Overview:
When GameHouse.com first launched in 1998, the goal was to drive customers to download a free 60-minute trial of a game and then convert them to purchase from the game wrapper, a desktop client application. The target demographic was moms 35+ years old. Since then, new content and more ways to play games have emerged in the market. Business models have diversified, the player demographics broadening, and casual gaming is moving away from being a solo activity to a social experience. Exclusive content and unique experiences are becoming the key differentiators for game portals like GameHouse.com.
Challenge:
Enhance the GameHouse.com user experience to allow for new game types, new revenue models, and increases in conversion rates.
Solution:
I worked closely with marketing, design, content and engineering teams to successfully meet all objectives through a focused, iterative design and test process. As project lead, I gathered requirements from business stakeholders; developed an MRD, creative brief, feature matrix, user personas, and task flow diagrams to help communicate requirements; led a design team in the creation of wireframes and full color mockups; presented annotated designs to key stakeholders for buy-in; coordinated implementation between design and development; and managed the A/B tests to validate improved performance of new designs.

Rather than merchandising only download games, the new home page summarized all of the content available on GameHouse.com serving as a gateway to various channels within the site.

We implemented a faceted search on the category and search pages to help users find games based on their criteria.

As a critical conversion page, we de-cluttered the download product page and incorporated dynamic call-to-action buttons that would change based on user type (e.g., subscriber vs. non-subscriber).

We combined the online product & play page into one inline page to reduce the number of clicks, provide quick access to game information and related games, and gain the extra perk of improving SEO.

When users launch a download game an online/offline window or “wrapper” appears before and after the game. It includes options to play trial, buy now, or get unlimited play with FunPass, similar to the download product page. The goals of the redesign were to provide relevant action buttons and messages based on user type, integrate display ads which could be used to monetize free trials, and add space for upsells and cross-promotion.

We rebuilt a dynamic cart and orderpath to support different user types as well as business stakeholders who previously created multiple paths for different marketing channels and campaigns. This resulted not only in increases in sale and subscription conversion rates, but operational efficiency. In addition to the redesign, I worked with our business intelligence team to support new metrics that would aid in performance analysis for ongoing optimization efforts.

GameHouse iPhone games were added to GameHouse.com in 2009. The problem was that the page was built in flash and therefore inaccessible for iPhone users. With the considerable growth of the mobile games market, we wanted to put GameHouse games at the forefront and increase multi-channel marketing efforts. We replaced the flash site with an OS-detect powered mobile games hub. The page layout and merchandising alters based on whether you’re using an Android phone, iPhone/iPod Touch, or iPad – all sections being accessible on a PC and Mac. Immediately after these changes, we saw a 50% increase in iOS game sales and 15% increase in Android sales driven by GameHouse.com.