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Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 1
Guide to Marketing
GAMING APPSI N S I G H T S F R O M G A M I N G A P P M A R K E T E R S
2 0 1 7 E D I T I O N
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 2
Table of Contents
3 Introduction
4 Insights from Gaming App Marketers
4 Tal Turpaz - InfiApps
7 David Yi - Storm8
10 Haydon Young - Crowdstar
14 Matt Widdoes - King
17 Winnie Wen - WB Games
21 Vinícius Gerez - Wooga GmbH
24 What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?
26 What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged
users?
28 2017 Gaming Apps Report Key Findings
29 The Importance of Re-Engagement
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 3
Growing a mobile business is no small
feat, but for marketers of gaming apps,
it’s an even more difficult task. According
to a recently released Global Games
Market Report by Newzoo, 2.2 billion
gamers across the globe are expected to
generate $108.9 billion in game revenues
in 2017. Mobile is the most lucrative
segment, with smartphone and tablet
gaming growing 19% year on year to
$46.1 billion, claiming 42% of the market.
So how can you claim your share of
these revenues?
To succeed in this explosive mobile
gaming market demands you plan user
acquisition strategies based on real
numbers and proven insights. The Guide
to Marketing Gaming Apps, comprised
of interviews with expert gaming Mobile
Heroes, shares best practices and tips
for successfully growing and monetizing
gaming apps.
Read on to find out how marketers
approach user acquisition and retention,
what it takes to succeed in mobile
marketing, and what strategies work best
to convert installs into engaged users.
This guide also includes insights from our
2017 Gaming Apps Report and Beginner’s
Guide to Mobile Re-Engagement.
Introduction
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 4
Q&A with Tal
Tal Turpaz is the Head of Advertising at
InfiApps, based out of Israel. His exten-
sive background in online advertising,
affiliate marketing, and mobile marke-
ting began at Matomy Media Group. He
then switched to lead user acquisition
strategy at InfiApps where he’s been for
over three years.
How did you get into mobile marketing?
My marketing career started at Matomy where
part of my job included handling online web
campaigns. During my time there, mobile
really started to grow and I realized the future
of online marketing was moving to mobile.
I was lucky enough to get the attention from
one of the co-founders of InfiApps who
offered me an opportunity to be one of the
Tal TurpazHead of Advertising
InfiApps
InfiApps, a mobile gaming company,
inspires players with magical, surpri-
sing and entertaining applications.
Slot Bonanza, the company’s flagship
game, is played by millions of people
worldwide as a leading social casino
game.
· Founded in 2012
· Headquartered in Israel
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 5
company’s first employees. I am now respon-
sible for the entire user acquisition strategy at
InfiApps.
What do you like most about mobile marketing?
I love the fact that the mobile ecosystem is so
fast paced and evolving constantly. It keeps you
on your toes and forces you to adapt and learn
all the time.
What is the biggest mistake you made as a
mobile marketer?
We have many social casino apps. My biggest
mistake was thinking if a specific source
worked well for one app, that it would auto-
matically work well for another app.
Social casino apps appear quite similar on
the surface, but there are differences – the
theme of the app, the types of games within
the app, the app economy, and so on. Social
casino users tend to be very particular in their
preferences.
When releasing a new app, you should always
carefully test the sources that you work with
and not rely wholly on your historical
knowledge. The results may surprise you.
What do you think are the main differences
between marketing a gaming app vs a non-
gaming app?
People tend to install gaming apps, even if
they don’t need them. If it looks fun, they’ll try
it. With dating, finance, e-commerce, and other
app categories, a user most likely won’t install
the app if they don’t have a need for it.
For this reason, gaming apps tend to have
much higher instal volumes generating more
data faster than non-gaming apps. When acqui-
ring gaming users in volume, you can deter-
mine what sources generate good ROI almost
immediately. This demands faster decision
making and optimizing over non-gaming apps.
What does a quality mobile user look like to
you?
For InfiApps, a quality user is ultimately a user
that pays.
If users don’t pay, we want them to keep
playing our apps as much as possible. Why?
Firstly, data is a key factor in our industry and
if the user keeps engaging with our apps,
we learn more about what is or isn’t wor-
king. Secondly, we can eventually generate
money out of non-paying users through ad
monetization.
“When releasing a new app, always carefully test the sources that you work with.”
Tal Turpaz, InfiApps
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 6
What is the biggest challenge in marketing
your apps?
The biggest challenge in marketing within the
social casino vertical is that there are so many
apps fighting for the same audience. CPIs are
increasing rapidly and the competition is fierce
so you really need to think outside the box in
order to get quality users.
How do you stay ahead of changes in
technology?
