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How to Build an Effective Offer System in Your Game

Download PDF

How to Build an

Effective Offer

System in Your Game

Discover how top games structure Offer System, what’s

new, and how to build a scalable system that performs.

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2

Playliner

by Sensor Tower

Playliner
, Sensor Tower’s state-of-the-art platform for analyzing

Live Ops, enables you to dive into a rich repository of events,

updates, and monetization offers across hundreds of top games.

Whether you’re designing a new offering, reengaging existing

players, or optimizing your monetization tactics, use
Playliner to

secure your competitive edge in the mobile gaming world.

This report gives you a preview of the rich insights available

in-platform – use these evidence-based recommendations to

move with confidence and revamp your strategy for 2026.

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ARpU growth comes from multiple levers:

Conversion, Repeat Purchases, Average Transaction Value, Demand

While Shop covers basic, always-on needs

Offers deliver higher value, urgency, and personalization

Adaptive offers respond to player behavior, needs, and capacity to pay

LTV Maximization

Segmentation & Personalization

The goal is not just to sell

WHY Do You Need an Offer System?

A good offer system:

●
Helps players overcome friction

●
Supports progress at critical moments

●
Feels like ‘this is exactly what I need right now’, not pressure

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The more offers you have, the better they perform

Players don’t want
more
offers → They want the right offer, at the right moment, for the right reason

Cheaper offers always mean a better conversion strategy

Low entry price boosts conversion

However, some players are ready to pay more from the start

Starting too cheap hides willingness to pay and caps future spend

Players buy only emotionally – because of visuals and excitement

Players buy only rationally – by calculating value and efficiency

Purchases happen at the intersection of emotion + calculation + context.

Visuals and presentation attract attention, while value is evaluated
intuitively
, not through deep calculations.

So HOW do you avoid

these mistakes,
and build an

effective offer system?

Common Myths

About Offers

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Offer Types & Visualization

What types of offers exist and

what problem each one solves

Core Building Blocks of an Offer System

Triggers & Timing

When and why an offer appears

Segmentation & Personalization

Adapting offers to player behavior,

context, and capacity to pay

Offer Compatibility

Offers don’t compete or cannibalize

each other

Clear comparison and value differentiation

Economic Balance

Economy-aware design

Controlled inflation and sustainable value

1

2

3

4

5

6

Pricing Strategy

Increase when players are ready

Roll back when they are not

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Offer Types

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When choosing offer types, focus on:

There are dozens of offer types on the market today.

But that doesn’t mean you need ALL of them.

Next, we’ll break down the
TOP-performing offer types
and what makes them work.

More offers ≠ better performance.

A strong system is built on a few

types that work well together.

Your KPIs
– what exactly you want to

improve (conversion, repeat rate, ARPPU)

Visual variety
– to keep offers feeling fresh

and ‘new’

System synergy
– offers should

complement each other, not compete

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The simplest and most stable offer type

Simple & focused

●
One clear bundle

●
No visual noise

●
No competing choices

Why it works

●
Extremely effective with
Segmentation

●
Perfect fit for
Starter Packs

How it’s used

●
Shown at session start

●
Or triggered by key moments
(return, cooldown,

progression)

Role in the system

●
Acts as the
baseline offer

●
A reference point for: pricing and value

Login Offer

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One of the top monetization touchpoints in

most games

Right place. Right moment:

●
Appear exactly when the player hits friction

Typical triggers:

●
Level-based games → Revive / Play On

pop-up

●
Other genres → Out of Сurrency pop-up

Why they work:

●
Offer exactly the resource needed to

continue progress

●
No choice overload – immediate solution

Price and Value:

●
Price and value must match the real cost of

continuation

●
These offers rely more on
context and need
,

not on aggressive price scaling → no extreme

price points (e.g. $50+)

Triggered Offer

Revive Pop-up

Out of Spins

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Always something to buy

●
Endless Offer works like a
’10-in-1′
deal

●
Buy one – another is already waiting

Built-in self-segmentation

●
Players choose how deep they go

●
Some stop at 2, others at 5 or complete the

whole chain

Strong ARPPU driver

●
Depth is defined by player willingness, not

forced pricing

●
Start cheap, scale smoothly: Low entry price
→

repeat purchases → gradual check growth

Two scaling strategies

●
Price increases step by step

●
OR: Same price, but higher value (better for

repeat purchase)

