Week 5 - Metrics, Maps & Mastery: Navigating Game Marketing Through Data-Led Decisions

Week 5: Fizzling's Fun House – My Role as Marketer

🕊️ Originally written on October 8, 2022, as part of the MS Game Marketing and Advertising course at the University of Advancing Technology.

📘 This post is part of my weekly journal series: Weekly Journal: Fizzling's Fun House – My Role as Marketer, a reflective journey through learning, collaboration, and creative growth within UAT Game Studios.

✨ Each entry is offered with deep gratitude — a way to honor the lessons, the people, and the evolving craft of game marketing. This week focused on product metrics, trial rates, volume projections, and performance indicators shaping marketing precision.

Context: UAT Game Studios, Tempe, Arizona

Abstract

This week’s journal covers Chapters 4 and 5 of Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance by Paul W. Farris, Neil T. Bendle, Phillip E. Pfeifer, and David J. Reibstein. It also reflects on experiences and learnings from the assigned readings and the responsibilities held by the Project Lead / Task Manager.

Why should product managers track product metrics?

Simply put, you can only move what you measure. Gone are the days of blindly guessing what people might want to see in your product. Gut feelings, speculation, and the gamble of collecting feedback from a small segment of your user base are no longer viable strategies for making product decisions, big or small. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, edge out the competition, and—most importantly—drive value for your potential and existing customers, you need to set the right metrics for the business and track them diligently.

Five reasons product managers should track product metrics, including feature use and user retention

Figure 1. 📋 Tracking product metrics enables managers to optimize features, user retention, engagement, and cohort behavior.

Product managers use product metrics to:

• Understand which features are most popular, underutilized, or missing the mark altogether.
• Learn how users engage with a product.
• Find out how many users return after signing up.
• Gauge with your product.
• Identify and other .

What is Trial Rate?

and enable marketers to forecast sales by sampling customer intentions through surveys and market studies. By estimating how many customers will try a new product and how often they’ll make repeat purchases, marketers can establish the basis for such projections.

Trial Rate (%) = 100 x First time triers in Period t (#) / Total Population (#)

First-time Triers in Period t (#) = Total Population (#) * Trial Rate (%)

Penetration t (#) = [Penetration in t-1 (#) * Repeat Rate Period t (%)] + First-time Triers in Period t (#)

Projection of Sales t (#) = Penetration t (#) * Average Frequency of Purchase (#) * Average Units per Purchase (#)

Projections from customer surveys are especially useful in the early stages of product development and in setting the timing for product launches. Through such forecasts, customer response is estimable without a full product launch.

Purpose: To understand volume projections.

Construction: The penetration of a product in a future period can be estimated based on population size, trial rates, and repeat rates.

Trial Rate (%): The percentage of a defined population that purchases or uses a product for the first time in each period.

Formula and definition of Trial Rate with red background and percentage symbol

Figure 2. 📋 Tracking product metrics enables managers to optimize features, user retention, engagement, and cohort behavior.

What are Trial Population and Trial Volume?

Trial rates are often estimated based on surveys of potential customers. Typically, these surveys ask respondents whether they will probably buy a product. Trial and repeat calculations anticipate sales in future periods for new products. By adding new and repeat customers in any period, we can establish the penetration of a product. Test market results can help develop a model for making volume projections and setting up a target penetration metric.

Distribution: Another adjustment is typically made for estimated availability—All-Commodity Volume (ACV%) distribution.

Awareness: Sales projection models include an adjustment for the lack of awareness of a product within the target market. A lack of awareness reduces the trial rate because it excludes potential customers who might try the product but don't know about it.

Adjusted Trial Rate (%) = Trial Rate (%) * Awareness (%) * ACV (%)

Trial Population = Target Population * Adjusted Trial Rate

Trial Volume = Trial Population * Units per Purchase

Definitions and calculation formulas for trial population and trial volume

Figure 3. 🧪 Trial metrics estimate the number of people and product units involved in initial purchase behavior.

What is Repeat Rate and Repeat Volume?

Repeat Rate helps assess customer loyalty and product satisfaction by showing how many users return for subsequent purchases.

Repeat Rate = Total of repeat customers / Total of paying customers

Repeat Volume indicates the scale of repeated engagements and helps in forecasting demand and retention-driven growth.

Repeat Volume = Repeat Buyers * Repeat Unit Volume per Customer * Repeat Occasions

Graphic showing formulas and definitions of Repeat Rate and Repeat Volume

Figure 4. ♻️ Repeat Rate and Volume capture how often customers repurchase and how much they buy—key for loyalty tracking.

What is Penetration?