I frequently read newsletters and subscribe to
tech blogs. I’m also in contact with many re-
presentatives from the networks and solution
providers we work with. They work with many
companies (some direct competitors) and can
share great insights and knowledge.
How important is diversifying user acquisi-
tion outside of Facebook?
Facebook is great. It combines volume and
quality through targeting options, but it’s crucial
to diversify your acquisition channels. Between
search, affiliates, ad networks and other con-
tent related sites, there are many opportunities
out there that you should always test.
How important are the holidays to your
business and what season is the biggest
time for you?
The holidays are very important to us. In the
3 years I’ve led user acquisition efforts for
InfiApps, I always see a spike in installs, en-
gagement in the app, and IAP during the holi-
days. It is our biggest time of the year. People
have more time to play our apps when they’re
not working and tend to spend more money
because of the ambiance of the holidays.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 7
Q&A with David
Based in the San Francisco Bay
Area, David Yi is the User Acquisition
Manager at leading mobile game net-
work Storm8, where his team manages
global UA and monetization campaigns
for their portfolio of 45+ games. Prior to
pursuing a career in mobile marketing,
David worked as a Financial Analyst.
How did you get into mobile marketing?
I started my career in financial analysis, and
after a couple of years, I realized that I wanted
to do something else—something that allowed
me to be more creative, while still having a
strong analytical component. I looked into per-
formance marketing and saw that mobile was
a huge and growing market. Combined, it was
something I found very appealing so I took the
leap and got into mobile.
David YiUser Acquisition Manager
Storm8
Storm8 is a leading mobile game
network that creates a world of play
and discovery for its hundreds of
millions of users. Storm8’s network
includes over 45 mobile games re-
leased across multiple genres, which
have been downloaded more than 1
billion times. Notable games include
the Restaurant Story franchise, Dragon
Story, and Bubble Mania.
· Founded in 2009
· Headquartered in Redwood City, CA
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 8
systems that help us detect fraud at its
earliest stages. Something as simple as
setting up email alerts regarding install
activity is helpful. More importantly,
monitoring campaigns closely, especially
when working with new partners is crucial.
What do you think are the main differences
between marketing a gaming app vs a non-
gaming app?
Gaming remains to be one of the top 5
activities on smartphones today. A good game
can have users spending hours a day playing,
whereas if a user downloads a non-gaming
app – such as utility apps – the amount of
time spent on it is more finite. The way you
market an app depends on the motivation that
the users have for downloading the app. For
games, you have to showcase that it’s fun and
will keep the user entertained for minutes or
hours at a time; after all, people play games
to pass the time and to be entertained. For
a non-gaming app, you have to highlight
the benefits – whether it’s ease of use, or
time saved, etc. I think that’s one of the key
differences between marketing a gaming app
and a non-gaming app.
What does a quality mobile user look like to you?
A quality mobile user in my opinion would
be someone who’s entertained enough by
our content that they feel compelled to make
a purchase to continue their experience.
Of course, we all want users who monetize
What do you like most about mobile marketing?
I really enjoy working in a rapidly evolving
space. Some mobile marketing strategies that
worked well a couple of years ago may not be
as effective – or even applicable – today be-
cause the technology advances so quickly. This
means that I get exposed to some of the latest
strategies and techniques in the market, which
means I learn something new all the time. I also
like that mobile marketing can be very data-
driven. Seeing the kind of results you expect
from making good decisions based on data is
pretty awesome.
What is the biggest mistake you made as a
mobile marketer?
One of my biggest mistakes was probably
not having a system in place to catch fraud.
While it doesn’t happen often, fraudulent
activity can be a pain to deal with if you
don’t catch it early – especially since you’re
spending a considerable amount of money
to attract users and they turn out to be fake.
I learned this lesson first-hand and it inspired
me to be more proactive about setting up
“Understanding and segmenting your audiences is the first step to effectively keeping users engaged.”
David Yi, Storm8
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 9
through in-app purchases. Users who exhibit
strong engagement metrics are definitely
valuable, but as a performance marketer, I am
looking for the highest ROI possible. While
these engaged users can later contribute
to that ROI directly (or indirectly), users who
monetize early on are likely to monetize more
down the line.
What is your biggest challenge in marketing
your apps?
At Storm8, we have a vast portfolio of games
that span genres. Each game is different and
each game should be marketed differently
given varying audience segments. I take time
to understand each new game, who the au-
dience is for each game, and how we’re going
to attract these users based on their profiles.
It can be a challenge to optimize and tailor
marketing efforts for each individual game, but
it is also one of the things I enjoy most about
being at Storm8.
How do you stay ahead of changes in
technology?
