multiplayer or solo, but also create an experience like they are out of their homes–taking them away from the stresses of everyday life. The retention on the mobile gaming application has been great, because of the formatting of in-app purchasing and goals set by the app itself–not to mention the real-life mimicked feel of a slot.
In Bingo Tour, you are provided with the best online Bingo experience, period–but the opportunity for gamified UX is seen throughout the product, as it is with the rest of Pocket 7 Games product offerings–and that is a big reason why they are seeing success. Knowing your customer base and audience and how to cater to them and make them want to get back on the app day after day is as important as anything in the mobile gaming application landscape.
Now, you can download any of Pocket 7 Games offerings here – but what is important to note about why they are finding success is that they have a desktop site for their mobile gaming offerings.
Many applications only have their product discoverable within the app store and that can lead to confusion. If you want conversions, which in this case are downloads, you need to make it as easy as possible to find your product. When you google “Online Bingo”, Pocket 7 Games comes up for a reason–because their customer retention is so high that it is pushing their organic SEO to the top of the search list on Google.
Applying Mobile Gaming Strategies to Retain Users
In all, mobile applications are struggling with customer retention, but it is being found that the strategy mobile gaming applications take, with UX gamification and in-app purchasing is the best way to make someone become a member of your community, not just another square on their home screen–and mobile gaming applications are doing it best.