Endless Offer

Strong visual hook

●
Each purchase unlocks
‘
extra rewards for FREE
‘

●
6-slot or 3-slot Offers – great for rotation. Same Structure, new Visuals

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1+X Offer

Common Visual & Reward Variations

1. 1+1 format

Buy one – get the same pack for free

Classic, easy to read, triggers discount instincts

2. Mirror format (1 + half + half)

FREE rewards visually match the paid pack

Identical tiles = strong feeling of high value

3. 1+6 or 1+12 formats

Sheer number of FREE rewards feels stunning

Creates a hypnotic ‘too good to ignore’ effect

4. 1+X with a focus on rare currency

Different rewards, one clear highlight

Premium or rare items drive perceived

generosity

This offer type is all about visuals and variety

Same core value – completely different perception

Psychology over math

Multiple FREE tiles create an illusion of overwhelming

value. Rational thinking switches off

(+highlighted by twin chipmunks)

1+1 Offer

1+half+half Offer

1+12 Offer

Focus on Rare

Currency (Pearl)

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2-3 Bundles in One Offer

Common Design Patterns:

1. Anchor the higher-priced options

●
First bundle is intentionally weak

●
Visually smaller and less attractive→

Makes the next 1-2 options look

significantly better

2. Comfort vs premium contrast

●
1-2 options sit in a ‘comfortable’ price
range

●
3rd option is expensive but clearly more

valuable

●
Visual emphasis + attention to the premium

choice

3. ‘Buy Them All’ option

●
Multiple balanced bundles OR Buy them

ALL with
20-40% OFF

●
Converts indecision into a higher total

check

Choice architecture as a monetization tool

●
Adds
built-in Segmentation
inside a single offer

●
Side-by-side options enable
controlled

comparison
and intentional emphasis
(use

Anchoring, Decoy effect)

Clearly highlighted by color and size.

More than 2Х value without a 2Х price.

Smoothly guides the player toward the highest-priced

purchase – both visually and through balance.

The ‘Buy All’ price is only slightly higher than the most

expensive offer: a $2 difference – while the value gain is $10+2

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Battle Pass+

Common Short-Term Variations (2-3 days)

●
Endless Offer + Currency from activity

a.
Progress generates currency –

abandoning it feels wasteful

b.
Purchase unlocks accumulated value

●
Chain Activity Pass

(Royal Match)

a.
Goals progress simultaneously and

stack

b.
Next milestone always feels ‘just a bit

away’

How to Balance It Properly

●
Base activity → average offer Bonus

●
Above-base activity → higher Bonus Value

Why Battle Pass Works

●
‘I’ve already progressed so much –

buying feels logical’

●
And vice versa – Buying unlocks the desire to

finish the pass and maximize rewards

However,
Main Limitation of Battle Pass: Low

purchase frequency
: 1 purchase per 14-30 days

Battle Pass

Endless Offer +

Currency from Activity

Chain Activity Pass

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Stamp It

A short-term
purchase-loyalty mechanic

Inspired by midcore & café loyalty systems – but

compressed in time

Why It Works

●
Drives repeat purchases

Rewards are unlocked only after
multiple
buys

●
Controls minimum check

Stamps are granted only for selected offers or

price tiers

●
Turns spending into a goal

‘I’m just one purchase away from the reward’

How It Increases LTV (Example)

●
Player baseline:

~$10 per purchase
, 1-2 buys in 3 days

●
Stamp event rule:

3 purchases,
min $7 each

●
Result:

To unlock all rewards →
$21+ total spend

Don’t set the bar too high –
too much friction kills motivation

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Other

Milestone Offer

Shop: Special Offer / Coupon

Disco Wheel

Starts with low-priced spins, but both price and

attraction grow as valuable slots remain.

Strong driver of
repeat purchases

Triggered by reaching a meaningful milestone –

players buy on
positive emotions
, even without

currency deficit.

Coupon store bonuses (e.g.
‘+100% value on all

purchases’
) are an
underrated
but powerful

monetization lever.

