How to design interactive games for e-commerce promotions?

01E -commerce promotion

Big promotion stage

Big e-commerce promotions such as 618 and Double 11 are traditionally divided into three stages: the warm-up period, the official period and the outbreak period. Taking a certain Double Eleven as an example, the time period was:

During the warm-up period, products start pre-sale activities just to bind consumers to the platform. During the warm-up period, a very important product was launched, a big promotion interactive game. For example, Tmall’s building activity belongs to C2C fission, which mainly aims to stimulate the activity of C-end users and then drive traffic to merchants.

During the official period, merchants begin to attract huge traffic into the store through official activities that they have registered for, such as the interactive games mentioned above, or participating in activities at the main venue. Users in the formal period will add items to cart, but the sales conversion rate is not high.

The explosive period is the time to harvest. The operation will also carry out wave promotions every day and adjust the promotion intensity and means at any time.

For example, if you find that sales are sluggish, you can quickly arrange a red envelope rain, and there may even be large red envelopes, called blood-recovery red envelopes. Whether it will appear depends entirely on sales. If the KPI is achieved, there is no need to send it. If it is not achieved, it will be sent to users at the last minute.

The above mainly describes the promotion rhythm of the leading e-commerce platforms. The promotion cycles of small and medium-sized platforms will not be so clearly divided. In addition, the time span of big promotions in the past two years has lengthened, showing the characteristics of "normalization of big promotions."

Merchants' demands

For merchants, promoting new products in the second half of the year while clearing out inventory from the first half of the year is the core demand of many merchants during 618. Brands need stability in the private domain. During big sales, merchants most hope to take advantage of the explosion of public domain traffic and convert it into growth in the private domain. Simply put, the core issue is how brands can achieve the most efficient investment-conversion ratio and user retention.

Social gameplay review

The implantation of social gameplay must be a standardized configuration for an S-level event. The platform provides user fission gameplay during the promotion period and customer acquisition stage; after new users come in, it provides access and retention gameplay; after the visit, it provides users with gameplay to help purchase or make reservations during the climax period, so as to facilitate return of users during the climax period. A case study of a platform’s New Year’s Festival:

02Parties

platform

As the demographic dividend of the domestic Internet gradually disappears, the entire Internet has begun to move from an incremental market to a stock market.

When user growth encounters a bottleneck, in order to improve the commercial value of the product, we need to carry out more refined operations, build a user incentive system, activate existing users, and increase DAU to obtain greater user value. Addictive gamification is undoubtedly the best strategy to motivate users and increase DAU.

Games are merely tools for scene marketing. Providing more display slots (advertising revenue) and increasing user time (platform stickiness) are the core demands of gamification of e-commerce marketing . Even if users have no purchasing needs, playing small games on e-commerce platforms can indirectly play the role of "watching" through related push notifications.

The functions of games include: improving user retention; promoting user conversion; and acquiring new users through social fission.

C-end

The main purpose for users to participate in promotional games is to receive subsidies and red envelopes from the platform, followed by the fun of the game.

Rewards include red envelopes, coupons, virtual currencies that can be used for redemption, etc. Users invest their time, connections and other resources in exchange for these rewards to reduce the amount they pay when placing an order.

Games often take advantage of users' curiosity, comparison, and insatiable psychology to set up some gameplay to allow users to form other potential goals.

B-side

The brand will gain additional exposure, and the chance of conversion will be greater.

03Product Features

Gamification, through the means of games, empowers non-gamified scenarios or products, allowing users to have more fun in the process of using the product and creating greater product value.

Heavy games are obviously not suitable for marketing. They have a high entertainment threshold, high development costs, and are incompatible with the essential attributes of e-commerce. On the contrary, light games, such as casual and cultivation games, are more in line with e-commerce and are also the most popular gamification marketing at present.

