Explore Game Monetization Analysis with Devtodev

7 min readAug 16, 2024

This guide will take you through the key steps for effectively using the analytics platform to analyze your game’s monetization.

Understanding player behavior is critical to success in the competitive mobile and online gaming landscape. Analytics tools like devtodev provide insight into the user experience and help make strategic decisions to optimize monetization and retention.

Let’s take a look at the infographic. Here you can see the recommended steps to improve your game’s monetization. The graphic also shows how monetization intertwines with retention, a topic we’ll discuss in our next article.

Let’s look at each step of the flow and the devtodev tools that will help you analyze your game’s monetization.

Step 1. Evaluate the Conversion to the First Payment

The devtodev’s “Conversion to Payments” report shows detailed information about repeat purchases of users and the time they spent in the application before making the first, second and subsequent purchases.

Let’s look at the report in the demo version of devtodev:

Log into your devtodev account.
Go to the devtodev demo from the top menu.
Navigate to the “Monetization” section.
Select “Conversion to Payments” from the list of available reports.

The top part of the report visualizes the conversion funnel based on the number of completed purchases and details about each step of the funnel in a table: number of users, revenue, median number of payments, and median period from first launch to payment. This breakdown allows developers to pinpoint where users stop the purchase process and develop a strategy accordingly.

In this report, we can compare the conversion to the first payment by applying the segments of users who completed the tutorial and those who skipped it to the report. Users who we brought to the store during the tutorial may pay us more often than users who abandoned the training.

Let’s see how soon users start making payments, whether it’s on the first day or a few days after installation, once they’ve gotten a better understanding of the game. This information will help us determine the optimal day to schedule marketing efforts to increase payment rates.

The graph illustrates that most initial payments occur within the early days after installation, indicating an opportunity to promptly present users with a special offer.

By reviewing the conversion to the first payment, we can draw the following conclusions and act accordingly:

If the conversion suits you:

Celebrate the success and ensure you maintain this conversion rate by continuing with your current strategies.
Keep an eye on this metric regularly to ensure it remains stable over time.
Go to the next step.

If the conversion is low:

Focus on improving the first payment conversion.
Make sure the tutorial effectively communicates the value of in-app purchases and guides users toward making their first purchase.
Offer special discounts or bonuses for first-time buyers to encourage them to make a purchase.
Streamline the onboarding process to make it more engaging and highlight the benefits of purchasing items early on.

Step 2. Analyze the Conversion to Recurring Payments

While the focus is on the first payment, it is equally important to check whether users continue to make subsequent payments, as repeat transactions often generate more revenue. In the same “Conversion to payments” report, we can analyze conversion rates for subsequent payments:

Once you have analyzed the conversion to recurring payments, you can take appropriate actions:

If the results suit you:

Keep up the good work! Your strategy is working, and users are making recurring payments.
Continue offering engaging content and periodic incentives to keep users returning for more purchases.
Go to the next step.

If the conversion is low:

Make more relevant offers for the low-performing segment.
Develop loyalty programs that reward users for continued spending, such as points that can be redeemed for exclusive items.
Provide discounts on recurring purchases or bundles to make continued spending more attractive.
Create exclusive items that can only be obtained through repeated purchases, adding value for loyal spenders.

Step 3. RFM Analysis

Next, we need to study the structure of paying users to assess how often, how long and how much they paid us. All this can be assessed using RFM analysis.

RFM analysis is a method used to evaluate users according to three key metrics: Recency (how recently they made a purchase), Frequency (how often they make purchases), and Monetary (how much money they spend).

Let’s take a look at the “RFM Analysis” report in devtodev:

Open the devtodev demo.
Expand the “Monetization” section in the left menu.
Select “RFM Analysis” from the list of available reports.

Depending on their RFM score, we categorize users into the following segments:

Can’t Lose Them: high spenders who haven’t returned recently.
Loyal Customers: regular spenders responsive to promotions.
Champions: recent, frequent, high-spending customers.
At Risk: past high spenders who need re-engagement.
Need Attention: high-value customers needing reactivation.
Potential Loyalists: Recent, repeat purchasers.
Hibernating: infrequent, low-spending customers.
About To Sleep: customers with declining engagement.
Promising: recent payers needing retention efforts.
New Payers: recently converted users needing more engagement.

This approach allows us to identify high-value segments such as “Champions” and “Loyal Customers,” as well as less engaged segments such as “At Risk,” “Need Attention,” and “Promising,” for which we need to drive payment activities and increase user engagement.

Next, let’s examine our audience structure using the “Gross Structure” report, which segments users into beginners and long-time users.

How to find this report in devtodev:

Navigate to the “Monetization” section.
Select the “Gross Structure” report.

At the top of the report you can see the following widget. Our audience is divided into four segments by registration time:

This is where we see the majority of our established users. Increasing traffic could potentially expand our paying audience. And if we attract more new users, it would be useful to focus on their retention.
Now that we understand our audience structure, let’s analyze the dynamics of paying users:

The graphs show a decline in payments from users who registered a month ago or earlier, indicating a possible oversupply of in-game currency. Revenue from new users appears to be unevenly distributed, which may indicate a peak in the newcomer campaign. Focusing marketing efforts specifically on attracting and retaining new users may be worthwhile.

Here are our recommended actions after assessing your paying user structure:

If the users are in line with your expectations:

Excellent! Continue engaging users with personalized offers based on their purchase behavior.
Reward loyal customers to keep them engaged.
Go to the next step.

For low-performing segments:

Work with the low-performing segment to improve their engagement and spending.
Create special promotions for users who have stopped spending to encourage them to return.
Offer exclusive content or bonuses that are only available to re-engaged users.

Step 4. Access the Economy Balance Report

In addition, we must evaluate the balance of the game economy at different levels. The “Economy Balance” report provides an overview of the average and total accumulations, purchases, expenses, and income for each game level.

Open this report in the devtodev demo:

Go to the “In-game analysis” section.
Select “Economy Balance” from the list of available reports.

If players are spending as much currency as we planned, everything is fine. However, if we find that users are accumulating excess currency, we need to work on the game’s balance.

We suggest evaluating the game’s economy and acting accordingly:

If players spend as much as planned:

Great! Your game economy is well-balanced. Continue to monitor the economy to ensure it remains balanced as the game evolves.
Be ready to make small adjustments to maintain balance, such as tweaking prices or adjusting rewards.

If there is excess currency after a certain level:

Work on the balance of the game to address the excess currency issue.
Reduce the amount of in-game currency awarded for certain actions or achievements.
Introduce new features or items that require spending in-game currency, such as special upgrades, rare items, or customization options.
Adjust the prices of in-game items to better match the currency available to players, ensuring a consistent challenge and sense of progression.

Conclusion

By following these detailed steps, you will be able to effectively analyze and optimize your game monetization strategy with analytics platform like devtodev. From evaluating conversion rates to understanding user segments and balancing your game economy, devtodev provides the tools you need to make informed decisions and drive revenue growth.