The document discusses how the top 50 grossing apps on the Amazon Appstore perform differently than other freemium apps in key metrics like installs, active users, retention, engagement, and monetization over time. It shows the top apps have higher conversion rates and average revenue per paying user through tactics like optimizing in-app purchases, social features, and game difficulty. The document also introduces Amazon Underground as an alternative monetization method that pays developers based on total user engagement time with an app.
SEO Case Study: How I Increased SEO Traffic & Ranking by 50-60% in 6 Months
Mike Hines, Amazon
1. WHAT THE TOP 50 APPS DO WITH IAP THAT THE
REST OF US DON’T
Reach Engage Earn
MIKE HINES
DEVELOPER EVANGELIST, AMAZON
@MikeFHines mikehines45
mihines@amazon.com
2. Who is
Mike Hines
Founder @ 2 Financial Services Startups
Founder @ 2 Software Startups
QA Engineer @ Now Software
QA Manager, Product Manager @ Microsoft
Evangelist @ Amazon.com
Mentor @ GameFounders, Dev Bootcamp
Games Judge @Casual Connect Indie Prize, White
Nights, and Pocket Gamer Very Big Indie Pitch
Speaker @ GDC, GDCE, Casual Connect, Pocket
Gamer Connects, AnDevCon, White Nights, CES, PAX
Dev
3. CREDIBLY INNOVATE PHOTO
HERE
Amazon Appstore
TODAY’S AGENDA
How the Top 50 Did
What They Do Differently – Selling
What They Do Differently – Engagement
7. Cohort Analysis
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
8. Day 1: Installs
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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100100
installed
9. Day 1: 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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Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
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4142
In
active
5958
active
10. Day 1: Uninstalls
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
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Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
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uninstalled
5958
active
11. Day 1: 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
5958
active
33
paying
12. 2,6
2.9
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Day 1: Engagement
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Group B: Rest of Freemium
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uninstalled
5958
active
33
paying
# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
× =
avg. session length
(minutes)
6,9
7,4
1822
13. 6,9
7,4
2,6
2.9
Day 1: 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
100%
136%
100%
154%
ARPPU
1318
uninstalled
5958
active
33
paying
# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
× =
avg. session length
(minutes)
18
22
14. Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
1 Day Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Group B: Rest of Freemium
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# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
×
avg. session length
(minutes)
1725
uninstalled
3437
active
11
paying
=×
# of items / paying
100%
106%
avg. selling price
100%
107%
100%
114%
ARPPU
6,7
7.7
3.2
3.5
21
27=
# of sessions / active
15. 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)
1928
uninstalled
1923
active
=×
# of items / paying
100%
107%
avg. selling price
100%
122%
100%
131%
ARPPU
5,9
7,9
2.
6
3.2
15
25
=
# of sessions / active
16. 1 Week Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
×
avg. session length
(minutes)
2032
uninstalled
1418
active
=×
# of items / paying
100%
102%
avg. selling price
100%
121%
100%
124%
ARPPU
5.
7
7,4
2.
6
3.2
15
24
=
# of sessions / active
17. 2 Weeks Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
×
avg. session length
(minutes)
2134
uninstalled
1014
active
=×
# of items / paying
100%
111%
avg. selling price
100%
108%
100%
120%
ARPPU
5,7
7,3
2,5
3,1
14
22=
# of sessions / active
18. 1 Month Later…
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
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Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
× =
avg. session length
(minutes)
2236
uninstalled
48
active
=×
# of items / paying
100%
103%
avg. selling price
100%
128%
100%
131%
ARPPU
5,9
7.3
2,4
3.1
14
23
# of sessions / active
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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.
23. 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
24. Apps with tutorials that introduce IAP
items
HAVE A 2.5x HIGHER
CONVERSION RATESource: Amazon Appstore, July 2013
25. 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
26. 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 6-10
Items
11-15
Items
ARPPU by # of IAP items for sale
27. 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%
1-5
Price
Points
6-10
Price
Points
11-15
Price
Points
29. 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.
30. 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
33. 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!
34. Engaging Community
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.
40. To be in control,
HAVE A LOT
OF LEVERS
Measure with Analytics, and
use A|B Testing to fine-tune
everything from game
difficulty to IAP menu
choices.
41. 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.
Apps that made it easy to shop
INCREASED REVENUE 75% (ARPPU)
Source: Amazon Appstore, March 2014
42. WHAT WE LEARNED
Add social and tweak game difficulty to
INCREASE TIME AND COUNT OF
SESSIONS
Cater to your best and longest customers with clear value
DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG
Give yourself control of your game in the wild
IMPLEMENT A|B TESTING
43. IF YOU ONLY DO ONE THING…
Cater to your best and longest customers
DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG
44. IF YOU ONLY DO TWO THINGS…
Cater to your best and longest customers
DIFFERENTIATE YOUR IAP CATALOG
Make sure your IAP catalogs are
CLEAR ABOUT VALUE
47. A new shopping app distributing
#ActuallyFree APPS
Turn 100% of your Android users into
revenue-generating customers
Developers waive fees on apps
and In App Purchase items.
Customers get #ActuallyFree
apps!
Amazon pays developers for
cumulative minutes customers
spend in an Amazon Underground
app.
48. Amazon Underground
HOW IT WORKS
• Customers go to Amazon and
download the Amazon
Underground shopping app
• Customers download your app
from Amazon Underground
• Total user minutes are multiplied by
our payout ratio
• Developer is paid
50. 6,9
7,4
2,6
2.9
Day 1: Revenue
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
iii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
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Group B: Rest of Freemium
iii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiii
=×
# of items / paying
100%
112%
avg. selling price
100%
136%
100%
154%
ARPPU
1318
uninstalled
5958
active
33
paying
# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
× =
avg. session length
(minutes)
18
22
51. Underground
In an average week:
10K Users (@9
min/day)
630K Minutes/week
630K x $0.002 = $1260
$1260 x 100% = $1260
Amazon Underground
HOW IT WORKS
52. Underground
In an average week:
10K Users (@9
min/day)
630K Minutes/week
630K x $0.002 = $1260
$1260 x 100% = $1260
IAP
In an average week:
10K Users (@3%
convert)
= 300 Paying Users/week
Amazon Underground
HOW IT WORKS
53. 6,9
7,4
2,6
2.9
Day 1: Revenue
Group A: Top-50 Grossing
iii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Group B: Rest of Freemium
iii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiii
=×
# of items / paying
100%
112%
avg. selling price
100%
136%
100%
154%
ARPPU
1318
uninstalled
5958
active
33
paying
# of sessions / active
session length / active
(minutes)
× =
avg. session length
(minutes)
18
22
54. Underground
In an average week:
10K Users (@9
min/day)
630K Minutes/week
630K x $0.002 = $1260
$1260 x 100% = $1260
IAP
In an average week:
10K Users (@3%
convert)
= 300 Paying Users/week
300 x $6.00 ARPPU/week
= $1800
Amazon Underground
HOW IT WORKS
55. Getting Started
• Android
• Premium or IAP in another
store
• Open to Devs worldwide
• For customers in US, UK,
Germany and France
Qualifications
developer.amazon.com/underground