The mini-games launched on the three major platforms are mainly business-oriented (farms), supplemented by cultivation-oriented games (such as "Taobao Life" and JD.com's "Pet Dog") and elimination-oriented games (such as Taobao's "Save Money and Eliminate" and "Duoduo Love Elimination"), as well as knowledge quizzes.

Daily games are open on the platform for a long time in order to help users develop habits. The daily rewards are relatively small and are more suitable for points redemption.

Games during big promotions usually have daily rewards and ultimate grand prizes. Daily rewards, such as red envelopes obtained through upgrades, can continuously motivate users; setting an ultimate prize is to encourage users to persist in playing until the end of the event and increase the number of orders.

E-commerce game structure:

The elements of "task" + "reward" in the game are easy to implement in the e-commerce scenario. Add the element of "interactive game" and it forms the basic framework of an interactive game. When the game becomes more complex, other elements may be introduced under this framework, such as: virtual currency, social fission, level-breaking upgrades, and team formation.

"Games Change the World" points out that games have four decisive characteristics: goals, rules, feedback systems and voluntary participation. In the setting of game goals, cash is the most attractive, followed by physical goods, and vouchers are the least.

The author of "Practical Gamification" proposed eight core driving forces, called the "Octagonal Behavioral Analysis Method." These eight core driving forces can be divided into "extrinsic motivation" and "intrinsic motivation", "positive motivation" and "negative motivation" according to their value attributes. In actual product design, motivations need to interact with each other to achieve greater value.

Features of different types of games:

Basically, the level-breaking casual game can be regarded as a transplant of the real game, but with product operation activities added in the process. The main features of the game are quite obvious, emphasizing immersion and fun gameplay. This type of game is simple, has a long game cycle, and appeals to a wide audience. By adding such games to e-commerce platforms, users do not need to download additional game apps. Once user stickiness is formed, it will bring stable traffic to the platform.

The main goal of development and management games is to use gamification features to increase user traffic and visit frequency through interest points. At the same time, the gameplay increases product exposure and improves conversion rate. Therefore, development games are usually simpler, focusing on marketing activities, and are also the mainstream game mode in e-commerce.

Different reward gameplay:

The main gameplay of the upgrade reward type: upgrade by completing tasks and then get upgrade rewards.

The main gameplay of the cumulative redemption type: obtain virtual currency by completing tasks and redeem corresponding prizes.

Case studies: Taobao’s Taobao coins, Pinduoduo’s Duoduo earns big money and Duoduo Ranch

Features: Users can intuitively see the rewards they receive, such as getting 10 gold coins (exchangeable for 1 yuan) for completing a task. This tangible reward is more attractive than the uncertain rewards obtained by upgrading, provided that the difficulty is not too great.

Choose a prize and get it by completing tasks

Main gameplay: Choose a prize and obtain it by completing tasks continuously.

Cases: Duoduo Orchard, Duoduo Dream Factory, Xiaomei Orchard, etc.

Features: There are fewer rewards during the process, only a final grand prize. The prizes are often of greater value, such as a box of fruit, a recliner, etc.

Classification by the perspective of user participation in the game

From the perspective of user participation in the game, game types are divided into two categories: PVP (game between people) and PVE (game between people and preset systems). Some games have rich business purposes, and PVP and PVE often coexist.

Different business purposes will use different types of gameplay: PVE gameplay is suitable for the business purposes of distributing preferential measures and promoting user activity; PVP gameplay is suitable for the purpose of guiding fission.

The biggest features of Taobao games are the complete token system, the game matrix connected by game tasks, and strong brand marketing. Taobao has several small games corresponding to different categories of goods and brands, but on Pinduoduo, everything is priced at 1 yuan or given away for free. In other words, Pinduoduo does not seem to care about the product categories, but is more concerned about attracting user participation with "small bargains" such as "free" or "1 yuan". In the past, you were given one dollar directly, but now you can earn one dollar by playing games.

E-commerce games are not real games and do not have too many obstacles, which leads to weak user autonomy and creativity. Users can basically see the future development of games at a glance. It is difficult to keep users engaged for a long time simply by relying on external "wool" incentives. Therefore, it is still necessary to focus on "game play" and bring more unknowns and possibilities to users in order to generate stronger appeal.

