# my favorite GDC talks: Empathizing with Steam: How People Shop for Your Game by Chris Zukowski (2020)

september 18, 2020
marketing, sale, steam, wishlist
Empathizing with Steam: How People Shop for Your Game by Chris Zukowski (2020) - tips for how to design your Steam store page based on Zukowski's screenshare and shopping diary observations of ordinary people shopping on Steam

- Essentially, make your gameplay genre absolutely clear within the first 4 screenshots and in the short description so that people will wishlist your game to buy during a seasonal Steam Sale.
- Approach your wishlisters as complete newcomers. Jazz up your Steam page before a Steam Sale. Release an update, post in your forums, put a Santa hat on your character. When wishlisters return to your page, they will see an active game and be sold on it all over again.
- His conclusions are very similar to how I shop on Steam, except I could care less for the tag section.
- first 4 images are shown when hovering over thumbnail in Steam. Make them represent the pillars of your gameplay, so the genre is clear.
- don't try to coerce new audiences into trying your game. try to find your audience and show them exactly what they are looking for.
- include UI in screenshots, so gamers can decipher the genre and some gameplay mechanics
- Gamers naturally compare new games with the leading games of their genres to decide whether they will enjoy it.
- indie romance authors (who compete on a market of 8 million vs. steam's 40 thousand) use clear visual language in their coverart: tartan kilt + sword + distant castle = highland romance; animal behind a hunk = shapeshifter romance; woman in front of group of hunks = reverse harem. So a reader who sees a cover with multiple guys and a wolf, she knows it's a reverse harem of shape-shifting wolf boys without any descriptions or trailers.
- applying the wisdom of the romance authors, understand your audience's genre interests as sub-sub-sub-genres and make your genre crystal clear in your store page.
- Apply the tropes of your genre. The FPS coverart guy with the gun on all CoD and BF games, the two Street Fighter healthbars on the top of any fighter game
- Part 4 - How to manage a Steam sale
- People check their wishlist during sales, looking for discounts.
- People don't remember why they wishlisted games, so your page must look fresh even to your wishlist crew. Before a sale, post an update, theme your capsule image, post an announcement, upload a small patch, and comment in the forums.
- People remember games that are always on sale. Frequent sales increase familiarity.
- Power users use gg.deals or steamdb to track historic lows. Strategically staircase your way down over time. Coincide your all-time-lows with Big Steam Sales. Harness the fear of missing out.
- How to get from wishlist to cart
- Before clicking 'buy,' they check developer and publisher for someone they recognize or trust. They check 'more from this studio' to check familiarity with the dev's other games.
- Release more games to build this trust and familiarity.
- They check the 'relevant to you' bar to see if the genre matches games they've played and that friends with similar taste also like the game.
- How to manage your sales pricing
- How to get from cart to library
- After loading cart, they ask their friends whether they should go for it.
- Your current customers have to become ambassadors to complete this purchase loop. Treat them well!
- Abandon cart recovery in other online retailers beckons shoppers back before the sale ends. Steam lacks this, potentially losing devs 10% in revenue - https://www.annexcloud.com/blog/31-shopping-cart-abandonment-statistics-for-2018/
- Do a second marketing push during the last day of a sale.
- 5 - How to wishlisters into buyers