Penetration refers to the proportion of a population that has purchased a specific product or brand. It's a critical indicator of how well a product or brand has entered and established itself in a particular market category.

Figure 5. 📈 Penetration metrics reveal the reach of a product or brand within a defined population or market.

Market Penetration (%) = 100 x Customers Who Have Purchased a Product in the category / Total Population

Brand Penetration (%) = 100 x Customers Who Have Purchased the Brand / Total Population

What is Cannibalization Rate?

Cannibalization Rate measures the impact of a new product on the sales of existing ones within the same company. A high cannibalization rate means that the new product is taking away significant sales from existing offerings rather than expanding the overall market.

Definition and formula for calculating Cannibalization Rate with image of shopping carts

Figure 6. 🔄 Cannibalization Rate helps marketers measure sales lost from existing products due to the introduction of a new one.

Cannibalization Rate (%) = Sales Lost from Existing Products / Sales of New Product

What is Brand Equity?

is the value a brand delivers to an organization. It reflects the strength, loyalty, and influence of the brand in the marketplace. High brand equity can lead to greater market share, premium pricing, and customer trust.

Figure 7. 🏷️ Brand equity is the value a brand contributes to a business—captured through models like Aaker, Moran, and Interbrand.

Key techniques for evaluating brand equity:

• Brand Equity Ten (Aaker)
• Brand Asset Valuator (Young & Rubicam)
• Brand Equity Index (Moran)
• Brand Valuation Model (Interbrand)

What is Brand Equity Ten (Aaker)?

Figure 8. 🔟 Aaker’s Brand Equity Ten framework offers a multi-dimensional lens to assess brand value across loyalty, awareness, market share, and more.

Attributes include Differentiation, Satisfaction/Loyalty, Perceived Quality, Leadership/Popularity, Perceived Value, Brand Personality, Organizational Associations, Brand Awareness, Market Share, Market Price, and Distribution Coverage.

What is Brand Asset Valuator (Young & Rubicam)?

Figure 9. 🎯 Young & Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator evaluates brand strength using Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem, and Knowledge.

Measures:
• Differentiation
• Relevance
• Esteem
• Knowledge

What is Brand Equity Index (Moran)?

Figure 10. 📊 Moran’s Brand Equity Index highlights three key brand performance factors—Effective Market Share, Relative Price, and Durability.

Brand Equity Index = Effective Market Share x Relative Price x Durability

The Brand Equity Index (Moran) provides a practical method for evaluating brand strength by examining three key dimensions: effective market share, relative price, and durability. This composite metric allows product managers and marketers to quantify brand performance and longevity, offering a basis for pricing strategy, customer retention planning, and strategic brand development.

What is Brand Valuation Model (Interbrand)?

Figure 11. 🏆 Interbrand’s model offers deep brand analysis and insight into how branding drives business growth.

A financial model combining market research with projections for brand growth and ROI. It quantifies a brand’s value by analyzing performance, influence on customer choice, and competitive strength.

What are MAU, ARPU, and ARPPU?

• MAU (Monthly Active Users): Number of unique users in a given month.
• ARPU (Average Revenue per User): Total revenue divided by the number of users.
• ARPPU (Average Revenue per Paying User): Revenue from paying users only.

Visual breakdown of Monthly Active Users, Average Revenue per User and Paying User

Figure 12. 📈 Monthly Active Users (MAU), Average Revenue per Unit (ARPU), and per Paying User (ARPPU) are digital product KPIs.

What are Customer Counts and Retention Rates?

Customer counts refer to the total number of individuals who engage with a product or service within a defined period. Retention rates measure the percentage of those customers who continue their engagement over time.

Retention Rate = (Retained Customers / Total Customers at Start) x 100

Retention is key to long-term product success and reveals how well a product maintains its user base. High retention often correlates with strong product-market fit and user satisfaction.

Funnel and bar chart icons representing customer counts and retention rate

Figure 13. 📌 Customer count and retention rate reveal engagement trends and the brand’s ability to sustain relationships.

What are Customer Profits and Customer Lifetime Value?

Customer profits refer to the net earnings a company gains from an individual customer over the entire duration of their relationship.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a projection of the total profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.

CLV = (Average Purchase Value) x (Purchase Frequency) x (Customer Lifespan)

Pie chart visual explaining customer profit and lifetime value with coin stack

Figure 14. 📊 Customer Profit and Lifetime Value metrics assess long-term financial value generated from a single user or group.

What are Average Acquisition Cost, Average Retention Cost, and Acquisition vs. Retention Cost Ratio?

