Engagement & Retention project | Subway Surfer

📄

Engagement & Retention project | Subway Surfer

Let's Begin!

Understanding Product

Subway Surfers is an endless runner game that offers players an exciting, fast-paced experience where they must dash through subway tracks, avoid oncoming trains, and collect coins and power-ups.

Problem Being Solved

The problem being solved by Subway surfer is the need for quick entertainment that is enjoyable even in short bursts of time.

Core Value Proposition

The CVP of Subway Surfers lies in providing a sense of mastery, escapism, and achievement in a visually stimulating environment.

Natural Frequency

DAILY (Once a day or Multiple times daily)

Typically, it's multiple times in a day due to it's addictive nature & short session length.

Customer Segmentation

ICP

Criteria	User 1	User 2	User 3	User 4
Name	Shaurya	Vivek	Shruti	Naman
Age	13 (Young Teenager)	19(College Student)	26(Working Professional)	22 (Mobile Gaming Enthusiast)
User Segment	Core	Core	Casual	Power
Demographics (refer the table below)
Need	Play fun games on mobile	Quick game to play in between classes or while the session is ongoing	Quick game to play while traveling or waiting for meetings to begin	Deeply engaged with mobile gaming, often exploring multiple games and genres.
Pain Point	Parents don't allow excessive usage of mobile phone & hence user only has limited time to play his favorite games	Cannot play mass multiplayer online(MMO) games as they require extensive focus while in the game & have longer time game-sessions	Can't give full attention to it & can be switched of ASAP without feeling of guilt	Discovering good games to engage in for long period of times. Most games are not competitive or engaging.
Solution	Play quick games with short gaming sessions	Play quick games with sense of competition but not MMOs with short gaming sessions	Close game whenever you want & it will begin right from where you left it.	Competitive games that capture you in the loop of spending significant time mastering and participating in events or challenges.
Behaviour (refer the table below)
Perceived Value of Brand	Short escape from the pressure from school & studies	Short escape from the pressure from college or university	Quick fix to free time utilization, guilt free experience in case it can't be completed, Visually appealing.	Long games that give sense of achievement & competition with leaderboards.
Marketing Pitch	A quick fix to your school stress	A quick fix to your study stress	Play whenever & you control when to switch off	Help Jake escape the guard by jumping over trains & obstacles.
Goals	Escapism Visually appealing Social Validation(leaderboards & friend comparision)	Escapism Interesting visuals for refreshment Sense of Competition	Free time utilization with something fun & relaxing	Social Validation Sense of Competition
Frequency of use case	Daily	Daily/Few times a Week	Weekly	Multiple times daily
Average Spend on the product	Negligible to Low	Medium	Low	High
Value Accessibility to product	Begin game in a single click anywhere on the screen	Begin game in a single click anywhere on the screen	Begin game in a single click anywhere on the screen	Game runs for very long duration based of the skill of the player.
Value Experience of the product	Visual stimulation with sense of competition in a short span of time	Social validation with high scores & rare in app purchases	Play & close as and when you have time	Longer games means better the skill of the player.

User Type	Casual	Core	Power
Usage Characteristics	Working professional, Uses the product only in free time intervals.	College Student, Uses product to release stress of studies. Wants to flex their rankings & rare characters to peers	Mobile Gaming enthusiast, Regularly discovers new games to play
Recency of use case	Few times a week	Daily	Multiple times daily
Natural Frequency	Weekly	Daily	Daily
Monetary/AOV/Revenue Generated	Low	Medium	High
Pain Points	Can't give full attention to the game & can be switched of ASAP without feeling of guilt	Cannot play mass multiplayer online(MMO) games as they require extensive focus while in the game & have longer duration game-sessions	Discovering good games to engage in for long period of times. Most games are not competitive or engaging or both.
Valued Features	Quick start, Visually appealing	Quick start, Daily word hunts, Multiplier, Weekly hunt, Season hunt, Changing map to prevent visual fatigue	Leaderboards, Multiplier, Daily word hunts, Weekly hunt, Season hunt, Changing map to prevent visual fatigue
Core Value Proposition (CVP) being utilised	Quick enjoyable games with short gaming sessions	Quick game sessions	Competetive game with social validation
JTBD of the persona	Entertainment in Breaks	Entertainment in short bursts	Fulfilling deeper, more complex needs related to their passion for gaming
Discovery	Word of Mouth, Play store/app store, favourite influencers making content around it.	Word of Mouth, Play store/app store recommendation, favourite influencers making content around it.	Influencer videos, word of mouth,App store recommendation, gaming communities, Social media ads, Game review websites, in-game cross promotions
Level of Engagement	Low	Medium	High

