Demos on several sites have started asking customers for their e-mail addresses before the demo even starts. I used to think that something like that would cause more harm than good (e.g. being perceived as a spammer), but after some recent discussions with other developers I'm starting to seriously consider this as an option for my games.

I thought of one idea that is not (I don't think) used by anyone else. Design a demo with some extra features unlocked. Prominently display an unlock option that requires users to send an e-mail. The return e-mail would include a small code to allow users to unlock these extra demos.

This could be an extra demo level, a new features, or anything else.

As far as I can see, there are two advantages. You would only receive real e-mail addresses (when asked for an e-mail I usually just enter asldfkj@aldkfja.com) and you would receive e-mail addresses from people who are at least marginally interested in your product. The downside is that of course the sheer volume of e-mails you would receive is much less.

Any comments on this idea?

What other kind of methods do people use to gather e-mails?

Cheers,
Patrick

I like the idea.

In essence, you are "paying" people for their precious marketing information with free game features. So long as I have a reasonable amount of trust that you won't sell my addy to a billion spammer sites, I'd be happy to provide that even if I didn't end up buying the game.

But I could be the target audience for the next game.

That's quite a good idea. Or you could just go for the option of making them send an email to download the demo. They would then be sent a download link.

You would get less downloads then of course though.

I might try this out with the an updated Wonderland demo in February. If I do I'll post results here. Of course I won't have anything to compare it to, but hopefully someone else will.

Cheers,
Patrick

Originally posted by Midnight
.........and you would receive e-mail addresses from people who are at least marginally interested in your product. But are they marginally interested in being forced to recieve emails they don't want.

By forcing people to give you their email you will put people off. The whole point of a demo is to have people look at it.

Unless people are explicitly agreeing to recieve follow up emails (and there is an opt-out available) then any follow-up email sent is spam.

Agreed, which is why I think the wording of the "free offer" must be chosen very carefully. It needs to be enticing but also make people understand that they're signing up to a newsletter.

Something along the lines of:

"
Want to unlock more free levels in the demo?

Sign up to our mailing list and get three Wonderland bonus levels absolutely free!

Just send an e-mail to bla@bla.bla to sign up. An automatic reply e-mail will include instructions how to unlock the bonus levels. You will also be included on our mailing list and get notices of game upgrades and new free demos.

Note: Your privacy is guaranteed. We will never sell or give out your e-mail address, and you can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.
"

Do you think this would be both enticing and clear enough?

Patrick

Or....

You could have users enter an e-mail address to lift the trial expiring period. For example, your demo could expire in 7 days. But once users enter their e-mail address, then the demo expires in a month or becomes unlimited.

This way you'll get legitmate e-mail addresses from people who are interested in your game. Though, it'd probably be wise to state, "Subscribe to our newsletter and receive unlimited use of the demo."