• AAC (Average Acquisition Cost): Average cost incurred to acquire a new customer.
• ARC (Average Retention Cost): Average cost incurred to retain an existing customer.
• compares the relative investment between attracting new customers and keeping existing ones.

Icons and formulas for acquisition cost, retention cost, and their ratio comparison

Figure 15. 💰 Understanding acquisition, retention, and their cost ratio is essential for sustainable customer growth strategies.

What are the Three Tiers of Customers?

High-Value Customers – Frequent purchasers who deliver significant long-term value.
Low-Tier Customers – Rare users who contribute minimal revenue but offer insight into product reach.
Mid-Tier Customers – Occasional buyers who may be nurtured into loyal customers.

Customer segmentation enables the personalization of marketing, enhances retention strategies, and allocates resources efficiently.

Three customer tiers visual with actions for each: reward, grow, and drop

Figure 16. 🎖️ Customer segmentation into top, middle, and bottom tiers helps tailor retention, growth, or exit strategies.

🛠️ UAT Game Studio – Project Lead Tasks

This week’s efforts focused on deepening our understanding of marketing metrics, actively participating in UAT Game Studio planning sessions, and making significant progress on our evolving data-driven pitch deck. We explored real-world applications of retention strategies and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) calculations, aligning these insights with our broader studio goals. These activities underscored our collective commitment to integrating strategic marketing thinking with practical project execution.

Icons showing report writing and team building as key project manager tasks

Figure 17. 🛠️ As a Game Studio Task Manager, responsibilities span team building and reporting—key to production leadership.

Conclusion

Understanding marketing metrics isn’t just about the numbers. It’s about the story they tell—about players, platforms, retention, and revenue. As this journal entry explored, from trial rates to CLV, each metric offers a pulse on what matters most in game marketing: the player. Thoughtfully applied, these metrics can guide studios not only to profitability but to purpose, connection, and long-term engagement.

Bar graph visual with concluding insights about measuring marketing effectiveness

Figure 18. 📉 Right metrics empower marketers to amplify impact, refine campaigns, and align strategies with audience behavior.

📘 References – American Psychological Association (APA) Citation

Mixpanel. (2022, August 18). Metrics for product management. The Signal.
Retrieved from: https://mixpanel.com/blog/product-management-metrics-and-analytics/

Davis, S. (2016, July 29). How to calculate repeat purchase rate. Glew.
Retrieved from: https://www.glew.io/guides/calculate-repeat-purchase-rate

Pica9. (2019, August 13). 6 ways to measure brand equity and how to build it [Updated 2021].
Retrieved from: https://www.pica9.com/blog/measure-brand-equity

Indeed Editorial Team. (2021, September 29). What is the Aaker Brand Equity Model? Indeed.
Retrieved from: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/brand-equity-aaker-model

Anfas, A., & Zainuddin, M. (2020, December 6). Implementation of Brand Equity Ten Models in Measuring Brand Equity on Universitas Terbuka Regional Office Ternate. ResearchGate.
Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350174732_Implementation_of_Brand_Equity_Ten_Models_in_Measuring_Brand_Equity_on_Universitas_Terbuka_Regional_Office_Ternate

Interbrand. (2022). Best global brands 2021: Methodology.
Retrieved from: https://interbrand.com/thinking/best-global-brands-2021-methodology/

Tardi, C., Murry, C., & Perez, Y. (2022, July 20). Monthly active users (MAU). Investopedia.
Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monthly-active-user-mau.asp

Kenton, W., Drury, A., & Perez, Y. (2022, March 27). Average revenue per unit (ARPU). Investopedia.
Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/arpu.asp

Salesforce India. (2021, November 17). Marketing metrics: What they are, and how to use them to measure the success of your outreach. Salesforce Blog.
Retrieved from: https://www.salesforce.com/in/blog/2021/11/marketing-metrics.html

Series Navigation

← Week 4 – Metrics, Milestones & Momentum: The Engine of Game Marketing

→ Week 6 – Pricing, Promotion & Perception: Mapping Value Through the Metrics Maze

🕊️ Thank you for reading this fifth journal entry in the Fizzling's Fun House – My Role as Marketer series.

✨ This week’s journey through the quiet power of metrics revealed how data becomes more than numbers—it becomes narrative, guiding our decisions with purpose and empathy.

🧭 From product insights to customer journeys and decision frameworks, we saw how meaningful measurement turns information into direction—and direction into deeper impact.

✨ These reflections are shared with care and clarity, honoring the truth that every metric mirrors those we aim to serve—and each insight brings us closer to creative mastery.

You are always welcome here.

Reflecting on systems, stories, and the evolving practice of game design.