As social games evolve, monetization methods should evolve alongside them. A lot has changed since the early days of social gaming – we’ve seen poking fights, zombie wars, and text-based RPGs, with the spotlight now turning towards flash-based games. In fact, of the top 25 Facebook games in February, more than half of them were flash-based.

As social games continue to get more immersive, reducing friction to payment becomes even more important. We can bet your users don’t want to leave their experience with your game just to load up a separate payments page and transact. So how can monetization providers step up and adapt to these changes?

We at TrialPay have been live with an in-game overlay version of our offer wall for over half a year now – allowing your users to load up the payment experience right on top of your flash-based game, without leaving their spot and reloading it later. So far we’ve seen stellar results: healthy double-digit conversion rates and hundreds of thousands of transactions. Some of the heaviest hitters in social gaming, including Electronic Arts/Playfish, are live with this touch point in their biggest games – check us out in Pet Society and Restaurant City!

Playfish flash overlay

Playfish flash overlay 2

Just recently we heard that our fellow offer provider SuperRewards has gone this route as well with their newly launched in-game overlay. We’re excited that the industry is moving in this direction – we’re convinced that touchpoints like this really improve the user experience, and ultimately allow users to focus on what you as a developer do best: provide awesome gaming experiences.

  • Share/Bookmark

{ 0 comments }

During the last 3 years, Alex Rampell (CEO of TrialPay), has pioneered the concept of transactional advertising by partnering bluechip advertisers with thousands of online merchants. In 2008, Alex foresaw this evolution in e-commerce when he wrote about  The End of Brand Advertising. These ideas are now embraced in both theory and application. This exciting transformation of e-commerce was recently featured on TechCrunch in an Alex Rampell guest post entitled The Rise of Transactional Advertising. Be sure to share your thoughts in the comment section below!

  • Share/Bookmark

{ 0 comments }

Congratulations to Playfish on a Successful Valentine’s Day Campaign

by Chris Heggem February 25, 2010

The critics of the virtual goods industry often neglect to take into account how virtual goods are monetized. They’re right to assume that most social gamers are not willing to use cash to purchase virtual currency. Only a very, very small group of dedicated social gamers buy currency or goods directly. The larger majority fuel [...]

Read the full article →

Overview of TrialPay’s Top Touchpoints

by Chris Heggem February 25, 2010

TrialPay’s Get It Free program helps thousands of merchants make millions of dollars every year by placing “touchpoints” on their Web site. To see these touchpoints in action, be sure to check out this interactive demo.

Our most successful merchants use many of the touchpoints found within the Get It Free toolbox:
Top Touchpoints
Direct Payment: This is our [...]

Read the full article →

TrialPay’s New Features – February 2010

by Chris Heggem February 2, 2010

Every month we release new products and features to improve the experience for our partners and shoppers. The latest Valentine’s Day promotions are a huge part of what we released in February, but we didn’t stop there.
Order Confirmation Promotion
During the Valentine’s push, we’re giving complimentary flower coupons to customers who complete a non-Valentine’s offer.

Customer Support: [...]

Read the full article →

Increase Sales During Valentine’s Day

by Chris Heggem January 27, 2010

We’re coming off record holiday spending, but with Valentine’s Day around the corner it’s already time to prepare for your next holiday promotion. Why? Take a look at this these statistics from the National Retail Federation:

Valentine’s Day is the third-largest holiday
Last year Americans spent $14.7 billion on Valentine’s Day gifts
Over one-third of people said they [...]

Read the full article →

A Lesson Learned from 2009: Shopping Cart Abandonment

by TrialPay January 5, 2010

As we begin the New Year, it’s necessary to reflect on the previous year to recognize our successes and shortcomings. While the recent holiday sales boosted e-commerce by 3.6% over last year, there is still room for improvement as we enter 2010.
Yes, overall sales did increase, but so did shopping cart abandonment. Shopping cart abandonment [...]

Read the full article →

Doing Right by the Consumer: Going Beyond Compliance

by TrialPay December 17, 2009

In October of this year, a TechCrunch article exposed questionable advertising practices in the social gaming industry. Since that time, several major changes have taken place:
1. Facebook has begun enforcing its strict ad guidelines for developers and monetization providers, even banning a few players permanently from the Facebook platform.
2. Social gaming publishers—large and small—have pulled offers from their platform altogether [...]

Read the full article →

It’s the Season of Giving and Giving Back

by TrialPay December 9, 2009

TrialPay is very proud to be a Mountain View company and we’re always looking for ways to give back to the community. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of families in our area that need assistance and millions across the nation. Through TheBigBundle and assisting with Community Services Agency’s Toy Drive, TrialPay has begun to do its part [...]

Read the full article →

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Fuel Online Holiday Shopping

by TrialPay December 2, 2009

Statistics from this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday prove early industry projections that consumers will increasingly shop online for holiday gifts. Black Friday 2009 total online spending was up 11% over last year. And according to comScore, Cyber Monday 2009 spending was up 5% this year compared to 2008 (Coremetrics reports the increase as high as 13.7%).
Not [...]

Read the full article →