Comments on: IAP Bundles: More Than Just Good Deals

By: Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 04:31:45 +0000

I just watched the Dan Ariely vid that Hendrick posted. Wow.

By: Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:45:19 +0000

We’re building our first IAP so naturally I’ve been reading your IAP stuff and I see myself quoted . We’re probably going price at $1.99 for ‘Six more opponents’ in Hit Tennis. I think there is a huge difference between a 99c app and a 99c IAP. App pricing effects both sales and chart ranking, and chart ranking drives sales, hence the attractiveness of 99c. But IAPs don’t effect ranking, someone you show an IAP to is already a customer, already invested, and there’s a good chance they want to buy from you. So no need to stay at 99c. (That said, I think 99c is a good price for your flower garden consumables.) Our strategy going forward is: wide appeal free apps + ‘getable’ app name & icon + ads + IAPs.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:30:16 +0000

I was going to point out Dan Ariely’s first chapter from Predictably Irrational which talks about presenting 3 choices to the user: A, B, and ~A in which case they always choose A. He demonstrates this with the 3 choices from the Economist’s website for subscriptions. Essentially you are given a choice between the print edition: Economist.com subscription for $59.99, Print subscription for $125 or Print & Web for $125

Essentially the Print & Web one looks like a better deal because it’s easy to compare to the Print only edition and our brains are lazy when they do comparisons so they never consider the Web only edition from ‘base principles’ when making the decision. Essentially, the way you’ve presented the choices has triggered a logical bug in our brains.

There’s a much better explanation in the book, but I think this could really drive revenue if you offered something in a similar way and I’d love to hear the results.

By: Hendrik

Hendrik — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:30:59 +0000

You absolutely should watch this TED talk by Dan Ariely:
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html
Especially the bit starting at 12:30.

By: Noel

Noel — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:16:29 +0000

Hey Tom, Good question! I don’t really know. As you pointed out, it doesn’t have the draw of coming back to the app as much as a consumable item. People who buy IAPs, usually like your game quite a bit, so my guess is that they would buy those items no matter what.

It would be really interesting if, without changing any other conditions, you quietly introduced the bundle for a week, and then compared purchases with how things were before. If so, I want to hear all about the results!

By: tom

tom — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:59:05 +0000

Noel — what do you think about bundling non-consumables? My next game will offer different themes that can be purchased via IAP. Your post got me to thinking that perhaps I could offer groups of themes at a discounted rate (i.e. instead of $1.99 ea, the bundle would offer 3 themes for $4.99). I don’t think that the bundle would be a la carte — I would have to group the themes into bundles. Perhaps another enticement: purchase all bundles currently available and any that become available in the future for a one time price of $4.99 (or whatever).

Unlike consumables, these bundles don’t encourage the user to come back and use the app — but maybe the thought of a deal (save a buck!) might push the user from a $1.99 sale to a $4.99 sale

Anyway, thanks for another great post. Got me thinking

tom

By: fredericmy

fredericmy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:00:05 +0000

@SnappyTouch What does ‘TZ’ mean, and why do you re-tweet yourself? #iamanewb

By: Jey Biddulph

Jey Biddulph — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:40:37 +0000

I think some developers would be surprised at how loyal their players can be – often they are hungry for more, want to support the developer and are perfectly willing to pay if given the opportunity.

On the free version of one of our iPad apps, we offered an in-app upgrade to the premium version. Users were given the option of two price points, both unlocking the same functionality.

An astonishing 20% went for the higher price (2.5x as expensive). This wasn’t even offering anything extra, just simply making the option available.

Anyway, this isn’t really about bundles, more about the value people are willing to attach to a product and how it can be higher than you think.

By: David McGraw

David McGraw — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:04:16 +0000

I’ve been thinking more and more about price structure and IAP for my iPad project. I don’t think bundles will have a place in the project but they definitely will when I build a companion iPhone project. Pretty amazing to see some of the loyality out there ($49.99!).

By: SnappyTouch

SnappyTouch — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:37:05 +0000

Here we go: IAP Bundles: More Than Just Good Deals http://gamesfromwithin.com/iap-bundles-m... #idevblogaday