Defining Core EnR Metrics

Aha Moment

Completion of the first substantial run

Rationale: When the user finishes their first substantial run, they get to feel the sense of reward from the coin pickups, power pickups, sense of achievement in overcoming the obstacles, sense of competition with the peer high score tab on the right side which changes with every high score break you do, giving a sense of progressive nature of the game.

Activation Metric

Completing 5 games in 7 days

With retention rates of games at just 2.4% at D30, having a longer time frame to justify activation is really important as 75% of the users churn within 24 hours of playing them for the first time.

With 5 games played, user understands:-

The core loop of the game,
'Daily Reward/Word Hunt' nudge to bring them back,
'Multiplier Missions' to give them sense of progression,
Leaderboard to give sense of competition,

Along with 7 day retention, which makes it unlikely for them to churn.

Core Engagement Metrics of Subway Surfers

Number of Games Played

No. of games played tells about the habit forming capability of the game.

Retention Rates

It's of utmost importance for games to track retention rates while focusing less on Acquisition rates. As most games lose users at an alarming rate of 75% users churn within 24 hours of them using the product.

Hence, D1, D7, D30 retention rates need to be tracked to know ability of game to retain users beyond initial excitement.

Session Longevity

Longer sessions mean players being more engaged in the product, enjoyability & that they are finding enough challenges to keep themselves entertained.

Engagement Framework	Relevance	Key Metric to be tracked	Rationale
Breadth	Tertiary	Merchandise sale	Team hasn't optimised on Breadth at all since the only breadth product I found was Tshirts of the game. Whick only a few power users buy physical merchandise.
Depth	Primary	Session Longevity	Retention is the most important metric for a game. Hence, adding new features in the game to make them sticky is very important for a product to increase session time. Team's commitment can be ascertained from the long list of features built-in the game, focussed purely at increasing depth of the product.
Frequency	Secondary	No. of Games played	Focusing too much on frequency will lead to too many spammy push notification which will lead to churned users.

Engagement Campaign

We will be focusing on adding Depth to the Product with our Engagement Campaign.

For a game which will be around adding features to capture the user into a loop in order to increase their session duration.

