Driving traffic to your webshop can feel like a daunting challenge, especially when working within a limited budget. However, implementing the right strategies can not only help you increase profits but also build stronger, more direct connections with your players. This article outlines four proven, actionable tactics to boost your webshop traffic without spending a cent.

These methods comply with Apple’s and Google’s policies for off-platform payments, ensuring you avoid the 30% fees associated with in-game purchases.

1. Create a strong incentive: free gifts and added value work best

Players are used to buying in-game; they’ve been conditioned to do so since they first got their smartphone. You need to give them a compelling reason to break that habit and start purchasing from your webshop.

There are many ways to incentivize players, but offering an exclusive free gift (daily or weekly) that’s only available at your webshop is by far the most effective approach. Check out the following example from our customer PerBlue’s Legendary: Game of Heroes webshop.

Additionally, many webshops give players more value for their money compared to the in-game store. For example, $1.99 spent in the game’s in-app store buys 100 gems, while $1.99 spent on the webshop might buy you 120 gems. Ensure your webshop prominently displays clear visuals highlighting the added value for players. See the example below from our customer Metacore’s Merge Mansion webshop.

There are many other ways to motivate your players to buy via your webshop, like:

• Loyalty program - give players more rewards points when they buy on your webshop.

• Exclusive offers - provide special offers and items that players can’t get anywhere else.

• Discounts - don’t underestimate the power of giving players a cheaper price than they can get in game. Webshop purchases only incur a 5% - 9% fee compared to the 30% in-app fee, so there’s room to pass some of those savings onto your players.

2. Add a prominent CTA to your game’s website & social bios, and community

It’s important that your webshop is ubiquitous and easy to find, so integrate your webshop into all of your game’s online destinations like its website, Discord, Instagram, TikTok, and any other social or community channel. This will help your players discover your webshop organically, plus it will be a key step in pushing players to your shop, more on that in item 3 below!

Add a large CTA to your game’s website, like in the Eternium example below from our customer Making Fun, where they added a prominent banner to the top of their homepage.

Add a quick link to your webshop to all of your social profile bios. Using Linktree is a great way to promote multiple links in one spot, like in the below example from our customer Dorian.

3. Push players to your website and socials via in-game CTAs

Linking directly from your game app to your webshop will incur fees from Apple and Google, which essentially defeats the purpose of having a webshop. However, there’s nothing prohibiting you from driving your players to your website or socials instead. Avoid fees by directing players to your website or social platforms instead of linking directly to the webshop.

Once your webshop is prominently featured across all your websites and social profiles, you can drive your players from the in-app game experience to those destinations. Apple and Google won’t let you link directly to a page that sells items, but you can link to your website and social channels all day long.

Check out the below example from Scopely’s Marvel Strike Force.

4. Promote your webshop consistently via social channels and community

Promoting your webshop doesn’t have to be rocket science. Keep it simple at first and reach your most loyal players through your social and community channels. Use these owned channels to announce when your webshop goes live (see the below example from our client Space Ape’s Transformers: Earth Wars).

Post consistently about the exclusive offers on your webshop and provide clear visuals and CTAs. Also, like Transformers: Earth Wars, consider creating a dedicated support channel focused on webshop transactions.

In conclusion

Driving traffic to your webshop without spending on marketing is entirely achievable with these four simple yet effective strategies. By offering compelling incentives, ensuring visibility through CTAs on your website and social platforms, leveraging in-game promotion to direct players to your webshop, and consistently engaging your community, you can increase traffic and drive sales without incurring additional fees.

Reach out to us at sales@neonpay.com for tailored solutions and insights to create your game’s D2C engine. We’re here to help you maximize your revenue while building direct relationships with your players.