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September 26, 2024

Sensemitter FAQ: all you need to know about our tests

Sensemitter FAQ is here to give you a clear picture of how we can support your game development projects.

We created this FAQ to help you understand exactly what we offer and how it can fit into your workflow. Our goal is simple: to show you how we use emotional response data and heat maps to analyze your game creatives, in-game features, and ASO.

By partnering with us, you get clear, actionable insights that can improve player engagement and the overall success of your game. Below, we explain what we do, how our process works, and what you can expect from working with us.

What services do you offer?
We provide a comprehensive analysis of game creatives, game features (such as tutorial mechanics, FTUE, etc.), and ASO (App Store Optimization) for companies developing mobile games. In our analysis, we use facial coding and heat maps. This allows us to study players' emotional reactions, conduct engagement tests, and analyze interactions with the interface and key elements of the game and ads. Based on these insights, we provide recommendations to improve the product and users' perception of it.

Are you an SDK?
No, we don’t offer an SDK for integration into games. Our research is based on external analysis of games and creatives using emotion tracking and heat map technologies.

How does the analysis work?
The process involves several stages:

  1. Understanding Client Needs: We identify the client’s goals and formulate hypotheses to test.
  2. Participant Recruitment: We recruit respondents based on the client's criteria to participate in testing.
  3. Testing Process: We conduct research sessions, recording participants' interactions with the test object (gameplay, playable ad, ad creative, funnel into a store). For each video, second by second, we track the dynamics of emotional responses and create heat maps when analyzing creatives.
  4. Data Analysis and Reporting: Based on the collected data and participant feedback, we compile a report that answers the hypotheses and provides our recommendations.

What insights do heat maps and facial coding provide?
Heat maps help us track where users look and identify what catches their attention in the video: whether they focus on the key elements or if any elements compete and cause distraction.

Facial coding helps us analyze the user’s emotional response throughout their interaction and create an engagement curve that reflects the player's involvement. This curve shows whether the player is engaged enough to perform the desired action and at what moments they lose interest.

In creative and playable ad analysis, it helps us track, second by second, whether the player's attention is focused on key details, if they are engaged enough to take the desired action, and at what points they lose interest in the creative. In game analysis, it helps us identify usability barriers, pinpoint where the player loses concentration, what frustrates them, and what makes them angry. This allows us to provide accurate and actionable recommendations for improving the user experience.

How do you ensure that respondents match the target audience of the game?
We recruit test participants through specialized platforms based on the client's criteria: gender, age, location, interests, and level of gaming experience. Participants join our sessions remotely, using cameras to track their emotional reactions to game processes.

How many people participate in testing?
Game session analysis involves 8-12 participants. For analyzing ad creatives and ASO we include 100+ participants. For testing playables we recruit 150+ participants.  

Why do you need 100 participants for creative testing but only up to 12 for game testing? Isn’t such a small sample size unreliable?
Our approach varies depending on the test's objectives. For creative testing, it is essential to obtain verifiable data. We prioritize the homogeneity and representativeness of the sample, as well as accuracy. Therefore, we conduct quantitative research, with 100 participants being optimal for achieving reproducible and reliable data quickly.

The sample size for playable ad testing is more significant because we need to account for a cohort of players who may skip the creative, while still retaining enough participants to keep the remaining sample representative.

In playtests, our goal is to dive deeply into the gaming experience and generate hypotheses to test. We use qualitative research, where 8-12 players may seem like a small sample, but we compensate for the lower number of participants with detailed analysis. Using emotion tracking at each stage of interaction and detailed post-session surveys, we can thoroughly examine each player's experience. This helps identify common trends and key issues.

What if a participant has a poor-quality camera or isn't fully engaged in the test? How do you ensure data quality?
Before testing begins, we calibrate the camera using a series of tasks to set up the eye-tracking system. If the data is inaccurate during the session (e.g., the camera doesn’t capture the gaze accurately), we exclude the participant from testing. For emotional response data, we use several filters during preprocessing to remove noise and outliers such as blinking or sneezing. These actions are not recorded in the graphs.

What does the final output look like?
The final result of our work is a detailed report with recommendations for improving the game based on the collected data. We provide conclusions on all the hypotheses proposed by the client, as well as our own insights. The main component is the engagement (arousal) graphs, which show the emotional peaks and drops of players during their interaction with the game or creative.

This is complemented by an analysis of player feedback and their perception of various game mechanics. The report includes detailed recommendations for enhancing the game based on the identified data. Our case study on Royal Match provides a comprehensive look at what our findings typically include – take a look!

Leading companies like Mytona, Nexters, and Voodoo have already partnered with us to fine-tune their strategies. Request a demo, and we’ll explore how we can support your success too.

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