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Piggy Bank

Starter Pack

Event Currency Offer

Sells event-specific currency, often combined

with core currencies. Especially
effective near

the end of events
– albums amplify urgency.

Leverages the
‘already earned value’
effect
– you

just need to unlock it. Still psychologically strong,

even if newer offer types have partially replaced it.

Strong visual presentation paired with

significantly higher value. Designed to secure

the
1st Purchase
fast and confidently.

Other

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Offer Triggers

and Placements

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A purchase usually requires multiple touches – or

one exceptionally strong trigger

This is how most marketing campaigns work: the

idea needs time to
mature
before it turns into a

purchase.

An offer needs to be:

●
Introduced
(‘seen’ by the player)

●
Triggered
at the right moment (out of Currency,

lose the progression of the event, etc)

●
Easy to access
(lobby, shop)

If players can’t quickly find an offer,

it effectively doesn’t exist.

Offer Exposure: One

Touch Is Rarely Enough

The Road to

Repetitive Marketing

Studies show that a prospect customer needs to

see/hear an advertiser’s message
at least 7 times
,

before they take actions

7x

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Core Offer Triggers

Game Entry (Login / Opening the Game)

●
Many companies fear pop-up overload

●
In reality, this is one of the most effective

exposure points

‘Out of Currency’ Moment

●
Especially strong for
Merge, Solitaire, Casino

genres

●
The same offers can be shown here and on login

●
Sequential exposure works well

Level Failure → Continue Level Offer (Revive)

●
Core trigger for level-based games

●
Clear friction → clear solution

Positive Moments (Momentum Triggers)

●
Purchases don’t happen only in deficit

●
Players buy
‘on a high’
– before friction appears

●
Especially effective when offers are:

○
clearly valuable

○
limited in time (5-10 minutes / now

or never)

Revive Offer

Out of Currency

Positive Moment

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Offers Pricing

& Segmentation

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Why you may need Segmentation:

●
Players have
different willingness to pay

●
One price cannot fit everyone

●
Without segmentation, you either:

○
under-monetize high-potential players

○
or push low-payers away

Segmentation helps you:

●
scale prices only
when players are ready

●
protect conversion for low spenders

●
maximize long-term value

What segmentation is
not

●
Not ‘make offers more expensive for payers’

Segmentation:

Start With Why

Quantity

Price

One Offer

Segmented Offer

Quantity

Price

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Segmentation is powerful – but it’s not always the first priority.

You can wait if:

●
The project is at an
early stage

●
Offer types, pricing, or economy are
not yet stable

●
You’re focusing on
1st Conversion offers

(here segmentation by country, UA source, or device matters more)

●
You don’t have enough data to read player behavior reliably

●
Your features already include
self-segmentation

(Endless offers, Chain offers, 2-3 Bundles in one offer)

●
Your offers are
not segmented
or only
minimally segmented

(Revive offers, Battle Pass)

●
The game relies on
cheap traffic + ad monetization

(segmentation is still important – but mainly for ads, not offers)

When Simple Pricing Is Enough:

Don’t Over-Segment Too Soon

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Simple Pricing Logic

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You don’t need a complex monetization system

from day one

●
A simple
step-up
/
step-down

logic works

well both for new projects

●
And even for Top games (e.g. Royal Match –

for selected offer types).

Simple Pricing Logic

How It Works (Basic Logic)

●
Offers are split into
Tiers

(each Tier = higher price + higher value)

●
Player
BUYS
the offer → move

+1 Tier Up

(shows readiness to pay more)

●
Player does
NOT BUY
for some time →

move
-1 Tier Down

(price pressure is

reduced)

●
Rollback speed can be tuned via

Recency

(higher tiers → slower rollback)

This creates a self-adjusting price ladder.

Start

+1 Tier

-1 Tier

BUY

DON’T

BUY

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Tier 4

Tier 5

Tier 6

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●
The
Travel Deal

offer changes depending on how many times the player has purchased it. The cost of this

offer increases sequentially with each new purchase.

●
However, if the player stops purchasing the offer, its price does not remain high. When the offer next

appears, its cost is reduced by one step – to the previous level.

Royal Match: Example

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The system follows the same tier logic as

described above.