I set aside time every day to read the latest
news via blogs. I subscribe to a number of
tech and mobile marketing newsletters. If I
read something that catches my attention
and want to learn more, I typically reach out
to a peer who might have more insight on
the topic. Catching up with peers at industry
events and conferences is also a great way to
stay on top of trends.
How important is diversifying user acquisi-
tion outside of Facebook?
I think it’s pretty important. While Facebook
provides great tools for targeting and poten-
tially vast scale, it is only one way to reach a
user. A user could possibly be more drawn to
your ad when it is shown to them outside of
Facebook, even if you are showing the same
app. There are many different ad units and ad
experiences out there and some might capture
a specific user’s attention better than others.
How important are the holidays to your business
and what season is the biggest time for you?
Gaming is actually pretty consistent
throughout the year among our players, with
some dips depending on certain seasons (like
back to school). Surprisingly, people tend to
play more during the workweek according to
a recent study we conducted at Storm8. That
said, the holidays remain important, especially
with the gift-giving season. With plenty of
new device activations, there’s always an
opportunity to attract new players to our
games, or to new titles for existing players. We
always put our best foot forward when users
spend more time in our apps.
“People tend to play more during the workweek”
David Yi, Storm8
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 10
Q&A with Haydon
Haydon Young is the Senior Manager,
User Acquisition and Ad Monetization for
Crowdstar, based out of the Bay Area. He
oversees a UA team managing overall
budget, strategy, and direction of paid
user acquisition for two Top 50 Grossing
Games: Covet Fashion and Design Home.
How did you get into mobile marketing?
My marketing background started in real estate
and project management. I learned traditional
fundamentals of marketing by developing a
deep understanding of my customers and
uncovering what they considered most impor-
tant in their decision making. This experience
helped form my foundation of marketing by es-
tablishing the user’s trust and positioning their
needs first. After real estate, I pivoted to the
online marketing world working at Commission
Crowdstar
Crowdstar is a global leader in mobile
and social gaming developing enter-
tainment for women. The company’s
flagship apps, Covet Fashion and
Design Home, entertains millions of
women daily.
· Founded in 2008
· Headquartered in Burlingame, CA
Haydon YoungSenior Manager, User Acquisition
and Ad Monetization
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 11
Junction which opened up my experience to
one of the most competitive forms of perfor-
mance marketing: affiliate marketing. At CJ I
was able to work with Fortune 500 companies
and top-ranked websites to develop and opti-
mize their affiliate marketing strategy.
I saw mobile as the next platform of marketing
and wanted to immerse myself in that world. I
quit my job and decided to pursue my dreams
of developing my own apps. Along the way,
I got connected with developers and artists,
and did UA for small companies. From there,
I was able to take my experience and found
an opportunity at Crowdstar that matched my
background.
What do you like most about mobile
marketing?
Mobile marketing is one of the most rapidly
evolving and competitive platforms in the
world. I love that this industry is at the forefront
of innovation which encourages new methods
and technologies to learn from. Also, ad
performance feedback is near real-time. It’s
very satisfying to see your ad concepts doing
well, especially knowing it’s in one of the most
competitive landscapes in the world.
What is the biggest mistake you made as a
mobile marketer?
I was hoping that a specific channel of traffic
would work based on their inventory demo-
graphic, ad placement/promotion type, and
how much it aligned with our user base. Since
our game was for female users that loved
fashion, we thought influencer marketing would
be a great channel of high quality traffic. We
especially bet on using influencers focused on
fashion. However, after a couple of different
campaigns, the results weren’t ROI positive.
This was a hard pill to swallow — it was so
counterintuitive to what I thought.
What do you think are the main differences
between marketing a gaming app vs a non-
gaming app?
The mobile gaming landscape is very competi-
tive. There is a huge challenge to differentiate
yourself amongst the crowds to gain mindshare
and ultimately get quality installs that provide
ROI. Gaming is a form of entertainment and
there are so many options for a user to choose
from. Developing the right ad concept that
speaks to the user and establish that you are
the right choice of entertainment for them is
what I try to achieve on a daily basis. I tap into
the user’s emotional side in my marketing and
provide a platform of possibilities.
“I tap into the user’s emotional side in my marketing and provide a platform of possibilities.”
Haydon Young, Crowdstar
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 12
On the other hand, non-gaming apps have
real world implications with products and
services that the user can relate to on a daily
occurrence. The marketing of those apps can
draw upon practical applications in real world
settings.
What does a quality mobile user look like to you?
We have a very passionate community of
users. They are very vocal on our social
channels and within the game’s chat room.
A quality user shows high engagement with
our events and believes in the value of the
product by monetizing. In addition, they also
provide value by being involved in the com-
munity by helping each other out and being
an advocate for the game.
What is your biggest challenge in marketing
your apps?
