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Steam Game Festival devs: Thought I'd share some initial data in case useful for others heading into this wkend (and esp if data not your not 'thing' & in spirit of 'things I wish I knew going in').
* LONG thread ahead * mostly appealing to data nerds & devs in festival :)
* LONG thread ahead * mostly appealing to data nerds & devs in festival :)
May end up in blog later to dive in, provide better images & ref for context if there's interest - but given time avail just wanted to get something asap - and eager to hear other more exp voices in this, if willing to share.
Caveat: While having done this in AAA, its early days of figuring out Steam's data personally as an indie, and first time doing anything like this festival setup. So A) not a Steam expert. B) hard to have a sense of what is a benchmark going in.
Context: I have 2 games in the festival. Different audiences. For simplicity, henceforth Game 1 is G1, and Game 2 is G2. Purposefully both had zero prior promo & only social (twitter) promo so far + the Steam festival feature pages, which is awesome for data comparison.
Notably G1 has only been featured in 1 of Steam's festival categories. However G2, has been featured in 3 categories.
Also for simplicity, I'm sticking to top line info easily avail in the steam data section. Lots more to dive into (ie breakdown of page refs) which I wont here.
Also for simplicity, I'm sticking to top line info easily avail in the steam data section. Lots more to dive into (ie breakdown of page refs) which I wont here.
Starting w visibility (impressions): if not familiar, that's number of times the clickable tile linking to store page is shown to players & the top of your Steam exp funnel. There's whole other aspect like tying in google analytics data re players getting there (for another time)
Using G1 as a baseline, G2 is significantly better (nearly 3.5x better than G1), thanks to being visible on multiple categories.
However looking at click-thru rate (CTR) on both, its pretty clear the effect of competition for attention on these pages, with both < 1% CTR.
However looking at click-thru rate (CTR) on both, its pretty clear the effect of competition for attention on these pages, with both < 1% CTR.
I suspect this may be similar for most other titles that are not big standouts or highly anticipated. Although there's a lot of possible factors like visibility through streams, not to mention outright feature page visibility (larger tiles, more sub-sections in a category, etc)
Here's where it starts to get interesting. Its not uncommon that as impressions increase the CTR goes down. Put another way, as you increase your reach you'll inevitably start to hit more players that are not your intended audience.
Conversely, the more focused your reach (typically with lower impressions), you tend to get people that are really interested & more likely to click. Finding that balance is critical esp if you ever intend to pay for impressions or reach. Also why knowing your audience important.
With that in mind, I suspect CTR will decrease over weekend as more players show up (and the day over day impressions increases).
Back to data. So despite G2 having almost 3.5x the eyeballs, it actually ends up with fewer visits (players getting to the store pg) than G1!
Back to data. So despite G2 having almost 3.5x the eyeballs, it actually ends up with fewer visits (players getting to the store pg) than G1!
I believe this is from being on multiple categories - it is competing on more fronts & more likely shown to players that aren't its audience at all.
However, another strong possibility is that the tile art just does not appeal or standout.
However, another strong possibility is that the tile art just does not appeal or standout.
In this type of setup where you are competing vs a ton of other games, players will absolutely judge a 'book by its cover' by necessity. Thankfully, that is something we can control. We've since changed the art tile images & wait tomorrow's data to see if that was indeed a factor
Would be nice to have real-time data for this (as well as a timestamp on the data exports) if anyone working on this at Valve sees it ;)
Next up, how does this translate to demo downloads: Interestingly despite fewer visits G2 has more than 1.5x downloads vs G1!
Next up, how does this translate to demo downloads: Interestingly despite fewer visits G2 has more than 1.5x downloads vs G1!
A few possible factors, such as type of players, or that G2 is more gameplay centric vs G1 and that may appeal more in this type of festival? I'd love to hear comparisons though as its a big delta between the two.
Based on the 2 data points we'll try to improve the conversion on G1 with some tweaks to the store page to see if that's a factor.
Lastly & super interesting vs demo downloads: despite having more downloads, G2 has less than 1/2 the wishlists. Honestly not sure what this is yet.
Lastly & super interesting vs demo downloads: despite having more downloads, G2 has less than 1/2 the wishlists. Honestly not sure what this is yet.
Could be once played that players don't want it after all? Could be players downloading demos, not playing them & waiting to wishlist until then?
On my list is to dig into users playing vs wishlists over time to see if a factor. But in general, def open to thoughts on this one.
On my list is to dig into users playing vs wishlists over time to see if a factor. But in general, def open to thoughts on this one.
As for G1, it is pretty much in-line with what I'd expect, a similar ratio (or higher) of wishlists to demo downloads.
That wraps it up for now.
Quick recap & tips:
Track your data! Compare day to day & total over lifetime of the event. Data is a day behind (sad face).
High impressions good, but normal that CTR drops as impressions increases. Expect impressions to increase this wkend.
Quick recap & tips:
Track your data! Compare day to day & total over lifetime of the event. Data is a day behind (sad face).
High impressions good, but normal that CTR drops as impressions increases. Expect impressions to increase this wkend.
Really low CTR could be tile art, try changing it up (btw, you can create event specific art which goes away after, ping me if you don't know how).
Really low Demo conversion could mean trying some store page edits: add some art, more concise etc. Search for articles on this.
Really low Demo conversion could mean trying some store page edits: add some art, more concise etc. Search for articles on this.
Really low Wishlist conversion - my current thinking is to dig into play sessions vs wishlists to see if sheds light, but something I'm still trying to figure out...
However, my presumption would be that you should see same or better wishlist numbers vs demo downloads. I'd expect more players to 1-click wishlist (even on a whim, or reminder for future) than download & play a demo & then decide esp in context of time limited demos.
Of note, Steam also updated their tags manager again today, and you can now see which games you are similar to which is super helpful! Have a look at other similar titles in festival pg & then play w tags manager to make sure you are appearing in the right places.
Sorry for such a long thread, but hope it is useful for other indies in the event.
Still lots of data to go through, particularly after the event. If you have data you'd like to share lmk (and my DMs open if you want to chat priv).
Still lots of data to go through, particularly after the event. If you have data you'd like to share lmk (and my DMs open if you want to chat priv).
In particular, I'd also love to hear how devs are finding streams or other events during the festival are contributing.
Good luck to all of you!
@threadreaderapp unroll if you please
Good luck to all of you!
@threadreaderapp unroll if you please