●
The offer has
7 Tiers
, priced from
$0.99 to

$99.99

●
The player starts from
Tier 1
– the cheapest

pack (
$0.99
)

●
From there, the offer moves

Up

or

Down

the

ladder based on player behavior:

○
purchase → Tier goes
+1
Up

○
no purchase during the period → Tier goes

-1

Down

●
The rollback is intentionally slow –

prices usually drop only after a long pause
(e.g.

~1 week without purchases)

Royal Match: Example

Start

+1 Tier

-1 Tier

BUY

DON’T

BUY

$0.99

$2.99

$6.99

$19.99

$44.99

$79.99

$99.99

Purchase #

Offer price, $

Before purchase

0.99

After 1st purchase

2.99

After 2nd purchase

6.99

After 3rd purchase

19.99

After 4th purchase

44.99

After 5th purchase

79.99

After 6th purchase

99.99

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Segmentation

Important Parameters

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Recency

●
Time since last purchase

●
For non-payers:
lifetime recency
is even

more important

→ Shows
how warm
the player is right now

Segmentation Parameters: What We Look At First

Average Transaction Value

●
One of the most underrated parameters

●
Often more predictive than Total Spend

→ Defines the player’s
comfortable price

zone

Max Payment

●
Shows upper
potential
, not behavior

baseline

●
Usually used as a supporting signal, not

a primary one

Frequency

●
How often the player buys

●
Strong indicator of habit vs impulse

spending

●
Shows upper
potential
for repeat

purchases

Contextual Parameters (Deeper Layer)

●
Country

●
UA source

●
Device

●
Player Engagement and Turnover

●
etc

Total Money (Spend per Period)

●
Good for broad grouping

●
Weak alone – strongest when combined

with Recency & Average Transaction

Value

1

2

3

4

5

6

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Recency

●
For payers
→ time since last purchase

●
For non-payers
→ lifetime recency

(how long the player has been in the game

without converting)

What it tells you
:
How long the player hasn’t paid.

Whether it’s time to act – or step back

Why it’s critical

●
One of the main signals for
price rollback

●
Especially useful when prices were pushed

above the player’s comfort zone

Typical use cases: High Recency → reduce pressure,

lower price, reintroduce value

Frequency

●
Less Important at the beginning

●
Strong indicator of
repeat purchase potential

●
Paying frequency =
habit formation.
And habit

is one of the strongest monetization driver

RFM: Recency, Frequency

Recency

Frequency

The freshness of the customer

activity, be it purchases or visits.

E.g. Time since last order or last

engaged with the product

The frequency of the customer

transactions or visits.

E.g. Total number of transactions or

average time between

trasactions/engaged visits.

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Look at the data, not assumptions

Build Graphics and ask 3 Key Questions:

1.
After how many days do players
stop paying
?

2.
After how many days does a
repeat purchase
usually happen?

3.
Where does the
drop-off
become visible?

These points define your Recency buckets.

Game 1

Game 2

For example:

●
As shown in
Game 1
graph, players keep

converting up to
Day 6
and then hit a plateau

●
Whereas, in
Game 2
, the active conversion

window lasts

only
3 Days
.

That’s why
Recency

thresholds
(e.g., when to

aggressively drop Starter Pack pricing)

should be different for these games.

How to Set Recency Thresholds

There is no universal Recency setup. Each project has
its own

purchase rhythm.

1 day
is always the starting point → From there, everything depends on

player behavior.

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What it shows

●
How much the player has spent
in Total
over

their lifetime

Pros: Why it’s useful

●
Good for high-level grouping (non-payer /

payer / whale)

●
Works well as a secondary or supporting

signal

Cons: Where it fails

●
Says nothing about current readiness to pay

●
A player who spent $100 a year ago may

behave like a non-payer today

○
This can be mitigated by also tracking

Total
Spend over a recent period
(e.g.

last 30 days – adjusted to your project’s

purchase cycle)

●
Total Money reflects
spending potential,

NOT spending behavior

○
It shows
how much
a player has spent

overall,

○
but not how they usually pay – at which

price points and with what consistency.

