Mobile games

This playbook shows how to set up Pushwoosh for a mobile game, from identifying players to launching journeys for onboarding, engagement, reactivation, and in-app purchases.

Set up Pushwoosh in seven stages, in this order:

1. Set a User ID for each player, so Pushwoosh recognizes the same player on every device.
2. Choose the events to track to record what players do in the game.
3. Optional: store player data, such as the level or whether the player has paid, in tags.
4. Group players who match your conditions in segments, for example players who have not opened the game for 30 days.
5. Ask for push permission at the right moment, set delivery rules, and set up a control group. See Prepare for communication.
6. Send messages automatically with journeys when a player does something in the game or joins a segment.
7. Test each journey, then read its statistics and measure results.

To start with less, follow Minimum setup to start messaging players.

Prerequisites

Developer assistance needed

Some steps of this playbook are changes in your game’s code. See What your developers need to do.

• An application in your Pushwoosh account, with the SDK integrated so devices register automatically.
• Email and App Inbox only for the journeys that list them under Needs: Reactivation for inactive players uses email, and Live event and VIP announcements uses App Inbox. Most journeys in this playbook use push and in-app messages.

What your developers need to do

Hand your developers this list, so they can ship it in one release:

• Set the User ID at login.
• Send the events your journeys need.
• Track purchases and, if you sell subscriptions, pass the player’s ID with each store purchase.
• Move the push permission request out of the first launch.
• Handle deep links to the level, reward, store, and event screens, which the journeys open from pushes.
• Integrate the Message Inbox SDK if you use App Inbox.

Minimum setup to start messaging players

If you do not need all seven stages yet, this minimum setup covers two basic tasks: getting new players through the tutorial and winning back players who stopped playing. Complete these steps:

1. Ask your developers to call setUserId on login. See Identify players by User ID.
2. Check that PW_ApplicationOpen arrives from the game. Ask your developers to also send the Tutorial started and Tutorial completed events. See Set up the events to track and Send the events from the game.
3. Move the push permission request to a later moment, for example after the tutorial. On iOS, a player who declines the prompt on the first launch can’t be asked again. See Ask for push permission at the right moment.
4. Set the delivery rules.
5. Build the At-risk players segment. If you already track purchases with PW_InAppPurchase, also build Recent payers.
6. Create the content for these two journeys, as listed under Content to prepare in each recipe.
7. Launch Onboarding for new players and Reactivation for inactive players.

Add the other segments and journeys later, as their events start arriving.

What next

To add more journeys, see these guides:

• Set up a retention campaign
• Set up a user engagement campaign
• Create a re-engagement campaign
• Run A/B/n tests in journeys