One of the biggest challenges is to uncover
more sources of traffic that will deliver high
ROI installs for a very gender specific user
base that is interested in fashion, makeup,
and beauty. Ad exhaustion and audience
saturation are a constant battle. A rigorous
A/B testing plan with new concepts that cater
to deeper audience understanding helps
mitigate those hurdles.
How do you stay ahead of changes in
technology?
I read many industry newsletters and blogs. I
also stay connected with colleagues within the
industry and ask a lot of questions. Vendors
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 13
and ad reps also help me stay up to date
with the market as they present beta testing
opportunities with their new tech. Attending
conferences and seminars is also another
great way to learn about new changes.
How important is diversifying user acquisi-
tion outside of Facebook?
Inventory diversification is very important.
Relying on just one source of traffic could
chain you to unnecessary risk such as a dra-
matic increase in acquisition cost giving you
no option to shift strategies.
Diversification also gives you a more holistic
understanding of the industry and will allow
learnings from different channels which you
can apply to different campaigns. It’s important
to keep in mind the user intent of the plat-
forms which you advertise on and reaching
those users at that moment which they are
most receptive to your marketing message.
How important are the holidays to your
business and what season is the biggest
time for you?
During gift giving and major consumer
holidays, there’s pockets of opportunity to
capture the influx of new device inventory
which could lead to lower user acquisition
cost. Also, the flood of appstore giftcards
along with more free time all contribute to
a higher propensity for users to monetize.
We also align major fashion content updates
along with the changes in seasons: Summer/
Fall/Winter/Spring. This cycle keeps the game
constantly updated with amazing artwork and
style challenges which keeps our users highly
engaged.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 14
Q&A with Matt
Matt Widdoes is the Director,
Performance Marketing at King.
Although King is headquartered in
London, Matt is based out of their
San Francisco office. He provides the
strategic direction of the performance
marketing organization as it relates
to partnerships, ad tech, emerging
platforms and digital/traditional media
buying.
How did you get into mobile marketing?
My first experience was helping various
SMB’s with promoted posts and growing
followers on social channels. This quickly
transitioned to mobile campaigns focused
on installs, purchase events and some lead
generation stuff.
Matt Widdoes Director, Performance Marketing
King
King is a leading interactive mobile en-
tertainment company. They’ve develop-
ed more than 200 fun titles, and offer
games that are enjoyed all around
the world. King is an independent unit
of Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq:
ATVI), which acquired King in February
2016. Popular game franchises inclu-
de: Candy Crush, Farm Heroes, Pet
Rescue and Bubble Witch.
· Founded in 2003
· Headquartered in London
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 15
What do you like most about mobile
marketing?
Mobile marketing is constantly evolving and
when platforms release new products I enjoy
the process of figuring out the best way to lev-
erage them. I’m a lifelong gamer and in many
ways, mobile marketing is one big puzzle.
What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as
a mobile marketer?
I’ve made so many mistakes it’s kind of difficult
to pick the biggest. Thankfully, I’ve never had
an “I clicked a button and accidentally spent
$1M” type of mistake, but plenty of small mis-
takes along the way.
The first time I spent money on Facebook,
I was trying to grow a startup’s likes to help
develop a little social proof before entering
the market. I bought a bunch of likes in the
US for roughly $1.00/user. A few days went by
before I realized that I could purchase likes
for $0.01/user if I targeted places like Thailand
or Guyana to get the same value. It’s through
mistakes that we learn, so I’m a big proponent
of testing, making mistakes, learning from
them and getting back in the ring with a new
plan.
What do you think are the main differences
between marketing a gaming app vs a non-
gaming app?
I’ve never really marketed a non-gaming app,
so I’m not really qualified to say. My guess
is that for a lot of apps they’re much more
focused on getting sign-ups and keeping
retention metrics high given that they often
will be driving revenue from the size and
activity of their user base vs IAP.
What does a quality mobile user look like to
you?
It really depends on the goals of the cam-
paign and what type of app I’m promoting.
In general, when it comes to gaming, it’s
someone that downloads the app, frequently
returns to play, frequently makes in app pur-
chases, tells their friends, engages with the
game on social media channels and goes on
to download other games in the company’s
portfolio.
What is your biggest challenge in marketing
your apps?
The market is insanely saturated with a lot of
really great apps. People only have so much
time in their day so finding new ways to stay
relevant and stand out in a sea of great
games is, and will remain, a challenge.
“You need systems in place to ensure you understand how the inputs you’re adjusting are impacting results.”
Matt Widdoes, King
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 16
How do you stay ahead of changes in
technology?
I read articles daily and have a few RSS feeds
set up for different things. Friends and co-
workers send a ton of articles my way as well.