Total Money

What Total Money tells us

●
Player’s
spending potential
+ spend
dynamics
over time

●
At a high level, our goal is to
maximize Total Money

What Total Money does NOT tell us

●
How
this Revenue is achieved: many small purchases vs a few big ones

●
What
actually changed in behavior: repeat purchases? higher price points?

Total Money (Per Period)

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Total Money = $500

50 purchases × $10

Comfortable with microtransactions

Pays often, in small amounts

(often seen in casual and puzzle players)

Total Money = $500

5 purchases × $100

Prefers big, high-value deals

Pays rarely, but in large chunks

(often seen in gambling and chance-based games players)

Let’s look at 2 players with the same Total Money, but completely different payment behavior patterns.

Player 1

Player 2

Strategy

●
Core offers around
~$10

●
Few beneficial offers in the
$10–20
range to gently scale the check

●
Non-aggressive upsell through: Endless Offers, 3 in 1 Offers

●
Main goal:
build repeat purchase habit

Strategy

●
Don’t underprice

●
If the player is comfortable with
$50
, avoid flooding them with
$3–5

deals

●
Focus on: premium bundles, high-value, clear propositions

●
However:

If the player hasn’t paid for a long time and has moved

away from their usual purchase rhythm, it’s reasonable to
gradually

lower the price
to re-engage them – without an abrupt drop

From Total Money to Average Transaction Value (ATV)

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ATV ~ The player’s real comfort zone

Why it matters

●
Predicts how players react to price changes

●
Helps avoid:

○
underpricing high-potential players

○
overpricing frequent low-check buyers

Long-Term Reality

●
It’s easier to
build a habit of regular payments

at a comfortable price

●
Only after that does it make sense to carefully

increase the Average Transaction Value

Psychologically,
a lot of players are far more

willing to:

●
spend a small amount multiple times

●
than make one large payment

This is why frequency + comfort zone often

outperform one-off high prices.

Average Transaction

Value (ATV)

ATV +1

ATV

ATV -1

How to use it

●
Core offers should sit close to the ATV

●
Upsell offers should be:

○
slightly above it

○
clearly more valuable

○
non-aggressive

Comfort Zone

Higher Price

Lower Price

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Smooth out Outliers

●
Abnormal purchases (e.g. a payment that

differs from the average by X%) should have

lower weight

Exclude non-representative purchases

For example:

●
non-segmented offers: Battle Pass, etc

●
the cheapest Shop purchases

Weighted Purchase History

●
Recent purchases should influence

segmentation
more strongly

●
Example weighting:

○
4-5
for recent purchases

○
2-3
for older ones

The goal is to capture typical behavior, not noise.

ATV: Practical Notes

Sometimes You Should Step Down

Should you always offer only the comfort price and higher?

Not always.
Especially at high price points

–
After a higher-than-usual purchase,

the old price may still feel
emotionally comfortable

while the new one felt like a stretch.

–
Giving a temporary step-down option

What Happens If You Don’t Step Down

If the price stays too high for too long:

Scenario 1 (Best case)

–
Player loves the game, keeps playing

–
Eventually converts again (even with higher price)

–
Important:
don’t raise the price further
– hold the tier, especially at

high values

Scenario 2 (Risk)

–
Player stops buying

–
Engagement drops

–
Higher churn risk

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MaxPayment – potential signal, not a baseline

Don’t Overreact to One High Purchase

What it shows

●
The highest single payment a player has ever made

●
Indicates upper spending potential, not regular

behavior

How it should be used

●
Signals how expensive an ‘Premium’ offer
can
be

○
Complements the core pricing logic, not

replaces it

●
Core offers should still be priced
around the

player’s Average Transaction Value

●
Expensive offers should appear
in parallel
, not

instead of core ones

Max Payment

Example

A player usual pattern is $10–15 purchases

Their once paid $30 during a holiday event.