04Design points

User Analysis

When we design or analyze any function, the first thing we need to think about is: who is this function designed for? Who would play Pinduoduo’s game?

Pinduoduo's users are price-sensitive, and are concentrated in second-, third-, fourth-tier cities and below, with the majority being women. Compared with traditional e-commerce platforms (JD.com and Taobao), users’ educational level distribution is lower and their age distribution is higher.

Game design follows a logic, namely "low threshold, high return", and low and high are relative values ​​based on the target users.

Low threshold: Pinduoduo's target users are low-educated and old, which requires that the threshold of game design is very low. It can be easily operated with just a few clicks, avoiding complex logical thinking.

High returns: Pinduoduo's target users come from second-, third-, fourth-tier cities and below, among which users from fourth-tier cities and below account for the highest proportion, which requires the game returns to be relatively high for them. In 2018, the average per capita income in major third-tier cities across the country was between 30,000 and 50,000, which means that the average monthly income of Pinduoduo users was approximately 3,000 or less.

Taking "cash sign-in" as an example, its low threshold is reflected in the simple gameplay: users can complete the game by clicking a button; and its high return lies in the fact that a 5 yuan red envelope is given for the first sign-in, which is undoubtedly very attractive to Pinduoduo's target users.

Planning Process

It can be divided into six steps: setting goals, theme design, function design, finalizing values, interaction design, and data model.

Setting goals

First of all, you can’t make games just for the sake of making games. Determine clearly what role interactive games should play in the current marketing project, and then make a specific plan. At what point in the game's promotional period is the game in, and what is the main goal in terms of activation, conversion, and new customer acquisition?

The activity goal is related to the promotion stage and the overall marketing strategy of the promotion. For example, in the warm-up period and the climax period, users are directly promoted to shop through efficient coupon issuance (high-quality coupons). In the warm-up period, reservations are made through communication-type marketing activities, and in the climax period, messages are delivered to guide traffic to the promotion stores for conversion.

Theme Design

After the goals are confirmed, you can plan and determine the framework around business needs. We plan based on the three elements of "task system", "game play" and "preferential measures". The most important thing here is to determine the theme of the game and confirm the relevant resources based on the business and platform characteristics.

If it is a cultivation type, you must choose animals and plants that are associated with the product and that users are familiar with. Putting them in the product will not make users feel abrupt. Choosing animals and plants that users are familiar with can associate the user's past offline knowledge and experiences.

Functional design

At this stage, we need to conceive the specific gameplay of the activity, determine the MVP version functions, and conduct self-checking on the user hook model;

• Task system: Based on business needs, conceive specific tasks that users need to complete;
• Gameplay: Choose the most suitable direction from PVP and PVE, and then find a more suitable gameplay based on this direction;
• Preferential measures: Different prizes are designed based on the business purpose of the transaction and the purpose of stimulating users' continued participation. General prizes are used to stimulate users to place orders, and high-value prizes are used to stimulate users' continued participation.

Taking the NetEase Yanxuan 411 anniversary cake stacking game as an example, the gameplay is as follows:

Taking orchard products as an example, the MVP model is as follows:

For gamified product design, after sorting out the core functions, the "addiction model" should be used to self-check whether the function design is complete and whether a closed loop from user trigger to investment is achieved. Hook model: Games make users addicted through a continuous cycle of “trigger-action-reward-investment”.

Finalize the value

Numerical planning work determines the game's operating difficulty, reward value and other aspects. It is often divided into growth value (consumption) and task value (acquisition).

In the gaming industry, numbers often determine the life or death of a game. The debugging of game values ​​is often done through "closed beta", "internal beta" and "public beta" by players and the R&D team.

