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Your Goal at the Retention Stage: Increase Lifetime Value
In the retention stage, your marketing persona is already a customer of your product. Your objective is to increase the value you can extract from them directly by generating repeat purchases, upsells, or reducing churn; or indirectly by improving brand image or promoting referrals.
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Content Marketing
The objective of the content you'll create at the retention stage is to keep your existing customers happy by providing ongoing value (even after purchasing.)
Content ideas:
Monthly performance report email highlighting player achievements and game updates to keep players engaged
Blog post: 'Top 5 Strategies for Improving Team Cooperation in [Game Name]' offering valuable insights for ongoing gameplay
Video series: 'Character Showcases: Mastering Unique Skills' featuring in-depth breakdowns of characters to encourage continued play
Community spotlight newsletter showcasing top players and their strategies to create a sense of belonging and aspiration
Weekly challenge emails featuring special in-game events or competitions to maintain engagement
Discussion forum facilitation where players can share tips, strategies, and experiences to strengthen community bonds
What to measure:
Engagement on community content
Time spent on character showcase videos
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SEO
At the bottom of the funnel, you'll want to make sure your marketing persona can find all the information she needs to get the most of your product (e.g. knowledge base articles), or to solve any problems that may arise (e.g. support/contact page.)
Keyword ideas:
Best strategies for retaining gamers in multiplayer online battle arenas
Why character mastery matters in MOBAs
Guide to maximizing use of community features in [Game Name]
Understanding player psychology in team-based competition
How to build lasting friendships through gaming communities
Best practices for enhancing team communication in online games
Exploring seasonal events in [Game Name] and their impact on player retention
Long-term strategies for enjoying free-to-play games
Advice for avoiding burnout in competitive gaming
[Game Name] community features and tools for players
What to measure:
Organic traffic to retention-related content
Keyword rankings for retention-focused phrases
User engagement metrics on blogs and articles
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Paid Advertising
At this stage of the funnel, you might choose to be run campaigns promoting of new features, upgrades, or promotions.
Target audience ideas:
[Remarketing] Facebook/Meta Ads: Target players who haven’t logged in for a while with reminders of upcoming game events
[Remarketing] Google Ads: Users who browsed the guides or community resources without returning to play
[Remarketing] YouTube Ads: Engage users who watched gameplay tutorials but have not interacted with the game recently
[Prospecting] Instagram Ads: Showcase player success stories to attract new audiences interested in community-driven gameplay
[Remarketing] Twitter Ads: Focus on followers who engaged with previous seasonal event posts but haven't participated in recent events
What to measure:
Click-through rate (CTR) on remarketing ads
Return on ad spend (ROAS) from retention campaigns
Engagement rate of ads focusing on community success stories
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Social Media
Retention campaigns on social media revolve around building a sense of community with your existing customers. You'll do a lot of monitoring of brand mentions on social media.
Social media campaign ideas:
Create a community tournament announcement for players to engage and join competitions
Run weekly polls on social media asking players about their favorite characters and strategies
Stream live gameplay sessions emphasizing teamwork and communication skills
Monitor and respond to player mentions on platforms like Reddit and Discord to foster a sense of community and support
Share user-generated content that showcases successful strategies or favorite moments in the game
What to measure:
Engagement rate on community tournament posts
Direct messages or engagement in live streams
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Email Marketing
Retention email campaigns will be a mix of educational emails (onboarding, activation, etc), transactional emails (reports, receipts, reminders, etc), and promotional emails (upgrades, upsells, etc.)
Email marketing campaign ideas:
Follow-up drip campaign thanking players for their engagement and providing tips for improvement
Monthly 'What's New in [Game Name]' emails detailing updates and upcoming events
Feedback request emails to collect insights from players about updates or features they would like to see
Milestone celebration emails to acknowledge long-time players and encourage them to keep playing
Exclusive offers for returning players, such as discounts on in-game purchases or special character skins
What to measure:
Open rates for follow-up campaigns
Response rate on feedback requests
Conversion rate from exclusive offers to purchases
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Marketing Experiments
Your retention experiments will have the objective of maximizing lifetime value of existing customers.
Experiment ideas:
A/B test the effectiveness of personalized email content versus general updates to see which leads to higher engagement
Experiment with different subject lines for retention emails to improve open rates
Test timing for sending milestone celebration emails to determine which generates more player interaction
Evaluate whether offering incentives for providing feedback affects response rates positively
Assess the impact of highlighting community achievements in newsletters on increasing email engagement rates
What to measure:
Engagement rates from A/B testing email content
Open rates from subject line experiments
Feedback submission rates from incentivized requests
