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Are referral systems a vital feature for games to have?

cpvr

cpvr

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Do you think a referral system is a vital feature for a game? Is it important for a referral system to offer unique items and rewards to users who refer their friends to play?


If a game doesn’t currently have a referral system, do you think one should be implemented?

What are your thoughts on having a referral system?
 
A referral system is much better than a pay-to-play scheme if you are going to reward your members somehow with an action directed towards helping the game (referring a friend vs. paying money).

Everybody has a friend who might want to join, but not everybody has money that they can contribute. So, the inequity in a referral system is much less.

If the reward is good enough, you might get a lot more from a reward than pay-to-play as referrals could spread like wildfire, upping the potential downstream revenue.
 
Demon_skeith said:
Not sure, it is nice to get more people onto a game service, but doesn't mean they will spend any money to keep the servers going.
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The more users there are, the more likely an ad is to target them.

I'd prefer to have 10000 users browsing an average of 100 pages per month (1,000,000 page views) getting served $0.50-$1.75 ads with a CTR and a CTR ratio of 0.1% (1000 clicks at an average of $1.12 per click) or $1,120 plus the 1,000,000 views as $0.50 CPM (1000) or another $500 for a total of $1,620 (probably on the lower end of $1000 though) over 1000 members doing the same but only 100 of them paying $10 per year.

You have to look at it from a quantity perspective with advertising as the main model.

From the people who do join through referrals, you can sell them an ad-free pack of $2.99 per year to increase revenue drastically from those rough figures, too. You could probably get 100 out of the 10,000 to pay that and increase monthly revenue by $12.

But, with the more referrals, the more odds you have at monetization other than having paid upgrades.

I did on the low end ($1000-1620) because I would strategically place ads and disable the most annoying of them all, the #google_vignette overlay that would have users click their back buttons immediately.

Also, 1 million page views should give you leverage to get 1 sponsor that could pay more ($1500-2000).
 
I believe referral system is one of the best way to bring in more users. Since you pay only when some one is able to bring in customers, you get the best value for your money.
 
WontByte said:
A referral system is much better than a pay-to-play scheme if you are going to reward your members somehow with an action directed towards helping the game (referring a friend vs. paying money).

Everybody has a friend who might want to join, but not everybody has money that they can contribute. So, the inequity in a referral system is much less.

If the reward is good enough, you might get a lot more from a reward than pay-to-play as referrals could spread like wildfire, upping the potential downstream revenue.
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I like the approach Marapets uses with its referral system. You earn referral points every time the user you referred is active, and if they purchase an account upgrade, you also receive account upgrade credit.

For example:
• You will receive £1 in Account Upgrade Credit for every player you refer who purchases Account Upgrade Credits. However, this bonus is awarded only once per referral.
• You will earn +2 referral points every time a referred user progresses to another level on Marapets.

Subeta has a similar approach, but with some key differences. You earn referral points to spend in the prize shop, plus 10% of each Cash Shop Credit purchase your referral makes. So, if someone you referred purchases 5,000 Cash Shop Credits, you receive 500 CSC credited to your account. Unlike Marapets, this bonus is awarded every time your referral makes a CSC purchase.

However, Subeta’s system differs significantly from Marapets’. While Marapets only rewards account upgrade credit once per referral, Subeta provides a continuous bonus whenever your referral makes a purchase.
 
cpvr said:
For example:
• You will receive £1 in Account Upgrade Credit for every player you refer who purchases Account Upgrade Credits. However, this bonus is awarded only once per referral.
• You will earn +2 referral points every time a referred user progresses to another level on Marapets.
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This is pretty unique.
cpvr said:
Subeta has a similar approach, but with some key differences. You earn referral points to spend in the prize shop, plus 10% of each Cash Shop Credit purchase your referral makes. So, if someone you referred purchases 5,000 Cash Shop Credits, you receive 500 CSC credited to your account. Unlike Marapets, this bonus is awarded every time your referral makes a CSC purchase.
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Looks like they took another industry's model and it's working out well for them.
 
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Referral systems can change the game. It's a way to incentivize loyalty, help growth, and foster community engagement. Rewards and items are just the cherry on top, making the referral seem all the more worthwhile.
 
lens said:
Referral systems can change the game. It's a way to incentivize loyalty, help growth, and foster community engagement. Rewards and items are just the cherry on top, making the referral seem all the more worthwhile.
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What are your thoughts on game's launching referral contests? Is this a vital growth marketing?
 
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