In the Yanxuan 411 anniversary cake stacking project, the numerical values ​​were determined based on data insights into user behavior, and the numerical plans for each detail were finalized one by one. Take the 411 anniversary cake stacking game as an example (incomplete version):

Interaction Design

This part can be divided into themes, props, novice guidance, pop-ups, and motion effect design.

Theme design is the core of a game’s visual design. Once the theme design is determined, the design style of the game is basically determined. The product should focus on visual center, button layout, and progress bar design.

The layout structure is divided into three content modules: game operation, function expansion, and marketing activities. Operational activities are displayed preferentially in the upper left corner of the game, which is conducive to enhancing user perception; the right side is the game auxiliary area including strategies, dynamics, costumes and other information; the bottom is the core game operation area, where the functions are generally fixed, which can reduce user memory costs.
Tokens are virtual values, and simple digital growth is unlikely to give users the motivation to continue investing in the game. It is necessary to enhance users’ perception of value through product exposure.

E-commerce games are relatively simple, with more static scenes, no screen switching and perspective changes, and the game screen presentation mainly includes two perspectives: a 45-degree overhead view and a frontal view.

The number progress bar gives users stronger feedback, and the percentage progress bar is more convenient for adjusting the value. In the early stage, you can use the progress bar with "number of times" prompt to give users the strongest feedback and improve the data model as soon as possible. In the later stage, both methods can be used together. Use the "number progress bar" in the first few stages and the "percentage progress bar" in the last stage to adjust the task difficulty and control the cost in real time.

Props generally play a role in advancing the main quest in the game, so props are also a large part of the variables in numerical design. However, the core of the development game in the product is to help the product establish an incentive system and improve a certain indicator of the product. Rapid iteration is more important. Therefore, orchard games only have one prop, "water drop", in the early stage. Other props will be gradually added as needed after the data model is improved.

The core purpose of novice guidance is mainly two points:

• Let users understand the use of the product
• Let users experience the core value of the product

For the first point, we should try to add core functions to the novice guidance; for the second, we can design the early milestones (or rewards) to be simpler, and try to make them available to users after completing the novice guidance. This will allow users to experience the core value of the product, and secondly, it can take advantage of the user's "loss aversion" psychology to improve user retention.

Pop-up design: In traditional products, pop-ups are often used to provide product function prompts. However, in the second half of the Internet, as the war for user attention has become increasingly fierce, pop-ups are more used to guide user behavior and achieve full-link growth of products.

A completion pop-up window at a certain time can be used as the entrance to another event. In order to give users a stronger sense of purpose, a new event entrance can be added to a pop-up window when a task is completed or ended to guide users to complete a new task.

Based on our previous project experience, a pop-up window with acquisition-oriented or loss-averse copy can reduce user churn rate by 10% to 40%.

Operation guidance: Duoduo Orchard adopted a "strong operation" strategy based on micro-motion effects, adding various pop-up windows to guide users to receive coupons and convert during the user behavior process; this did cause a lot of interference to users in the early stages of the game. However, for certain user groups, "free" has a strong appeal. Once users become addicted, this mode of interaction will no longer be a behavioral obstacle.

Motion effect design: Motion effect design in development games generally has two main purposes: guiding behavior and creating atmosphere.

Data Model

Based on the data requirements of the core indicators, after the conversion rate is determined through some tests in the later stage, the ROI can be calculated relatively accurately through the data model.

The values ​​of early stage activities should not be set too high. After going online, conduct a small-scale test first to optimize the conversion rate of each link. After obtaining basic "conversion rate" and "completion rate" data, iterate the numerical design based on the cost.

Application of Octagon Behavior Analysis

In the early stages of a user's exposure to a game, external motivation is needed to get the user engaged in the game. The most effective thing is "free gifts", because for most users, what they get for free is the real deal. For example, signing in to receive red envelopes, cash deductions, and free fruits are the most common ways to play.

As users continue to participate, more gameplay is needed to generate intrinsic motivation for users. For example, social relationships encourage each other, and users create game scenes and character costumes by themselves. These investments will gradually become the users' "sunk costs" and condense the users' emotional investment. The more users invest, the stronger their perceived value of vested interests will be, and the stickiness of the product will be stronger.