→ Max Payment shows potential

→ ATV + Frequency show reality

Core Offers =
$10-15 (according to Average Transaction Value)

Premium Offer =
$30 (because of the MaxPayment – potential)

Average

Transaction Value

$10-15

Lower Price

Max

Payment

$30

Basic

Core Main Offer

~$15

Expensive

ATV + Offer

up to $30

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Country / Tier

●
Lower-tier countries often monetize worse

●
Conversion and ARPU expectations should be

adjusted accordingly

UA Source

●
Higher-quality traffic:pays more often, shows higher

loyalty

●
Cheaper traffic: lower conversion, weaker repeat

behavior

Player Progress (Level)

●
Early-game players convert easier on cheap offers

●
Mid / late-game players accept higher prices and

more complex bundles

●
Consider inflation: at higher levels, offers often need

more currency per $ to stay meaningful

Other Parameters

Device

●
iOS and Android often behave very differently – if we are talking about Offer System

●
Offer systems should be analyzed separately

●
BUT you should be ready to support 2 distinct systems

Interesting fact:

●
Expensive Android devices (e.g. premium Samsung) sometimes behave like iOS

●
Cheaper iPhones can behave closer to Android

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ML & Personalization

The Highest Level of Segmentation

The most advanced form of player segmentation

is
personalized offer management powered by
ML
.

No matter how strong a system is –

even one designed with deep analytics –

ML can push it further.

●
Processes more signals than any manual

system

●
Finds patterns humans miss

●
Continuously adapts to player behavior

●
At scale, you can start using even more

parameters and dependencies

Important Reality Check

●
ML still requires
A/B testing

●
Results must be
carefully analyzed

●
ML only works properly at
large scale

Without enough data, ML adds noise – not value.

ML Segmentation: Beyond Cluster

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Offers as a System

Designing Compatible Offers

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39

Goal:
get more players to make their purchase

What works best:

–
Low-priced offers

–
Clearly выгодные, easy-to-read bundles

–
Strong visuals and marketing framing

KPI First

The ultimate
Goal
is simple:
Maximize LTV
.

But
HOW
you get there defines what kind of offer system you should build.

Different KPIs → different strategies → different offer design.

Goal:
make paying players spend more

What works best:

●
Price ladder near the comfort zone

●
Premium offers placed next to

standard ones

●
Clear extra value or unique rewards for

higher tiers

Goal:
increase purchase frequency

What works best:

●
Endless / Disco-style offers

●
Stamp It or Loyalty mechanics

●
Low starting price → repeat purchases

→

higher total spend

A strong offer system rarely focuses on one KPI only

The best systems
Сombine all three
– but with a clear priority depending on your game, stage, and audience.

Maximize Conversion

Average Transaction Value

Drive Repeat Purchases

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Do offers have different levels of profitability?

Is the value gap between them clear and justified?

Are price steps consistent across the system?

Does pricing feel intentional – not random?

Can players
understand
why one offer

costs more than another?

Do different offers serve different player needs?

Or are they just variations of the same bundle?

Are offers visually distinguishable?

Can players instantly tell what is special

and what is premium?

Main Components

Visualization

Content Variety

Pricing Logic

Value Balance

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Visualization

Above, we covered different offer types.

They vary in perception – and different players

gravitate toward different formats.

There’s no need to launch everything at once:

●
2-3 offer types
are enough for a solid start

●
4-5 offer types
are ideal for a mature,

well-balanced system

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42

Visual Tricks That Work

Highlight the winning option

●
Use
color, size, or framing
to draw attention to

the best-value offer

●
One offer should clearly feel like
‘Best Value’

Show bonus value

relative to the
cheapest
option

in Shop

●
Not the nearest price in Shop

Bonus VS Discount

●
‘+100%’ is much more popular, than ‘-30% OFF’

FREE parts feel like real bonuses

●
FREE items are psychologically processed as a

Gift
, not as part of the price

Animations amplify value

●
Use Animations to help emphasize large bonuses

and visualize reward application

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43

Content Variety

If all offers contain the same items with only a
10-15% value difference
– the system quickly becomes boring

Add Rare Resources. Instantly

increase perceived value

Use Chests with reward ranges

instead of exact numbers. Creates the

chance-based excitement

Different offers can lean toward

different currencies: boosters, hard

currency, side currencies

Use Event-Specific Content: Cards

for Albums, Event currencies

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Pricing Logic

Variety Beats Precision

Imagine this situation:

A player opens the game and sees

3 different offers – all priced at $19.99
.