Engagement Campaign	Hypothesis	Channel of Distribution	Persona/Type of User	Pitch and Content	Goal of the campaign	Offer	Frequency and Timing	Success Metrics	Milestones for the campaign
Word Hunt	A time limited hunt which refreshes daily. Thereby, rewarding user to use the for a longer duration of time. It also acts as a nudge to play the game atleast once a day thereby leading to habit formation.	The campaign is very subtly integrated in the game itself. Where the player while running sees an alphabet and captures it. This gives him a purpose to finish the word hunt completely & stick until all alphabets are captured.	It is a less time commitment feature and therefore targets the causal & core users of the product. Casual - Short game intervals. So, if a user cannot complete the hunt in one go, it acts as a nudge for them to come back and play the same day. Core - Keep playing the game until the word hunt is complete.		Casual user to power user by increasing their session length.	Reward is a in-game one-time use asset like a skateboard, boost etc. The idea is reward the user but in a way that they keep wanting for more.	Happens everyday/Recurring Time limited	Increase in DAUs X% of users that completed the daily word hunt in Y time.	Assess long-term impact on retention and DAU, and make decisions on extending or expanding the campaign.
Season Hunt	Igniting the competitive spirit of the user with the user boards.	Home screen of the game. Prominent theme changes of the game tell that something is new. Then comes the campaign copy screen ' Welcome to new season hunt'	Power user: Looking for social validation and a global stage to find competition that is more apt for their skill level.		Convert core users to power users To give a platform to the power users to showcase their skills.	Global stage for players to shine on. In form of leaderboards Limited period offers on character costumes, bonuses, characters etc Special boosts	Every 4-8 weeks	Increase in DAU/Frequency Increase in session logevity/ Depth	Event Launch: Announce the event through push notifications & app homescreen pop up. Mid-Event: Monitor engagement and address any issues or feedback. Event End: Evaluate the success of the event based on participation and feedback, plan for the next event.
World Tour	Every month comes with a different theme preventing visual fatigue to the users.	Push notifications Gaming communities Paid ads on Game Review sites Email marketing In-app Homescreen visual identity	All Segments. So, no user segment feels bored with the repetitive visuals for longer duration of time.		Increasing long term retention of users & preventing visual fatigue.	unique characters, hoverboards, and landscapes.	Every month	Increase D30 retention	Pre-launch: Creating distinct visuals from the previous few visual designs. Post-launch: Recording user feed back & checking D7 retention metrics Event ending: Checking the retention rates at the end for data around similar visual designs for future similar design decisions.
Character Customization Options	Enhancing user engagement by adding a sense of community and ownership over in-game assets.	'Me' tab on homescreen	Core Users & Power users	"Show off your style! Enter the Subway Surfers Character Customization Contest and stand a chance to win exclusive in-game items."	Giving ownership of the in-game asset to the user.	Limited time offers/ flash deals to customize the characters and make them unique to you.	Running	Number of submission Increase in UGC X dollars spent in Y time	Month 1: Launch the first contest and gather initial feedback. Month 3: Increase participation and community engagement, expand to more frequent or themed contests.
Multiplier	Giving a sense of progressive nature of the game. Giving a reason to the user to excel in the game and with every multiplier, get closer to being a top scorer in their peers.	Digital: Top of the Homescreen Top of gameplay screen Mention of level multiplier at end of every game.	All user segments		Making the user keep wanting for more scores. Getting them accustomed to all in-game features via multiplier mission while they play the game.	Reward: Score higher with every multiplier increase	Running until the user knows all the game features	D30 retention	Pre-launch: making list of all the nuances of the gamplay. Segregating them as per the skill level Post launch: Noticing drop offs at every multiplier milestone. Smoothing out the difficulty where data tell drop offs are increasing due to users being unable to complete the missions.

Retention Design

Subway Surfers has generated $155 million in lifetime revenue since launch. It reached $100 million in 2018.

Subway Surfers daily active users 2015 to 2022

Year	Users (mm)
2015	27
2020	15
2021	20
2022	35

Subway Surfers monthly active users 2014 to 2022 (mm)

Year	Users (mm)
2014	140
2019	100
2022	150

Subway surfer game loops and all the engagement features focused towards increasing Depth of the game starting 2020, helped in increasing the DAU & MAU of the game consistently.
There was a drop in both DAU & MAU from 2015 to 2020. This drop can be attributed to multiple internal & external reasons like:
- External:
- - Market Saturation: Too many endless runner games launching like Temple Run, Jetpack joyride etc
  - Gameplay Fatigue: As an endless runner, Subway Surfers has a core gameplay loop that, while initially engaging, can become repetitive over time.
  - Shift in Gaming trend: MMORPG Games like Fortnite, PUBG, etc saw a steep rise in their user base
  - Start of Monetization: Subway Surfer started to monetize their users starting 2018
  Year
  Revenue ($mm)
  2018
  100
  2020
  120
  2022
  155

Year	Revenue ($mm)
2018	100
2020	120
2022	155

Churn

Reasons for Churn:

Repetitive Gameplay after certain time period
Repetitiveness of Engagement features:
While features like work hunt, daily hunt, season hunt sound similar but even their gameplay is similar where the user needs to collect different looking powers while they run. This could cause repetitiveness & no differentiation for the user between all of them.
Lack of progression once top multiplier level is reached
Difficulty plateau: Even though game uses missions to straighten out the difficulty plateau according to skill level of the user. It can still be bit tricky for some users which then leads to churn
Lack of multiplayer option for users to directly compete with their peers in real time.
External Factors: User using another game to remove work fatigue when he has longer duration to play.