At King, I’m hyper focused on finding the latest
and greatest tools, tech, and companies that are
supporting the mobile marketing industry. If you
know someone that’s doing something really
cool in ad tech or data, tell them to email me.
How important is diversifying user acquisi-
tion outside of Facebook?
It’s insanely important to be diversified, and you
could ask this same question about any plat-
form/network. Ultimately our industry is about
performance, whatever performance means to
your app. I wouldn’t diversify solely for the sake
of being diversified, if that makes sense.
If you’re using Facebook and they’re giving
you a higher quality user than you can find
anywhere else at a specific cost, then diver-
sification is less important, so long as you’re
continuing to test other channels and they
continue to do worse. However, in most any
venture, I would avoid having all of my eggs in
one basket.
How important are the holidays to your
business and what season is the biggest
time for you?
Really, every day is important for us. Tons of
new devices are bought/received during the
holidays so for most any app it’s a good win-
dow of time to get noticed and on someone’s
phone. As a result, a lot of companies are very
active during that time period, so it can get
pretty competitive in terms of cost.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 17
Q&A with Winnie
Winnie Wen is the Senior Manager,
User Acquisition for WB Games, based
out of the San Francisco Bay Area.
She manages overall budget, strategy,
and direction of paid user acquisition
for many games in the Warner Bros.
coffers including DC Legends, Mortal
Kombat X, and Injustice: Gods Among
Us.
How did you get into mobile marketing?
Interesting story. Prior to my first role as
a mobile marketer, I had zero knowledge
about the mobile space. I was working in
traditional corporate finance & healthcare
marketing and I didn’t feel passionate about
the product. I noticed that there was a surge
of mobile marketing roles on LinkedIn and I
discovered the mobile industry. It was very
Winnie WenSenior Manager, User Acquisition
Warner Bros. Entertainment
Warner Bros. Entertainment is a global
leader in all forms of entertainment
and their related businesses spanning
current and emerging media and plat-
forms. In the mobile gaming vertical, po-
pular mobile game titles owned by WB
include: DC Legends, Mortal Kombat X,
and Injustice: Gods Among Us.
· Founded in 1923
· Headquartered in Burbank, CA
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 18
difficult to get my foot in the door as I was
doing traditional direct mail marketing.
Most, if not all, of the mobile opportunities were
looking for someone with experience in mobile
or transferable knowledge from web marketing.
I was almost ready to give up after getting
only a few responses, all rejections, but then
I received a response from a gaming start-up,
ngmoco, and everything else is history. Leaving
the traditional marketing space behind was one
of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
What do you like most about mobile
marketing?
I love that there are no rules in mobile
marketing. Coming from a heavily regulated
corporate marketing space, it was a breath
of fresh air having the freedom to test and try
different creative and copy. Mobile marketing
encourages creativity and originality, and
adding innovative technology to the equation,
it makes the industry one of the fastest
growing of our generation.
What is the biggest mistake you made as a
mobile marketer?
Where do I begin? Haha. One of the most
common mistakes I noticed in the industry,
one I’m guilty of committing early in my career,
was making decisions too soon without
sufficient data or enough time. It’s easy to get
excited or discouraged with early performance
metrics. I learned early on to never repeat this
mistake as I’ve seen cohorts mature over
time, ending in a different result from the
early read.
What do you think are the main differences
between marketing a gaming app vs a non-
gaming app?
Non-gaming apps generally serve specific
functions, so it’s very different from gaming
which has more broad appeal. I believe
there’s a significant difference between
gaming and non-gaming creatives. Gaming
creatives tend to focus on entertainment
value and wow factor, whereas non-gaming
creatives concentrate on the value proposi-
tion and often touch on human emotions to
convey how the products add value.
The key differences probably surface with
regard to metrics, such as retention, first time
purchase, user life cycle, etc. Depending on
the product and its purpose, there may be
varying daily/weekly retention levels (i.e. a
hotel rental app vs Amazon). In addition, first-
time conversion value will likely be higher for
“I love that there are no rules in mobile marketing.”
Winnie Wen, Warner Bross Games
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 19
non-gaming apps. With a higher financial inves-
tment, it’s likely users are more committed to
the product. Lastly, seeing that these apps add
value to the user’s lifestyle, the lifecycles of
non-gaming apps are generally longer than the
gaming average of around 180 to 365 days.
What does a quality mobile user look like to you?
On top of looking for payers, I look for users
who engage with the app on a regular basis.
Ideally, these users pay as well, but there’s
value in retained non-payers as we can
monetize them through other means, such as
ad revenue.
What is your biggest challenge marketing
your apps?
