Why Don't More Game Companies Do Email Marketing?
A few days ago I was looking through my inbox when I saw an email for Brawl Stars. I didn’t click on any of the links in the email, but it did what it was supposed to do—it got me thinking about the game again. My thoughts then turned into action as I opened the game for the first time in months.
Then I began to wonder… why don’t I get emails from other games I once played? Did everyone just give up re-engaging with old players, or has everyone shifted to push notifications? I aggressively curtail notifications on my phone, but I don’t mind receiving the occasional email. Are my usage habits just weird? I decided to investigate this whole “email” thing once more.
Why Game Companies Overlook Email
Account Layer Friction
For PC and console games, capturing an email is built in by default. For mobile games, however, players often download a game and start playing as a guest. Even if they use a Google or Apple account to register, there’s rarely an offer to receive emails when signing up.
While aggressively asking for an email can increase bounce rates, game publishers often fail to ask for one at all later on down the line. If a player leaves the game after a couple weeks of playing, however, the publisher almost has no way to contact them if they didn’t get their email address.
Misconceptions about Low Open Rates
A lot of the data on email open rates comes from products or services that differ vastly from games. Open rates are certainly going to be low for adjacent product offers that you didn’t ask for, or some guy constantly pitching paid seminars to you after you just wanted a peek at one PDF guide in his sales funnel. So by looking at average open rates for email campaigns in general, decision makers may think they’re not worth the time and effort.
Tech Burdens & Planning Costs
Emails need to function as an extension of the game’s LiveOps data and event planning. Setting up a real system that dynamically emails players can take some time and effort. Furthermore, these kinds of systems will often require some sort of middleware or third party service integration.
Why Email is Still Worthwhile
Let’s now cover some reasons why email is still a worthwhile endeavor for any game publisher.
1. No app/game, no problem: For one, many users instinctively disable push notification permissions as soon as they install a game or app. Additionally, push notifications obviously cannot reach a user who has already uninstalled your game. Email is obviously not limited in this way.
2. Gaming is more emotional: In reference to the open rates I mentioned above, games are not the same as your bank spamming you with another credit card offer or a LinkedIn email summarizing posts from people you barely remember following. Games typically command a deeper emotional investment. Players make real friends in game. They build or grow their character. They begin to identify with a community and its logic, memes, and jokes.
3. Reduced churn: It costs more money to acquire a new player than it does to re-engage with an old player. Furthermore, your email campaigns can be specifically designed to target these players. You can set up a trigger to email a player if they haven’t logged in for 7, 14, or 30 days. That’s why every single person has gotten a “We miss you!” email before. (Just don’t use that as the subject line!)
4. Email marketing is really cheap: Pricing for email marketing changes a lot, but let me give you an idea of how cheap it is. One famous provider offers 500,000 emails a month for $450. Re-engaging a single whale pays for your campaign that month.
Go look up what it costs to set up a campaign on MailChimp, SendGrid, Constant Contact, Omnisend, etc.
5. You own the list: You essentially have a “warm leads” list of players who may be interested in other games or adjacent offers you may have in the future. That’s cross-promotion 101.
Another massive benefit to owning your own list is that you can upload this list to Meta, Google, or TikTok and build highly accurate “Lookalike Audiences”. So an email list helps you reduce churn, increase in-game spending, AND precisely target new players on other platforms.
Adding to this, owned data is only getting more valuable. As Apple’s App Tracking Transparency and stricter EU privacy rules make third-party targeting harder and more expensive, owning a list that you can plug straight into UA targeting is very valuable, indeed.
And finally, because you own your list, you can run D2C strategies with ease. When a player recharges in game, Apple or Google get a cut. When a player hits a push notification and then recharges in game, Apple or Google get a cut. But because you own your list, you can email players and direct them to deal on your website instead. You can offer the player a discount, avoid platform fees, and end up with a much higher net margin for yourself.
Easy to Integrate Email Types
You can devise complex emailing strategies, but I’ll list a few that shouldn’t require too many changes to your game’s code.
1. The X Day Churn Trigger: These emails are automatically triggered when a player passes a critical churn milestone that you determine. For example, you could choose to send an email if a player hasn’t logged on for 7, 14, or 30 days.
2. Major Event Announcements: Send a message to players for major updates, seasonal events, limited-time collaborations, etc.
3. Free Goodies: This is a smart way to “train” players to open your emails. Send a monthly newsletter containing update news, community UGC spotlights, etc. In this email, include a unique code or claim link for in-game currencies, mounts, skins, resources, etc. The point is to get players in the habit of opening your messages.
4. Link an Email Address: Supercell did this in Brawl Stars. After linking an email address to your account, you got an exclusive skin for free. Make this item only attainable via linking an email address.
5. Refer a Friend: This is a classic one. Email your players with unique referral links or codes. Once their friend reaches Level 10 (or some milestone), both players get rewards.
6. Exclusive Invitations: Make your players feel special. Send out emails that offer access to a beta test for a new major feature or a completely new game.
So give it a thought. Or give it a shot. Email was and still is one of those low-hanging fruits that all game companies should consider picking. After doing some basic, back-of-the-napkin math, I think you’ll agree that it’s worth trying.
