metrics for social games
david king                  siqi chen
green patch         serious business
                   metrics are a force multiplier
                                            but you need to have something to multiply!
can’t replace a good product
can’t replace creativity, art, design
can’t replace qualitative metrics
(user sentiment, net promoter score, etc)
the business of social games
(life time value - user acquisition cost) X scale = profit*
                                       * these variables are not independent
user acquisition costs
virality, retention, cross promotion, marketing etc
                                                           life time value
                              retention, quality, flow, mechanics, theme, payments, etc
    3 ‘A’s of metrics
actionable, accessible, auditable
actionable
build a framework for experimentation, not vanity
emphasis on split testing and actionable insights
accessible
on demand experimentation capabilities
timely, transparent and accessible reporting
separate metrics infrastructure as much as possible
auditable
sanity check against other data sources:
db, google analytics, facebook
why companies are metrics focused
  simple math: linear improvements yield non-linear results
k = (infection rate) * (conversion rate)
     [summed across all channels]
                                       Visit
                                   Product quality
                                 New user experience                 Activation              Revenue
                                 Social proof (friends)
                              Key Metric: activation rate
                             the “viral loop”
     Infection
        Invite flows                                            Conversion
         Retention                                                  Copy writing
      Call to actions                                           Persuasion psychology
     Game mechanics                                             Demographic targeting
     Self expresssion
     Allocation tuning                                      Key Metric: click through rate
Key Metric: infection rate
virality discounts user acquisition costs
             (potentially, down to $0)
user acquisition:
user acquisition cost:
user acquisition cost discount:
infection rate
viral flows, calls to action, product quality, game mechanics, allocation tuning
                                                           conversion rate
               copy writing, persuasion mechanics/psychology, demographic targeting
viral channels
requests, notifications, feed forms, email, profile box, share link, email, app tab, etc.
brief overview of facebook rpgs
  metrics can help with game flow
this affects retention, virality, and everything else
    metrics can help with revenue
gain actionable insights on virtual goods behavior
that’s it. questions?