The rising costs of acquisition. The mobile
space is heavily saturated with millions of
apps and it’s getting more and more expen-
sive to acquire users. For the most part, user
acquisition is basic math: is value > cost? Is the
projected ROI net positive? Not every title/pro-
duct is going to be a hit with high LTVs, and
if your title isn’t one of them, it’s very difficult
to execute positively and at scale given the
competition in the market.
How do you stay ahead of changes in
technology?
The industry is constantly evolving so it can
be difficult to keep up with the changes and
latest trends. It’s helpful to stay connected
with fellow UA peers to discuss the latest
trends, tips, and new channels. Also, it’s bene-
ficial to maintain good relationships with part-
ners to get first dibs on any new or emerging
technologies.
How important is diversifying user acquisi-
tion outside of Facebook?
Facebook is a proven key channel for success
in UA, but there are still plenty of opportunities
outside of Facebook.
First, I never believe in putting all of my eggs in
one basket as it creates potential risk should
that one option fail. Second, believe it or
not, not everyone is on Facebook. It’s silly to
think that we can reach the full potential au-
dience using just one source. Third, because
Facebook is a proven channel for the entire
industry, it’s highly competitive, costly, and has
seasonal highs and lows, so it’s best to explore
other channels when Facebook metrics aren’t
backing out. Lastly, I’ve had success and seen
performance on par to Facebook with other
sources, so while Facebook is an obvious
choice, it’s not ideal to invest 100% in it.
“Although you may understand the audience, creative optimization is a job that never ends.”
Winnie Wen, Warner Bross Games
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 20
How important are the holidays to your
business and what season is the biggest
time for you?
The holidays are the most expensive time as
we’re not only competing with big developers,
but with big brand marketing as well, so I ad-
vise my team to avoid spending at the holiday
peak. I try to allocate budget within the first 3
weeks of the holiday months to avoid over-
priced bids. Unless I’m working with a large
budget and/or if the product is strategically de-
signed to launch during the holidays to garner
organics, I prefer to lay low during the holidays.
UA is usually cheapest in January, after
the holiday rush, so that’s the best time to
scale and get the most bang for your buck.
However, the UA strategy is a moving piece
as it continuously changes depending
on performance data. For instance, if the
metrics in January are performing below
expectations, I’ll withhold from taking
advantage of the lower rates.
Aside from product launches being the
“biggest” time for UA, post launch spend is
dependent on performance.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 21
Q&A with Vinícius
Vinícius Gerez is a Senior Marketing
Manager for Wooga. In this role, he
manages testing and optimization
of RTB buying, expansion of global
markets, contract and IO negotiations,
C-level reporting, and much more.
Vinícius broke into app marketing as
a marketing intern at Wooga, and has
steadily climbed the ranks for the past
several years until reaching his current
role.
How did you get into mobile marketing?
I started as a translator at Wooga in
2010, localizing our games into Brazilian
Portuguese at a time when Wooga was still
making games for Facebook.com. Back then,
the localization team was working closely
with the marketing team, helping out with
Wooga GmbH
Founded in 2009, Wooga has become
one of the most popular developers
of casual mobile games in the world.
Based in Berlin, employees from more
than 40 nations develop high quality
puzzle, simulation and hidden object
games for a global audience. Wooga’s
focus is on regularly creating free-to-
play hits such as Jelly Splash, Pearl’s
Peril, Diamond Dash and Bubble Island 2.
· Founded in 2009
· Headquartered in Berlin, Germany
Vinícius Gerez Senior Marketing Manager
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 22
Facebook ad copy for desktop apps. Half a
year later, in 2011, I moved over to the user
acquisition team and specialized in acquiring
users for our games. That was also the time
when Wooga shifted focus from desktop to
mobile marketing, which was a really great
experience to learn from.
What do you like most about mobile marketing?
It’s a very fast paced field. There’s frequent
change and I’m constantly learning new things.
What works today might not be so meaningful
tomorrow, and there are always new technolo-
gies coming into play that add up to the novelty
of the industry.
What is the biggest mistake you made as a
mobile marketer?
Due to the fast paced nature of mobile mar-
keting, I learned the hard way about how
important it is to always organize things in
advance. Having a back-up person if you step
out is key. This back-up person must have a
proper handoff to continue from where you
leave off. If that is not possible for any reason,
I’d always recommend to set up a routine plan
with regular check-ins.
What do you think are the main differences
between marketing a gaming app vs a non-
gaming app?
The first thought that comes to mind is the
approach towards paid re-engagement. From
my experience, if you compare gaming and
e-commerce apps, for example, the value
coming to the latter is higher for paid re-
engagement than for gaming. Reminding a
user that there was this item that they almost
purchased, but didn’t, tends to show results
quicker and more efficiently than if you pay to
bring a user to play your game. Keeping game
players engaged by means of community
or forum efforts feels more natural and less
imposing for the users.
