The impact of “use in moderation” corporate social marketing (CSM) campaigns on free-to-play mobile game app usage and spending

Social concerns on excessive gaming behaviors are growing indicating the need for action from the gaming industry. Some game companies have started to employ corporate social marketing (CSM) strategies to promote moderate consumption. We analyzed results from two randomized field experiments in a free-to-play mobile game app to study the influence of use in moderation (UIM) campaigns on consumption behavior and business outcomes. An 11-day-long field experiment testing a non-targeted UIM campaign, i.e., the message timing was not associated with excessive play, shows that UIM campaigns can reduce users’ excessive consumption incidences and increase in-app purchases. A yearlong field experiment testing a UIM campaign targeted at users at the time of excessive consumption shows that such campaigns can reduce excessive consumption patterns while simultaneously increasing retention, in-app purchases, and in-app time (on regular and non-excessive days) but only for previously non-excessive users (i.e., users who receive the message the first time they consume excessively). These findings provide managers with guidance on how to successfully implement UIM campaigns to help address societal concerns related to excessive consumption while benefiting consumer-company relationships.