"Seeking profit and avoiding harm" is a basic characteristic of human nature. In games, we need to use positive motivations to guide users to participate in a positive way, and use negative motivations to force users to take action, so as to better motivate users. For example, in order to encourage daily user activity, Baba Farm’s strategy is that if users are offline for more than 24 hours, crops will stop automatically producing. At the same time, the function of "log in daily to receive sunshine" has been added to motivate user behavior from both positive and negative sides.

After having enough motivation, it is necessary to implement a closed loop to continuously motivate users. For example, Ant Forest not only plants trees online, but also introduces offline real-life photos, so that users can understand the growth of trees and check their geographical locations.

Similarly, the gameplay also needs a closed loop. For example, stealing is a common gameplay in the game. Many users said that they don’t want to steal from others, and they don’t want to be stolen from by others. Therefore, protective shield props are set up in the game. On the one hand, it increases the gameplay of the game, and on the other hand, it can reduce the negative emotions of loss-averse users.

Taobao Gold Coin Town Case

Multi-layered target incentives enhance user appeal. The Gold Coin Town introduces building upgrade gameplay, constructs a richer game scene, and forms two game goals; it is no longer a single "wool-pulling" game, and users also have the opportunity to create their own town.

Instant incentives enhance users’ sense of gain. Instant incentives mean getting feedback immediately after a user takes an action. The gameplay of Gold Coin Town is that you can upgrade buildings by signing in every day, giving users a stronger sense of participation and gain; compared to other games, each watering may only bring 1% or even lower growth progress, and the incentive effect is more positive and effective.

Uncertain gameplay stimulates the desire to explore. The Gold Coin Town also creates a sense of mystery with the help of unknown gameplay. The different upgrade paths for each building enhance user expectations. At the same time, each building reveals certain plot information, which makes users have a stronger desire to explore and hope to uncover the mystery of the town as soon as possible.

Duoduo Orchard Case

A considerable number of Duoduo Orchard users are "price sensitive" or sinking market users, and they have enough time and energy to invest in the game. The “free fruit” strategy successfully targets this type of users and uses gameplay to maximize user retention and conversion.

Scarce resources create obstacles

Water drops are the basic gameplay and are relatively easy to obtain, while fertilizers are scarce resources and a restrictive condition for the growth of fruit trees. In order to obtain fertilizers, users are likely to complete group-buying tasks, thereby increasing user conversion.

Challenging gameplay stimulates user desire

"Watering makes the fruit trees grow, and eventually getting free fruits" is the user's core operation and goal, but this is bound to be a long process; it may be difficult for users to stick to it, so small goals need to be set to motivate users to move forward. Multiple challenges have been introduced in Duoduo Orchard: watering to open treasure chests, watering progress challenges, lucky red envelopes for growing fruit trees, and double rewards tomorrow.

Progressive gameplay guides users to continue participating

Pinduoduo’s challenge modes are not independent but rather work in synergy with each other. For example, when a user successfully opens a treasure chest after completing eight watering tasks, the number of water drops available the next day is very close to the doubling threshold. When a user waters the plants multiple times, the speed watering function will be triggered. Users who suffer from the cooling time will definitely seize the opportunity to water the plants multiple times in a row.

05Data indicators

On Double 11 in 2020, the DAU of Taobao Cloud’s cat-raising game exceeded 100 million, surpassing Honor of Kings.

In 2020, Tmall’s 618 “Ideal Train” attracted more than 400 million users to participate, and the sales volume of agricultural products and food on the interactive city details page reached 1 billion.

During its peak period in June 2019, Duoduo Orchard planted an average of more than 2 million trees per day. After fruit prices soared in 2019, Duoduo Orchard’s daily active users increased by more than 11 million in a single quarter.

Author: E-commerce Product Notes

Source: E-commerce Product Notes