Create incentives with Facebook Credits

deal united extends its portfolio by Credits Rewards. As of today with Credits Rewards online service providers can offer their customers Facebook Credits also outside the social network. Credits Rewards, in its turn, provides the technical realization.

Credits Rewards enables online providers to use Facebook Credits as an incentive to make purchases, competitions, surveys and user registrations more attractive to customers. The promotion can be implemented in a multitude of ways, such as directly via Facebook, on company websites and through newsletters. Credits Rewards ensures the prompt delivery of Facebook Credits to the actual Facebook customer account.

As an official distributer of Facebook Credits deal united is one of only three dealers worldwide. In Germany deal united is currently the only authorised provider to supply online service provider with Facebook Credits for their customers.

Together with the launch of Credits Rewards, the official homepage www.creditsrewards.com will go live today as well. The homepage contains all important information about the product. At the same time online service providers will be able to get in touch with the Credits Rewards team.

Dr. Jarg Temme, CEO at deal united, says “The demand for Facebook Credits is immense. Opportunities for users to purchase virtual currency by using Facebook Credits are on the rise. We are very proud to be the only German distributor of Facebook Credits. Our product Credits Rewards enables online service providers to be a part of the increasing Facebook Credits trend worldwide.”

Facebook Credits are used as a virtual currency on the social network Facebook. Currently, Facebook Credits can be used for purchasing virtual products such as online games currency, music downloads, gift cards, tickets and coupons only. Nevertheless, additional applications for Facebook Credits such as watching concerts online or customer lotteries continue to increase.

This October 18th-19th  Markus Wiedemann, Head of Sales Europe of deal united, will be making his way to London to attend the a4uexpo. With over 40 conference sessions to choose from, and more than 1300 international delegates,the a4uexpo London is the UK’s largest Affiliate and Performance Marketing event and takes place at the Hilton London Metropole.

deal united will use this opportunity to network and to address crucial topics about Affliate Marketing with key players in the industry.

If you would like to meet Markus at the a4uexpo London, please send an email to advertiser@dealunited.com in order to arrange a meeting.  We hope to see you in London!

The annual event of IAB forum will start on the 12^th-13^th October 2011 at MiCo Gate Congress center in Milan. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is one of Italy’s most important events concerning digital advertising and communication. The forum provides operators as well as international experts the opportunity to meet and exchange experiences concerning the digital communication field.

 

Markus Wiedemann, the head of Sales Europe for deal united, will be in attendance at this year’s event to partake in congress and networking sessions.

If you are interested to meet Markus in Milan, please send him an email at advertiser@dealunited.com to arrange an appointment. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

This time deal united is a Premium sponsor of Affiliate NetworxX in Munich. Affiliate NetworkxX is a special networking event on affiliate marketing. The purpose of the event is to exchange online marketing info, make new contacts or share experience with partners in relaxed and informal atmosphere.

With over 700 participants each year, this event is the largest one of its kind in Germany. The participants are mainly agencies, affiliate networks, affiliates and merchants. The event will be held on 06.10.2011 at 18.30 at Airbräu-Tenne at the Munich airport. This is located in the central area of Munich Airport, between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

Come and join us there! We will be excited to meet you!

Online Stammtisch München 4.0 is a networking event, where you have a possibility to meet the professionals from companies that deal online.

 

This time, the OSM takes place on Thursday 06.10.2011 at 19:30 in Reithalle München (Heßstr. 132, Munich). You will find deal united there too!

Come and see us at the OSM 4.0. We’ll be happy to surprise you with our business opportunities!

The second Bavarian a4uexpo is well under way today in Munich, launching the first day of this two day Affiliate and Performance Marketing conference. Boasting over 1,000 delegates and 40 conference sessions, this exposition creates a unique opportunity for experts of all relevant professions to share their knowledge and interact with other professionals in the biz.

deal united’s own Head of Advertiser Marketing, Markus Steiner, will be attending the event, soaking up insider tips and representing deal united as well as our product PAY.BY.SHOPPING. He will be attending several of the conference sessions and mingling at the networking sessions, so if you are attending the a4uexpo either June 7th or 8th, we look forward to seeing you for round two!

If you’d like to meet up with Markus at the a4uexpo or are interested in contacting him, just send an email to markus.steiner@dealunited.com

The  Game Connection Europe networking event will take place in Lyon, France from November 16- 18, 2010.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet key players from every stage of the production process face-to-face, including professionals in finance, development, publishing, distribution and outsourcing.

This year, deal united Sales Managers Eliane Zeba and Melanie Richter will attend this event and present deal united’s alternative payment method PAY.BY.SHOPPING.

For further information, please contact merchant@dealunited.com

deal united’s PAY.BY.SHOPPING is an alternative payment method for monetizing digital and virtual goods. Integrating PAY.BY.SHOPPING is even easier now with the new Offer Wall Converter.

