All game developers know the benefits of Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization. Both increase the popularity and ratings of their games and apps, but only a few game developers know the importance of Email marketing.
Yes, email marketing. Seems like a normal thing, but if used well, it can exponentially increase the demand for games and apps. Email marketing is easier and more efficient than other means of marketing, like visual marketing or search engine marketing.
In our virtual world, almost all of our work, documents, and contracts have been limited to our mobiles, laptops, and desktops; this is why getting direct traffic is something every website covets. Gen Z, especially, is all about the new and latest technology. But the biggest factor ruling the virtual world for Gen z is video games.
Video games can be found in every teenager’s room. Video games of all genres have made their space in the hearts and rooms of teenagers and young adults, who are more than excited to spend their whole day playing them. Game developers are well aware of this factor, and smart game developers know how to keep their customers engaged with these video games using email marketing and email marketing strategies.
If you think about this for a second, what are the factors that keep teenagers and young adults addicted to these video games? Of course, visuals and graphics are a reason, but the most important factor? Events. And how to make them aware of events? The unconventional answer is Email marketing.
Email marketing has all too many benefits for both game developers and players.
Generally, people think that email marketing is a defunct marketing tool, but this is not true. Before registering into any game, the player has to give his/her email ID on which the game updates and events are notified. Stats show that there are millions of people who check their emails regularly, which gives email marketing a boost for game developers.
Game developers must be aware of the audience they are targeting. Not everyone plays video games, so game developers should ensure in their email marketing scheme to make content according to the audience they would be sending emails to. The content sent should be attractive to the players so that they visit the email and share it with their contacts. This allows the players to engage more actively with the game.
Here are a few reasons email marketing can benefit video game promotion:
Teenagers and young adults should be tempted to click open the email sent by game developers to engage with the game more. Reports suggest that email marketing collects revenue of $ 34.54 billion annually. The content should be appealing with ‘Pay for Click’ options so that the audience is willing to purchase the items and featured stuff. Through email marketing, not only the game is being popularized, but also game developers are earning profits.
Not to forget, email marketing is certainly cheaper and more money efficient than other forms of marketing. Through email marketing, game developers can earn more by spending less, and the players can get to know about the latest events of the game instantly. Other forms of advertising can increase the expenses on game developers’ pockets, but email marketing does not cause that problem.
Email marketing is one of the few forms of marketing for which the audience signs up willingly. The player gives his/her email ID with consent to receive notifications on game updates and other events. By this, the game developers are targeting an audience who is already interested in their games and wishes to stay updated about them.
Email marketing has one benefit, which is hard to be compared with any other factor. It has the potential to target a specific audience. If the game developers sign a contract with a firm with a limited area, they can send emails to the players living in that specific area to let the players know and engage more with the game. This is profitable for both the developers and the players.
Another benefit of email marketing is that it does not require some special gadgets or equipment to see the emails. All the players need is an internet connection and a gadget to view the emails on, and voila, they get all the updates easily.
Email marketing is easy to measure; that is, many email marketing software allows the game developers to check and analyze where the marketing scheme went wrong or what possible improvements can be made to ensure proper growth of the game. This feature does not come with any other form of advertising.
There is a global reach of email marketing now. With just one click, game developers can reach out to millions of players at the same time with no extra expenses. Email marketing allows them to reach a broad sector of people in just a blink.
Game developers can see the benefits of email marketing in just a few minutes of sending the emails. Interested players and audience will buy the offers given in the emails, bringing instant profit and sales to the developers. Data suggests that for every $ 1.19 spent on emails, the return on investments is $ 41.67. The return on the investments is forty times in money invested.
These factors are enough to imply that email marketing is now the new means of marketing ruling the virtual world.
How to use email marketing?
After reading the benefits of email marketing, one must be intrigued to use it to enhance his/her game’s popularity, but knowing how to use email marketing is another important factor the game developers must keep in mind. Here are a few other factors to consider:
Game developers must be well aware of the audience that they wish to target using an email marketing strategy. Understanding who is to be kept in mind while making the email directly affects the nature and content of the email. The developers should ensure that the content they prepare is friendly and suitable to the age group they wish to share it with.
Game developers should also keep in mind the offers and sales they will present to the audience in their emails. To earn a profit, the options must be appealing enough to be bought and used by the audience lest the emails will go to waste
Timing is another weird yet crucial factor while considering email marketing. Send the emails when the players are not playing their games but are resting in bed, and that time is nighttime. The emails should be sent at night instead of day to increase the probability of the audience reading them.
Game developers can also join hands with some other firms to increase the popularity of the games by some offers like unlocking some feature in-game A, the player has to play two levels of game B. In this way, both the firms will get profit. Email marketing allows game developers to invest in such offers.
Game developers can send different contents to different players using email marketing. For example, a player who has not logged into the game for a long time should be sent some incentive message to log into the game again, and a player who is new to the game should be sent a different message with different content.
There should be a proper insight into the email. The audience may not always want some freebie or a voucher, but sometimes they might want something else to stick around, like a shared game room with some famous player of the same game. Editors can take their creativity to a higher level to ensure the success of the email marketing strategy.
The content of the email should be engaging. Sending the same type of content all the time will bore the players. There should be diversity in the emails to keep the audience engaged with the game and its offers. Email marketing allows the editors to be as creative as they want.
Another type of offer which is extremely famous in the gaming world is giving access to some hidden part of the game which can be unlocked after some specific task, like sharing the referral code with friends or buying something from the game. This offer is a win-win situation for both the developers and the players.
The client retention rate of email marketing is higher than the rates of other forms of email marketing, so the developers should take care that they use this technique in a proper and mannered way to keep the audience with them till the end.
However, there is one loophole in email marketing. Sometimes the audience receiving the emails get irritated by constant emails and label them as ‘Spam’ and report them. This is a loss for the developers, as this can cause hindrances in the future. Therefore, the email marketing team should ensure that the number of emails sent to the audience is neither too less nor too much, just the perfect number to keep the players engaged.
Some of the games which reached their highest peaks using email marketing are FFXIV and Hot Wheels Open World. This shows that this marketing tool is still relevant and effective for video promotion.
