Marketing: Advice on Demo Nag Screens
by Prairie Games · in General Discussion · 09/22/2005 (10:50 pm) · 7 replies
I could use some advice on demo marketing... I designed a popup that comes up every few minutes and is onscreen for around 30 seconds... clicking on the "Buy Now" button brings you to our ordering page (which will soon be redone)... see image below...
Does this seem like a good idea??? Do you think nag screens should be kept solely in informational popups, menus, and exit screens?
-Josh Ritter
Prairie Games
Does this seem like a good idea??? Do you think nag screens should be kept solely in informational popups, menus, and exit screens?
-Josh Ritter
Prairie Games
#2
anyway great game Josh, i played yesterday for 1st time :D, got killed by the skeleton mob though :P
09/23/2005 (1:11 am)
Agree with John, if the "Buy now" icon is only that big you can just leave it visible in the bottom right corner :D, if it pops up in the middle of the gameplay it might surprised me :P (especially in the middle of battle).anyway great game Josh, i played yesterday for 1st time :D, got killed by the skeleton mob though :P
#3
09/23/2005 (1:45 am)
I'd not show the price, though. Reason being- what if you decide to change it at some point or are running some limited offer bargain, or whatever?
#4
I think that it's good that it goes away and comes back, it's more noticeable. It pulses green for about 10 seconds before going away. I think I'll change it to being away for 10 minutes and up for 45 seconds.
The price is a seperate GUI element... and we can regenerate the demo binary at will... it also includes our patching technology, so we can alter the price that way too.
-Josh Ritter
Prairie Games
09/23/2005 (7:24 am)
You can still play while the "Buy Now" button is up... I think that it's good that it goes away and comes back, it's more noticeable. It pulses green for about 10 seconds before going away. I think I'll change it to being away for 10 minutes and up for 45 seconds.
The price is a seperate GUI element... and we can regenerate the demo binary at will... it also includes our patching technology, so we can alter the price that way too.
-Josh Ritter
Prairie Games
#5
We took this approach from looking at software that we purchased that was shareware.. the occasional 'nag' screen in ACDSee is what got me to register it. Having something that annoys people that will go away if they pay, is in my opinion, a good thing. I would try to upsell them more.. something like
'Don't you wish you had the +2 fork of pointy poking? If you did, you might have been able to defeat this dragon. You can have this fearsome fork, and much more, if you BUY NOW.
As for being un-obtrusive.. I would actually make it more obtrusive than it is now. My hopes as a designer are for the demo players to go
"I was playing and having a great time, and then this lame screen popped up right in the middle of a battle, popped me out to a menu.. and I lost my progress'..
It might be good to offer them an option..
popup comes up, tells them.. in 3 minutes, you will be kicked out and lose all you worked for. If you Buy Now, progress can be saved.
09/23/2005 (7:54 am)
I don't think the nag screens should be kept only on exit. I think it is important to remind players that they are playing a demo. With thinktanks.. we did feature and time limiting, and after a few minutes of online play, it would kick you out onto an 'annoy' screen that upsold you. We took this approach from looking at software that we purchased that was shareware.. the occasional 'nag' screen in ACDSee is what got me to register it. Having something that annoys people that will go away if they pay, is in my opinion, a good thing. I would try to upsell them more.. something like
'Don't you wish you had the +2 fork of pointy poking? If you did, you might have been able to defeat this dragon. You can have this fearsome fork, and much more, if you BUY NOW.
As for being un-obtrusive.. I would actually make it more obtrusive than it is now. My hopes as a designer are for the demo players to go
"I was playing and having a great time, and then this lame screen popped up right in the middle of a battle, popped me out to a menu.. and I lost my progress'..
It might be good to offer them an option..
popup comes up, tells them.. in 3 minutes, you will be kicked out and lose all you worked for. If you Buy Now, progress can be saved.
#6
I don't think a fork is going to help against that dragon. :)
09/23/2005 (8:21 am)
Well I hate to argue with Joe seeing as he knows his stuff, but...Quote:
Don't you wish you had the +2 fork of pointy poking? If you did, you might have been able to defeat this dragon
I don't think a fork is going to help against that dragon. :)
Torque Owner John Kabus (BobTheCBuilder)
Also showing all of the unavailable spells and features disabled in the menus might make people bite, especially when seeing other players using the features.