Download: "Wishlist Workshop Part 2 Blueprint (PDF)" Here
Indie Game Wishlist Workshop Part 2: Wishlist Numbers DO NOT Guarantee Game Launch Success. This Does...
In this article, you'll learn how to improve your indie game marketing efforts so that you increase your Steam Wishlist numbers. And the reason why you want more Wishlists is because when your game launches Steam will email your fans -- increasing your chances of a successful launch.
However, just because a game dev reaches the "magical" number of 10,000 Wishlist (or more), doesn't mean their game launch will be a financial success. And if you read any Indie Game Post Mortems, you know what I mean. A lot of small indie game devs said that Wishlists didn't seem to help with game sales at launch.
So in Part 2 of the Wishlist Workshop, I want to talk about how it's NOT just about reaching a certain number of Wihslists and BOOOM you're guaranteed a successful game launch.
There's one missing piece to the strategy. And today, we'll start working on that missing piece.
So if you're a small, indie game dev making a niche game that is hard to sell... and your game launch is coming up sooner than you thought... and you want to grow your wishlist numbers, then here's what you need to know... and here's what you need to do...
Insight: Players Who Impulsively Wishlist A Game Often Won't Buy The Game
This is what often happens: A game dev will get a spike in Wishlists because a YouTuber or game journalist talked about their game. Or maybe a Reddit post gave them a bump. Or they were part of some Steam Festival.
But a few days later, this spike doesn't last.. and the Wishlist numbers go back down.
Or, even worse, and like I said... you'll read an Indie Game Post Mortem where even though they reached this "magical" number of 10,000 wishlists (or more), and yet their launcher was still a failure.
So what's going on?
Well, HOW you get your Wishlists is more important than how many you have. Let me explain...
Marketing tactics that get people to do something impulsively often work in the short-term... but don't in the long-term.
So when a game dev manages to get a YouTuber to showcase their game, they will see a bump in Wishlists.
But the problem is, often these Wishlists come from people who impulsively Wishlisted the game. And a Wishlist full of people who acted on impulse often doesn't convert to game sales.
"Impulse Wishlists" don't convert to game sales because the time between the initial excitement of when they first Wishlsteted and the game launch is too long. By the time a game launches, the motivation and excitement is gone.
And even for me personally (and maybe you too), I can look at my own Wishlist and I see a bunch of games I have NO clue why I Wishlisted them in the first place. I simply forgot all about them. And when their game launches, and I get the email, I don't care.
My point here is... reaching 10,000 Wishilsts does NOT guarantee your game will be a financial success at launch.
There's a missing piece.
Let me explain...
Quality Wishlists Are More Important Than Quantity
You know how they say you should get 10,000 steps? Well... I can walk around my living room watching a movie and reach 10,000 steps. Or I can hike a local trail, outside, with a buddy, and only get 5,000 steps. What is better for my long-term health? Getting 10,000 steps walking in my living room watching a movie? Or getting 5,000 steps hanging out with a friend, exercising, being outside, away from a screen?
Or I can spend 10,000 hours doodling and drawing whatever I want. Or I can spend 5,000 hours deliberately practicing shading, blending, colour, composition. What would make me a better artist?
You see it's NOT about quantity... It's about quality.
It's the same with your Wishlist.
Quality is more important than quantity.
Yes, you can reach 10,000 Wishlists through YouTubers, streamers, game journalists, paid ads, posting on social media, and even being part of a Steam Fest.
But when we rely on marketing tactics to reach a certain number... when all we care about is "growth at all costs".. we are often blind to see how this is hurting us in the long-term.
This is why game devs are so surprised that they reached 10,000 Wishlists, but yet their sales were low.
That's because their quality of Wishlist was low. Their Wishlist was full of people who impulsively Wishlitsted the game. And when the game launched, these people forgot all about the game.
So, what do you do then? How can you not only increase your Wishlsts, but make sure it's a high-quality Wishlist?
Let's work on that next...
Cultivate Your Own High-Quality Wishlist -- And Don't Rely On Marketing Tactics That Work In The Short-Term
When you're a small indie game dev, when nobody knows you and has heard of you, you need to figure out how to cultivate your own audience.
Why?
Because these people who YOU found, didn't do it on impulse. They do it out of passion and a genuine love for your game.
And these are the people who will remember you from when you just had a "coming soon" Steam page, all the way to your game launch.
These are the people who will engage with you, and keep up with you during game development.
These are the people who will get your email when your game is launched, and will remember you, and will go buy your game.
In other words, it's a lot better to have 5,000 die-hard fans who wishlisted your game because you YOU, than to have 10,000 people who impulsively wishlisted your game because they saw you on a YouTube video.
And I'm not saying don't approach Youtubers or game journalists... or don't rely on Steam Fests. Yes, these marketing tactics work too.
My point is, you'll get better results if you don't take shortcuts, and just focus on "growth at all costs".
When you just focus on the number, and growth at all costs, you'll start using tactics that will help you short-cut your efforts.
What I mean is, it's a lot easier to get a YouTuber to help you grow your Wishlists than to do it yourself. But this "short-cut" doesn't end up with the best results.
It's like me trying to get 10,000 steps walking around my living room vs getting 5,000 steps hiking with a friend outside. It's a lot easier for me to just watch a movie and walk around my living room than it is to plan a hike with a friend, go to the trail, deal with the weather, climb the trail, and so on. But I'll get better results doing it the hard way.