What does a quality mobile user look like to
you?
Speaking in a simplified way, it all boils
down to a combination of retention and
engagement. If a user comes back to play
our apps every day, engages in various ways,
puts time and investment in, that is a great
user. This person would then consequently
also become a spokesperson for our product,
making recommendations to friends, who
would in turn end up playing the game as
well. In this case, the original user would be
an amazing quality user to us.
“Make sure your teams are on the same page sharing one goal to create the best possible user experience.”
Vinícius Gerez, Wooga
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 23
What strategies work best to convert in-
stalls into engaged users?
From a UA perspective, you have to be candid
about your product. Since the advertisement
is the first step in the user journey, you have
to make sure that they know what they are
going to get once they download your app.
Otherwise, they will abandon it if they feel
mislead. For existing players, it is all about
keeping up their positive experience and
providing happy play moments. That’s when
our community and player experience teams
mostly interact with players.
What is the biggest challenge in marketing
your apps?
The amount of competition that exists in our
ecosystem. There are many gaming apps com-
ing out every day. Everyone is trying to attract
players, so convincing users that they should
play our games over others can be tricky.
How do you stay ahead of changes in
technology?
I keep up by reading industry newsletters
and blogs (like Venturebeat, TechCrunch,
PocketGamer.biz), attending events, and
talking to peers and network account
managers in general. I also like being an early
adopter of new products where possible.
How important is diversifying user acquisi-
tion outside of Facebook?
It is definitely important. Facebook brings
amazing targeting capabilities to marketers
and thus is a very important channel to every-
one in the industry. That, however, literally
comes with a price. There are so many others
trying to reach out to the same audiences
as you, that prices keep increasing and it
becomes hard to keep ROI at a profitable
level. With that in mind diversification is clearly
one important aspect of advertising outside
of Facebook. Another one is that while many
users are connected to Facebook, not ever-
yone in the world is. So having other means of
reaching the players broadens your potential
target audience.
How important are the holidays to your
business and what season is the biggest
time for you?
Holidays usually mean many large brands
invest heavily to be seen by everyone. So
this period is actually more difficult for us than
other times of the year. The beginning of the
year, when many large brands have scaled
down from Christmas, is a good period. That’s
when potential players who found a new
device under the Christmas tree are looking
for apps to install.
“I like being an early adopter of new products.”
Vinícius Gerez, Wooga
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 24
What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?
So many things. First and foremost you
have to be okay spending a lot of time
in spreadsheets or at least looking at
numbers on a dashboard.
You also need to have a high degree of empathy for your audience in order to make
sound assumptions about how they
might react to a piece of creative or a
particular message. You have to be risk
tolerant, willing to make mistakes, and
closely adhere to the scientific method
in order to succeed.
I don’t believe in a perfect formula or “secret sauce”
in mobile marketing, but there are a few traits that are
critical to success.
1. Attention to detail – there are many moving pieces
with campaigns, and half the work happens before
the campaign goes live. It’s easy to lose track and
for things to fall through the cracks, so make lists of
important requirements and prioritize accordingly.
2. Creativity – the sky’s the limit. Don’t be afraid to explore and test outside the boundaries, within reason. If the test
fails, there is still value in the lesson because we’ve
identified what doesn’t work, not all is lost.
3. Be nimble – always have plan B and C ready
to go. Things will often not go according to plan,
encountering problems like tracking issues, under
performing metrics, scalability issues, etc. It’s best to
prepare for various unexpected scenarios so that in the
event that issues arise, you’re already one step ahead
and working on solutions.
4. Be analytical/data driven – conduct regular
analysis to identify potential trends and opportunities.
Campaign metrics and downstream KPIs provide
meaningful insights. Also, it doesn’t hurt to approach
metrics with a dose of skepticism; if metrics looks too
good to be true, it probably is.
Being able to adapt is critical
to success in our industry. The mobile
market, technology, and your product can
change so quickly and drastically that you
need to be able to keep up and adjust
your marketing efforts accordingly.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 25
You have to have an analytical, inquisitive
mind. You have to be interested in the data itself, analyzing it and making
informed decisions. You should also be open
to learn new technologies and strategies.
What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?
I think there’s 3 main areas that will help in
being successful.
1. Being analytical, having the ability to make data-driven decisions, and adjusting your marketing
mix to achieve those goals.
2. Being creative and constantly thinking
about how to better deliver your message to
the right people on the right channel at the
right time.
3. And lastly, being adaptable to market
changes and learning quickly to what works
as this industry evolves. Methods and
technologies in use one month could be
obsolete the next.
