Make the product easier for less active users, and they spend more

Horikiri Iris Garden, a print from Utagawa Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1857). The visitors walk on an easy path through the garden, and they stay to look.

A puzzle game made its rounds easier for less active players. On the first day, these players played 6.8 rounds on average. Players with normal rounds played 5.6 rounds on average. The easier rounds also increased real-money purchases.

The study. Researchers from Harvard, Columbia and Northwestern did a 50-day test with a popular free mobile puzzle game. About 330,000 less active players took part. The company chose 42% of them by chance to get easier rounds.

The finding. After the first day of the test, 32.2% of the players with easier rounds came back within 1 day. Only 29.5% of the players with normal rounds came back. On the first day, the players with easier rounds also played 21% more rounds with a real-money purchase.

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