Piggy Banks A to Z. Part II
The MVP version of a piggy bank
This game has more to offer than the basic MVP, but this screenshot is a suitable way of demonstrating its minimal version. For this you will need:
- Information – notify the users how exactly the piggy bank runs and what are the conditions to open it up for purchase;
- The “available for purchase” status when the “Buy” button is enabled.
Let us analyze what is the maximum possible version of the piggy bank and what can be gained by augmenting its implementation.
The different states of a piggy bank
In its MVP version, the piggy bank has two states:
1) the piggy bank is open and can accumulate resources;
2) filled to capacity, allowing the player to buy it.
You can add the option to buy a partially filled piggy bank. Most developers went down that route.
When the player has partially filled the piggy bank, the text changes and opens the option to buy it. Once the piggy bank is full, the text changes again, and the progress bar disappears.
What’s the point?
According to our data, less than 0.5% of piggy bank buyers purchase the partially filled piggy bank. Provided it manages to fill up in the allotted time even during small game sessions. If more than 2% of buyers buy a piggy bank when it’s half-empty, it is a sign that filling it is difficult.
Is this step done for this 0.5% of buyers? Maybe. But there are different thoughts on the topic.
| 2017 A/B testing of games in the slots genre. The option of a piggy bank with an early purchase opportunity step increased the final conversion to purchase by ~11%. It seems that the ability to “cheat” the game and collect more than it offers at the time of purchase, is what that makes this offer so valuable. Or players just value their efforts to fill the piggy bank more. |
However, not all projects do this. Some versions of piggy banks in gambling genre games do not have an upper limit. Just the threshold from which the piggy bank becomes available for purchase.
Sometimes, such piggy banks are filled only under special conditions — for limited gaming activities or for a time.
Information window
A high precentage of players buying the piggy bank before it is full could be due to a shortage of time as well as the difficulty level being too high. Different economic cycles exist in different games. For example, in adventure farms, some users might only do one single thing while getting the piggy bank. Players need to be made aware of the fact that all activities help the progress so that more of them would be able to fill the bank.
A good example is the game Atlantis Odyssey. In addition to a full and visual explanation, the game makes good use of darkening the background when presenting the information.
| 2017 A/B testing of the game’s tutorial section. The option to darken areas outside of tips and explanation bubbles increased conversion rates to completing the tutorial from ~52% to ~60% (exact numbers unknown). Plus, a specific action explained via text in the tutorial was now used more often. Conclusion: players paid more attention to the texts and read them more frequently once the dimming of the background was implemented. |
When a player opens the piggy bank menu for the first time, the information window tells them of the specificities of the piggy bank. It can be accessed through the information button.
The information button is easy to read because it’s on the other side of the X button and is color-coded. Not everyone does that.