CPIs are always increasing so you need to
analyze data quickly and in a smart way in order to understand what ROI
you’re generating (or going to generate) with a
specific source.
At the end of the day, you need to look at the
bottom line and spend your money wisely.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 26
What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged users?
Popular strategies include generating LAL audiences on Facebook, optimizing creatives,
and targeting day X ROAS goals, but equally important is a close relationship with
the product team. It’s imperative that there is communication between Product and UA regarding the health of the app,
upcoming features, sales, promotions, etc, so that the UA team can coordinate their
strategy to align with in app events. Users are more likely to engage when there’s
something new and exciting happening.
I think the most important things are to
understand the core values and benefits of your
product, and then to advertise to that target
user segment that will derive the most value
from it. This involves developing your user profiles and catering your marketing messaging to address that
specific demographic and psychographic needs.
The product would also need to have a great
new user flow, provide interesting and valuable
content, along with in-app messaging to keep
the user engaged.
This isn’t an answer a lot of people want to hear, but
the best strategy is having a killer game/app. Ultimately the product is what’s
going to drive long-term engagement. With marketing
we can gently nudge people further down the path
with incentives or highlighting new features, but
ultimately the product has to be excellent.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 27
What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged users?
Understanding and segmenting your audiences is the first step to
effectively keeping users engaged. Not all users
will behave in your app the same way, nor will all
users react to your engagement strategies the
same way. Once you have a good understanding
of your users, you can then come up with different
strategies that will be impactful and effective.
I consider different tactics during various stages of the funnel for converting installs
into engaged users:
1. App Messaging – during the
acquisition phase, ad and app store
messaging should be intriguing and get
users to download the app.
2. First experience – pre-install and
shortly after, give the user an easy and
fun first-time experience.
3. Re-engagement – post-install,
segment your users based on their
actions and notify them when something
that they might like happens in the app
in order to bring them back and remain
engaged.
4. Drive revenue – down funnel,
segment your users and suggest
different deals according to their
purchase history in the app.
From a UA perspective, you have to be candid about
your product. Since the advertisement is the first step
in the user journey, you have to make sure that they know what they are going to get once they download your app. Otherwise, they
will abandon it if they feel mislead. For existing players,
it is all about keeping up their positive experience
and providing happy play moments. That’s when our
community and player experience teams mostly interact
with players.
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 28
The 2017 Mobile Gaming Apps Report
tracks the cost of installs, registrations, and
in-app purchases (IAP), and breaks down
data by platform, user demographics, and
region. The report also compares data
across a variety of gaming categories,
including action-adventure, card, casino,
puzzle and strategy. Here are the key
findings from the report:
• The overall install-to-purchase
rate (the rate of users that convert,
going from install to purchase for
the period October 2015 - October
2016) for gaming apps is higher than
average when compared to other app
categories.
• Acquiring users who will register in the
gaming app, the key action that will
allow app developers to engage and
re-engage with their audience over
the lifespan of the app, costs nearly 2x
more on iOS compared with Android.
• It costs more to acquire males who
register in gaming apps than it costs to
acquire females.
• In North America, the install-to-
purchase engagement rate is nearly 4x
higher than in EMEA.
• The cost associated with acquiring
a user that converts from install to
purchase for casino games is roughly
4x more than casual games.
• Players are nearly 3.5x more likely to
make an in-app purchase in a mobile
card game than they are in an
action-adventure mobile game.
2017 Gaming Apps Report Key Findings
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 29
Over 90% of app installs will stop using
an app within 30 days. Engaged users
are the key to generating revenue for
any mobile app, from any category —
especially competitive gaming apps
where marketers likely promote new
features, levels, lives, or skills to keep
users spending.
A well-planned, diverse re-engagement
strategy allows marketers to turn missed
opportunities into active users by wisely
using their data to bring users back into
a gaming app. Whether you are new to
re-engagement or need to brush up on
the basics, download the Beginner’s
Guide to Mobile Re-Engagement.
The Beginner’s Guide covers what
mobile re-engagement is, why it’s
important to re-engage users who have
installed your app, the basics of how to
setup re-engagement campaigns, and
various methods of re-engagement.
Stop leaving money on the table, and
start retargeting unengaged users.
The Importance of Re-Engagement
Guide to Marketing Gaming Apps 30
Liftoff is a full-service mobile app marketing and retargeting
platform which uses post-install data to run true CPA-
optimized mobile user acquisition and retention campaigns.
With Liftoff, campaigns are optimized to drive specific
actions beyond the install, to acquire users who engage
in more profitable post-install events like booking a hotel,
subscribing to a service or making a purchase.
[email protected] heroes.liftoff.ioliftoff.io
Visit heroes.liftoff.io to learn from more mobile
marketing professionals.