• Easier integration of the PAY.BY.SHOPPING alternative payment method for games and online services

• $50,000 US sign-up bonus for the first 10 online games using Offer Wall Converter

At this year’s Virtual Goods Summit on October 12th and 13th in San Francisco, deal united will introduce our new Offer Wall Converter, which makes it even easier for online games to integrate PAY.BY.SHOPPING if they already use other providers. If a game already uses Tapjoy (former Offerpal), for example, the Offer Wall Converter takes their API and converts it for deal united’s alternative payment method. In this way, integration becomes painless and problem-free for publishers.

The first 10 online game publishers to use deal united’s Offer Wall Converter will receive $ 5,000 as a special sign-up bonus. To be eligible, a publisher must generate a minimum revenue of $5,000 per month in the first three months after going live.

“deal united’s alternative payment solution PAY.BY.SHOPPING focuses on different high quality shopping deals, making it a perfect extension of classical offer wall business,” says Jarg Temme, CEO of deal united. “With our new Offer Wall Converter, game publishers are able to quickly and easily begin providing players with our alternative payment solution.” In this way, game publishers can give their players the optimal opportunity to combine shopping needs with free virtual currency.

Publishers or journalists interested in finding out more about deal united and the new Offer Wall Converter can always stop by at booth 11 at the Virtual Goods Summit for further information.

From September 15th to 16th, 2010 the biggest German online marketing conference dmexco will take place in Cologne. This year, deal united will be present with our own booth: Hall 8.1. Booth A-81 – B-080.

This will be the perfect oppurtunity for curious visitors to get a better understanding of our alternative payment method PAY.BY.SHOPPING. deal united will also introduce the new platform GamesClubCard, especially interesting for our advertising partners.

Markus Steiner (Head of Advertiser Marketing), Christine Bialowons (Senior Sales Manager), Veronika Beuschel (Junior Marketing Manager), Tanja Penning (Junior Marketing Manager) and Melanie Richter (Sales Manager) will be representing us, and they would be glad to welcome visitors at our booth, answer questions and discuss potential business partnerships.

To meet up with us there, please contact service@dealunited.com or call +49 (0) 89 381 535 860. Or you can just stop by at our booth: Hall 8.1, booth  A-81 – B-080.

Free2Play browser games, massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) and social games are still a growing market. But since high user numbers don’t automatically generate revenue, the problem that almost every game publisher faces nowadays is how to monetize users.

Most players are not willing to spend money on virtual currency or premium features, the source of revenue for game publishers. Many Free2Play online games try to get as many players as possible to generate advertising revenue by clicking on ads. This strategy works only short-term though, and is not the best method of achieving successful monetization.

Customer Care – What do I know about my players?
Every game publisher should be able to answer the following questions about their users:
How did the player find out about my game?
How often does he play?
Which features does he use frequently?
Has he ever paid for additional features?

The key to successful monetization is not high user numbers, but rather active customer support, which involves three crucial steps:

1. Continually acquire new players
2. Draw players’ attention to your products
3. Convert your registered users into paying customers

The more you get to know your players, the better you can respond to their needs. If players feel like they are addressed personally, they will respond by developing a more stable and intensive relationship with your game. This approach is based on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which is used in eCommerce: The “customer life cycle,” the click rates and the customer value analysis are used by online traders to get to know online shoppers better. These methods can also be adopted by game publishers.

The Five Phases of a “Customer Life Cycle“
The customer life cycle goes through five phases. Game publishers should adjust marketing measures according to these:

1. Awareness of the Product
The user hears about your game but has not yet registered. Your goal is to get the user to sign up via various marketing and sales measures.

2. Registration
In phase two, the interested user creates an account on your game site and starts playing. As a publisher, you’ll create incentives to keep the player playing your game. Now is the time to get to know your new player in terms of preferences and future behavior.

3. Identifaction
A new player who identifies him or herself with your game will become a regular user now. This is the phase in which you can get your player to pay for features and to reward them with special items.

4. Retirement
In this phase, the player retires from your game and might even go to a competitor, often due to a change of interests. Active CRM can prevent a player from leaving and never returning to your game or brand.

5. Inactive Player
The player still has an account but does not use your game anymore. In this fifth phase, you might be able to reactivate your player by offering vouchers or benefits.

Players in phase 3 bring the company the most revenue. These players know the game, talk about it, recommend it and are most likely to spend money on additional features. Another thing that gaming can learn from Ecommerce has to do with RFM: Recency, Frequency and Monetary Value. High user numbers usually generate huge databases, but there are better ways than selling data and risking disgruntled users who never come back. Analyze your databases and find out what your players do:

Recency:
Did the player buy something? When was the last time he or she did?

Frequency:
How often does the user play and which features does he/she use?

Monetary Value:
How much money has the player already spent on additional features?

These questions allow you to divide your users into two categories:

1. “More valuable” — players who have already paid for additional features once or do so regularly.
2. “Less valuable” —  players that never spend money on additional features.

You as a publisher need to know these categories in order to address the players. If you pinpoint a person in your database (e.g. through calculations) who is likely to do something, what will be your part in it? Contact that person.

Knowing what your players do while playing your game is the first step in monetizing them. If you are aware of their preferences in the game, you can act on them, and if the player  feels like they are appreciated, they will bound with your game and stay. The next step is to realize that your players have a life outside of your game — one you should think about as well!