●
Yes, looks like you hit the Average

Transaction Value

●
But:

○
offers feel interchangeable

○
there’s no real choice

○
no price ladder

Why Price Variety Matters

Different price points allow you to:

●
introduce
meaningful variety

●
give players
real choice

●
gently move players to a
neighbor price tier

(up or down, without pressure)

You typically
won’t see this exact setup in-game
– it’s a mix from different days.

But let’s imagine these offers appeared side by side.

What do we notice?

●
Different visuals, even though the offer structure is the same

●
Currency amounts vary, but not by much

a.
Each one gives roughly 1.5-2K energy, 450-700 gems, plus some extras

●
So you see ‘four offers’… but there’s
barely any real choice

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45

Pricing Logic

What You Need to Do

Build a
segmentation simulation
:

●
Input player data

(Recency, ATV, Total Money,
etc.)

●
Identify the player’s segment

●
See
exactly which offers and

prices
this player will see

Value is split across different currencies –

harder to judge, but both still feel good.

Almost identical content, but different

prices
($7.99 is clearly a bad deal).

Same price, but the second offer’s

content is noticeably worse.

The System Trap

Offers are often balanced in isolation – and that’s

the trap.

A single offer may look fine on its own,

but break the logic of the
entire system
.

This is especially risky when: different offers have

different price ledder

Every new offer must be checked inside the

system.

●
Not just: ‘Is this offer good?’

●
But: ‘How does it look next to all other offers

for this player?’

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46

Value & Bonuses

When to Show, When to Hide

If the value is truly high – show it clearly

●
Use bold labels and highlights

●
Compare value relative to the cheapest Shop

purchase

●
Make the advantage instantly readable

If the value difference is small – make it implicit

●
Shift value into:

○
event currencies

○
chance-based rewards / loot boxes

○
boosters (harder to evaluate)

●
Reduce direct comparison

Important reminder

Players usually estimate value at a glance,

anchoring on the core currency.

It becomes the reference point for all comparisons

Even complex offers are anchored to this first

impression.

Beautiful presentation shows
‘+200% More’
– but this applies only to the
$99.99
offer

For the cheap
$5.99
offer, the real bonus is just
+25% More

Animation and Visuals
strongly amplify perception, highlighting the bonus part as
‘2X Bigger’
,

even when the actual value increase is modest

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47

Travel Town. Example 1

What we see here

1) Different formats + triggers

Same economy goal, but delivered

through different entry points:

●
Endless
(progress loop)

●
Out of Currency
(hard friction)

●
Daily Login
(session start)

2) Price variety creates real choice

Price range:
$17.99 → $34.99*

Works as a soft price ladder:

●
easy to
stay in comfort zone

●
possible to
trade up

●
possible to
step down
without

feeling ‘downgraded’

*
I usually pay
$19.99
,

sometimes
$4.99 / $22.99

and only rarely
$29.99

●
Core content is consistent:
Energy + Gems

●
But each offer adds a different ‘hook’:

○
2
= clean, standard bundle

○
1 & 4
= extra layers
(chests + timed booster)
→ harder to value, adds excitement, blurs comparison

○
3
= strong focus item
(special card pack)
→ ‘unique value’ framing, not just more currency

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48

Travel Town. Example 2

A natural question arises:

Isn’t the $4.99 Disco offer too cheap?

This is where the offer mechanic matters:

●
The offer is designed for a
series of

purchases

●
Once a reward is claimed, it’s removed

from the pool → only the most

attractive rewards remain

●
Each next spin
costs more

The common trap:

●
You start with ‘cheap’ purchases:

$4.99 → $5.99 → $6.99 → $7.99

●
Each step feels well below your usual

$19.99 comfort price

●
But after just 4 purchases, you’ve

already spent:
$25.96

As a Result: Cheap ≠ bad

The principle here is similar:

●
Different visual presentations

●
Wide price range from
$4.99 to $29.99
(with a clear anchor around
$19.99)

●
Non-standard content: chests, merge-chain items

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49

Disney Solitaire. Example 1

Same Principles in Action

Wide price range:

$6.99 → $22.99

Closely matches real behavior:

●
frequent purchases
up to $14.99
,

●
occasional
$22.99

Looks like a mix of
ATV logic + Max Payment

potential

Low entry price ($6.99)