Figures from 2013:

Subway Surfers retains 91 percent of players after day one,
81 percent after a week
60 percent after thirty days
Right now, the game attracts roughly 25 million daily active users.

Resurrection Campaign

you have already created the engagement campaigns, resurrection campaigns are quiet similar just keep in mind the churned users which are being targeted here.

(customized your campaigns as per the ICP you're targeting to bring back, add parameters accordingly)

Resurrection Campaign	Hypothesis	Channel of Distribution	Persona/Type of User	Theme	Pitch and Content	Goal of the campaign	Offer	Frequency and Timing	Success Metrics	Milestones for the campaign
Welcome back, Hero	User will come back if they were a core/power user of the game & are given personalized recognition while welcoming back.	Email, Push Notification, In-Game pop up	Only core & power users should be targeted in such campaign as they have an emotional connection to the game & only need a personalized nudge to resurrect.	Recognition & reward	You were our top player, come running back to claim what you deserve with your multiplier doubled for 1 week.	Resurrection	Give double multiplier as reward to join back	Recurring Quarterly	Re-activation rate: no. of games played within 1 week of coming back	Open rate of push notifications Email CTR
New world awaits you!	Users who left from repetitive gameplay might still be interested to play in different world theme.	Push notification, Email	Casual & Core users Users who play the game in their free time or to relieve stress but aren't able to refresh themselves due to visual fatigue	Intrigued	"New cities, New Characters, new challenges. Only for a limited time. Return to the subway & help Jake.	Resurrection	Limited, Exclusivity	After every few world map changes with prominent changes	Return rate & user session lengths	Number of users coming back to check the new map & theme Retention rate at D1 & D7 Session lengths
Come give Jake a makeover by giving him a twist of you	Users might be lacking customization to make the character look relatable to them. Allowing them to do so might bring them back by increasing ownership & UGC	Push notification	All types of users. Anyone can feel the lack of ownership over the game character, no matter the user segment.	Excitement to create	" Come give Jake a makeover to show your creativity to the world. Contest winner wins 10% of sale of character assets they make"	Giving ownership to the user over game assets.	Limited, show creativity & earn from it.	Once a year	No. of assets created, No. of users choosing the asset for their character.	No. of assets created No. of sales coming from the assets created No. of users using the assets (in the free category)
Surf Challenge: Beat your High Score	Users need a nudge of purpose in order to bring them back to the game. Breaking their own personal best score can be a good nudge to bring them back.	Push Notification	Casual & Core users The time commitment for casual & core users to break their personal best isn't very high & it's even simpler if it's a new user as with multiplier upgrade, making a new high score get pretty simple.	Competition	"Breaking your high score can't be simpler with this today's exclusive 3x Multiplier upgrade."	resurrection	Limited, Exclusivity, Give double multiplier as reward to join back	Weekly	Return rate, length of session, D1 & D7 retention metric	no. of users returned Session length of user D1 Retention metric D7 Retention metric
Your friend "X" just broke your personal best.	Giving sense of competition to the user. Make them seek social validation by making them want what they just lost.	Push Notification	Casual & Core User	Competition	"Your friend "X" just broke your high score. Show them who is the real surfer.	Increasing frequency. Flipping anti-engagement signs	Perceived reward: Come back to reclaim what was yours.	Monthly	Return rate, Game session lengths	no. of users returned Session length of user D1 Retention metric D7 Retention metric