It's the same with increasing your Wishlists.
Yes, cultivating your own audience is slow, and hard, and requires work. But you will get far better results than if you try to rely on marketing tactics like YouTubers and Steam Fests.
Slow, steady, long-term growth is the best strategy if you're a small indie game dev, and nobody knows you, and you want your Wishlist numbers to convert to sales when you launch.
So then, how do you cultivate your own high-quality audience that will wishlist your game and buy it at launch?
Let's work on that strategy next. Ok, here's what to do...
Wishlist Workshop Strategy: Look For Players Looking For You
In Part 1 of the Wishlist Workshop, I talked about how relationship-building is the fundamental core building block of all your marketing.
And if you can learn how to cultivate your own audience, then all of your marketing efforts will be more effective. They will be more effective because your audience will be full of high-quality fans and not just people who impulsively wishlisted your game.
Ok, so here's a very quick recap of Part 1:
- Find common ground with players so that any marketing you create will resonate with your target player
- Go where your players hang out, and put more effort into engaging in your Steam Community Hub
And I gave you 11 questions to answer and post on your Steam Community Hub. So keep doing that.
So in Part 2, today, I want to build upon what you learned and did in Part 1.
And remember, if you want your indie game to find players and grow your Wishlists then we need to focus on relationship-building and less on marketing tactics. Because remember, the quality of your Wishlists is more important than the quantity.
So, how do you do this exactly? How do you find quality fans that will Wishlist your game?
Well, the answer is to look for players that are looking for you.
How?
Well, let's start by working on making your game more "marketable". And what I mean by "more marketable" is:
- Your game is easy to find on Steam (that's why I have you posting on your Steam Community Hub)
- A player knows "what's in it for me" in less than 3 seconds
- The player says, "bro this is the game is exactly what i've been looking for!"
Ok, so let's work on making your game easy to find on Steam, and make sure the player knows "what's in it for me".
And we'll start slow. Then in the next Parts you'll get more advanced techniques. But for today, let's get warmed up... and here's exactly what to do...
Step One: Go To Steams List Of Popular Tags
On Steam, there's a list that shows the most popular Tags on Steam.
So go there now. Here's the link:
Ok, great. Now open a new browser, and open a Google document. Now split screen both browsers. So basically you have Steam's Popular Tags on one side, and your Google doc open on the other side. This will make the next step easier...
Step Two: Pick 15 - 20 Steam Tags That Describe Your Game
Now what I want you to do is go through the list of Steam Tags, and pick out 15 - 20 that describe your game the best.
And don't stuff your Tags list. Pick the ones that truly describe your game, and don't add any "filler" Tags.
So once you find a Tag that describes your game, write it down in your Google doc. And then to this for the rest of the 15 or so Tags.
Ok, good... next...
Step Three: Out Of Those 20 Steam Tags, What Are Your Top 5?
So you got a list of 15 - 20 Steam Tags that describe your game. Great. Now, what I want you to do is, to go through your list of 15 - 20, and pick out your Top Five. So basically below your list of 20, make a list of your Top Five.
Step Four: Change Your Game's Steam Tags To Match Your Top 5
Now go into your Steam page, and make sure that your Top 5 are the first ones listed in on your Steam page. And then add the rest of the Tags that you picked out.
Why Do This?
The reason you're doing this is because if you want to look for players looking for you... if you want higher quality Wishlists... if you want your game launch to be a financial success... you need to start creating communications that reach and engage with your target player. That's why in Part 1 I have you post once a week on your Steam Community Hub.
But also, when a person lands on your Steam page, you also need to make it easy for your player to know "what's in it for me". And you only have 3 seconds or less to do that.
So the very first step into communicating "what's in it for me" is to clearly define exactly what your game is.
Because if a person knows exactly "what's in it for me", they're not going to forget about you and why they Wishlisted your game. So when your game launches, and they get the email, they will more likely buy your game because they didn't wishlist your game on impulse... they did so because they genuinely want to play your game.
So, this is why I want you to go change your Steam Tags to match your Top 5. It's important to optimize your Steam page like this because this is how you make it easy for players to find you.
And this is the first step. We'll work on more advanced techniques in later Parts.
But for now, I want you to know that the goal isn't to try to appeal to everybody. If you try to appeal to everybody, you'll attract nobody. But by narrowing your focus, and only trying to attract a certain type of player, then this will increase the quality of your Wishlists.
Your Action Step Right Now To Help You Increase Your Games Wishlist
I've put together a Wishlist Workshop Part 2 Blueprint. Inside the Blueprint, you'll get everything you learned here, and all the action steps in a simple one-page template.
So download the Wishlist Workshop Part 2 Blueprint right now. Inside you'll see a template you can easily follow. It'll only take you mabe 15 minutes to complete. Here's the link:
Download: "Wishlist Workshop Part 2 Blueprint (PDF)" Here>
So go do that right now, and I'll see you next week with Part 3 of the Wishlist Workshop.
What's Your Goal?
Launching soon, need wishlists? Click: Get Wishlists
Game sales low after launch? Click: Get Game Sales
Want to test a game idea to see if it's profitable? Click: Get Market Research
Thanks for reading! Hope you got one insight to help you market your indie game and start growing your audience, and finding customers!
Dariusz Konrad
Email: dariusz at mainquestmarketing dot com
Discord Username: dariuszkonrad
LinkedIn: My entrepreneurial successes
Work: Game devs I've helped so far