π Growth Gems #22 - Gems from "Mobile Marketing for Card Games | Growing Ultimate Cribbage"
Hi there,
Today's gems are mined from a UA Coffee Talk animated by Joseph Kim (CEO at LILA Games) with Josh Chandley (Chief Operating Officer at WildCard), Nebo Radovic (UA Platform at N3TWORK) and Jon Lau (Director of Growth at Weee!).
π#1
A way to test creatives at a lower cost is to start in India with a small budget to filter them out first, then move to Canada and deploy the best-performing onesΒ in the US.
04:44
π#2
For games that have a strong organic demand, it makes sense to pay attention to ASO and also to potentially try preloads on devices as well as try low cost/quality channels. Examples: Gin, Rummy, Solitaire, Tetris.
06:45
π#3
For games like card games that have organic interest it make sense to work with interests and keyword targeting because there is an actual "card games interest" that you can target.
07:47
π#4
When you're an ad-monetized game, the LTV curve of AEO/VO is really different from the LTV curve of MAI/rewarded video players. So you need to spend enough money to understand how that LTV curve looks like for each then if it hits your DX payback target you invest as much money as you can.
08:57
π#5
Showing more interstitials to users might not result in a higher net LTV long term but if it changes the shape of your ARPU curve and reduces your payback window it allows you to spend more aggressively.
14:36
π#6
You need to have user-level ad revenue to understand what the value of each user is and the overall impact on returns (not just campaigns) because you are able to monetize better the users you get through AEO/VO via higher ad CPMs. You have to know to which extent you can monetize them better and if it offsets the higher acquisition costs so you can decide where to invest (between AEO, VO, MAI, etc.). However it's also risky to bet on acquiring these "whales" you get through AEO/VO because you might also all of a sudden not be able to retain these high-value users which can make your CPM drop.
20:54
π#7
Diversify if you're scaling up an ad-driven game because there is a hidden risk in relying on AEO/VO campaigns, especially if it's optimized for purchase (however it could work well for ad views or engagement). You have ways to get the same user through other mediums.
26:13
π#8
It's important to have ad LTV curve and IAP LTV curve separate to understand the impact of each on payback. Then you want granularity by campaign, optimization model (AEO/VO, AEO for ad views, rewarded videos, etc.).
29:20
π#9
If your LTV curves are jumping around, one thing you might want to consider is testing your scale of spend against your ROAS target. Example: looking at D7 ROAS against daily spend to see if you have a knee bend. If you're unsure about spend you can "sit below the bend".
29:48
π#10
Although it can depend on the game, one creative format (static, video, etc.) does not necessarily drive higher ROAS or bring you a better user than another. But the lifetime of a creative format can change, with video performance lasting longer for example.
32:39
π#11
Focus on diversifying your creative mix so you can elongate the overall lifetime of your creatives. Try to maintain a higher average IPM of your overall creative mix rather than chasing finding one or two creatives that are going to be hits.
33:10
π#12
Focus more on creating "micro-videos". Shoot and create multiple 3-5 seconds videos (product features, why it's fun, "group play", etc.) and create 15 different combinations from these videos. It allows you to do very little video production and have a bigger outcome. Example (e-commerce grocery business): instead of doing a video focused on 1 product for 15 seconds, use several shots from different products to mix and match and create a lot of different videos like "just snacks", "snacks and desserts", etc.
37:00
π#13
If a game like Cribbage is relevant to specific geos it might be interesting to group campaigns together to maintain the cost and make it easier for Facebook to learn. Sometimes when companies scale they create a lot of campaigns that end up stuck in the learning phase.
41:27
π#14
Because AEO and VO are optimizing for different purchasing behaviors, you might be able to target ("naturally" since you can't control that) different audiences for each type of campaign and leverage this to either go hard on pushing IAP/pricing vs. monetizing.
48:07
π#15
Creatives is the biggest lever. Never fall in love with your idea or your hypothesis, let the data speak. Trust the process, not a specific ad tech.
50:36
Stay savvy!
βοΈ Sylvain