●
Designed for
a purchase sequence
, not

a one-off deal → total value is unlocked

through repeat buys

Multiple Visualization formats

●
1+X FREE

●
Endless + Currency

●
Chain Activity

●
Simple Login Offer

Smart value distribution

●
High value is anchored in coins

●
Other currencies let players choose

which event or feature to focus on

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Another Example – Wide Range, Clear Anchors

●
Completely
different presentation
across all 6 offers

→ each feels like a unique option, not just a variant

Disney Solitaire. Example 2

Wide price range:

$4.99 → $36.99

●
$4.99
is a low-friction entry, designed for
repeat purchases

●
$36.99
looks premium and convincing:

○
1.2M coins
– a strong psychological anchor
(1M+ feels ‘Big’)

○
at first glance, it appears
much more valuable
than nearby offers

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51

Economy & Balance

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52

Start With a Clear Baseline

●
Always define a
reference point

●
All value comparisons happen
relative to

this Anchor

How to Define the Anchoring Point?

1. Cheapest Shop Pack –
a single, universal reference

point

●
Used to compare all offers across the system

●
Ensures internal consistency: This is your

internal measuring unit.

2. Nearest Price Point
– player baseline

●
The closest Shop pack or Bundle by price

●
Reflects
how players
actually compare offers

How players think:

●
‘I’m ready to pay
$10
‘

●
‘Which option around
$10
is better?’

●
Comparison happens against:

○
similar-priced offers

○
cheaper alternatives

How to Calculate

Value and Bonuses

The image clearly shows a
Сomparison Trap
.

●
When compared to the
Cheapest purchase
, all offers look good →
+12%
to
+50%
bonus

●
BUT when compared to the
Nearest price point
, the picture changes:

○
the
$7.99
offer becomes clearly
bad
(-10%)
– it gives only
4.5K
coins instead of
5K

○
the
$14.99
offer is just
neutral

(0%)
– no real advantage

Result:

Out of 3 offers that look ‘valuable’ vs the cheapest pack – only 1 out of 3 is truly good in real

player comparison.

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53

Offer Systems Are Never Static

●
An offer system is
not
something you set up once and forget.

●
It’s
alive and dynamic
.Every new: offer, event or feature –
reshapes the

system
, even if you didn’t touch existing offers.

Balance: Anchoring Point

Example: Real Case

Initial setup

●
Offer value calculated vs cheapest Shop pack

●
Average offer value:
100-200%

What changed

●
A global +100% bonus to the entire Shop started running on

~95% of days

What This Actually Means

●
The baseline instantly became +50% stronger

●
Your ‘1’ – the reference point – moved

●
Offer value effectively dropped

●
Even though:

○
offer balance didn’t change

○
prices didn’t change

The system changed – because the base changed.

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54

Balance:

The Real Value of the Purchase

Currency value is multi-dimensional
– and players subconsciously compare it across money, time, and progress.

●
$ value

●
Price point / ATV

●
Comparison with real-life spend

(‘cup of coffee’ logic)

Money (IAP

Time

Game / Event Progress

FREE Income

●
Waiting time skipped

●
Gameplay time saved

●
Fewer retries / faster completion

●
Number of potential levels

●
Number of boosters / attempts

●
Amount of Event Currencies

●
How many levels to beat for the

same reward

●
How many bonuses to collect

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Recalculate Your ‘1’ Regularly

With every new offer, event, or bonus:

●
re-evaluate your
baseline reference

●
recheck value ratios across the system

A stable balance can break silently.

New Offer: Growth or Cannibalization?

Every new offer should answer one question:

●
Is this
incremental revenue

●
or just
redistribution
?

If it only steals conversion from existing offers –

it’s not growth.

Track Currency Burn Rate

Always monitor
how fast players burn purchased currency
.

If burn is too slow, you have two options:

●
Increase sinks
(difficulty, costs, progression friction)

●
Reduce offer value

Both work – but have very different side effects.

Store Order Matters

Changing the
order of offers in the Shop
:

●
shifts attention

●
changes perceived value

●
affects conversion – even if prices stay the same

Never treat order as cosmetic.

Other Life Hacks

Every change has a system-level impact.
If you don’t check the system – the system will check you.

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56

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