Elena Egorova, myTarget

Marketing Strategies and Success Stories in Gaming

(White Nights Conference St.Petersburg 2018)
The official conference website — http://wnconf.com

Transcript

1. UA Strategies for mobile games and success stories BY MAIL.RU GROUP
2. M A I L . R U G R O U P 90% of Russian Internet Market Owns largest Russian social networks
3. R U S S I A B E C O M E S A T O P S P E N D E R I N M O B I L E Source: AppAnnie 2017 report Russian users spent $580 mln in App Store and Google Play in 2017 Russia enters top-10 spenders on Google Play
4. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
5. G E N R E P R E F E R E N C E S Source: Mail.Ru Group, User base: people who played mobile games at least once in the last six months 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Puzzle games 3-match Racing Runners/Reaction based games Strategies Shooters Simulation games Fighting games Sports games Tamagotchi games RPG Total Male Female
6. R E T E N T I O N R A T E S B Y A G E G R O U P S Source: Mail.ru Group 7% 12% 17% 22% 27% 32% Неизвестно 1 — 17 18 — 24 25 — 34 35 — 44 45 — 54 55 — 64 65 + Retention rates by age groups 3 days 1 week 1 month
7. USE YOUR DATA
8. M E A S U R E R E T E N T I O N G R A N U L A R L Y Deep audience analysis enables you to ensure your budget is not spent in vain. Don’t just measure the overall retention rate: break down the data by geo, city, media source, publisher, and even banner. If a specific geo is underperforming, breaking it down to city level, locating the poor performers and removing them would help you optimize.
9. A S O M A Y S I G N I F I C A N T L Y U P L I F T Y O U R P L A Y E R B A S E Working on app store optimisation (ASO) will provide you with extra visibility, which will translate into a greater likelihood of growing organically. Work with the ASO on/off metadata. Pack your game with the basic elements to encourage downloads: name, icon, teasers and screenshots, and make the right description by focusing on your main keywords. When this is done, focus on ratings, reviews and link building. Don’t write automatic review responses such as “Your opinion matters most for us” etc, invest some time into personalization: these copy- pasted comments irritate users.
10. LEVERAGE YOUR CREATIVES
11. V I D E O I S S H O W I N G B E S T P E R F O R M A N C E Source: myTarget research, May 2018 2,8% 5,7% 7,9% 9,8% 17,3% 1% 3% 5% 7% 9% 11% 13% 15% 17% Fullscreen video Multiformat 1080x607 Mobile carousel Mobile video ads
12. Fullscreen video 6% Pre-rolls 9% V I D E O By 2021, Cisco projects that over 78 percent of total mobile data traffic will be video. The ad spend on video for games in myTarget has grown more than 30 times from 2016. Source: myTarget research, 2017, Cisco Mobile VNI, 2017 Ad spend by video formats Mobile Video ads 80% Other video formats 6%
13. V I D E O • Leave the first video frame static: if the user’s connection is slow, static frame will draw his attention before the video actually loads. • Use right CTAs: users love the wordings “Free”, “New”, “Top” etc. • Make sure it looks good: the attention span of mobile users is short, video ads must be rigorously tested to maximize click- throughs. • Highlight exciting features: show how your gameplay is unique: levels passing, characters evolution, in-game content etc. • Use mini-reviews by bloggers: especially with hardcore games. How to make it work
14. INFLUENCERS MATTER
15. Bloggers raise awareness about the game and create the halo effect I N F L U E N C E R M A R K E T I N G L E V E R A G E S B O T H P E R F O R M A N C E A N D B R A N D I N G From 20 to 70% of the tracked installs happen to be organic Source: Zorka.Mobi 11x more ROI is generated by influencer marketing compared to traditional marketing Source: TapInfluence, 2018 Live streaming in VK&OK allows you to run letsplay videos
16. PERSONALIZATION IS A KEY
17. G I V E T H E M W H A T T H E Y W A N T Use interest targeting to find and attract those who are most likely to convert. Choose interests by relevance to the game thematic and target fan pages followers and group members. Invest time in community management to maintain contact with your existing players and keep their engagement high. Interested Audience – myTarget instrument that predicts the conversion probability using big data and machine learning technologies.
18. M A K E T H E M S T A Y Show your players you care for them: personal offerings for those who are stuck in a particular level to help them pass it; gifts, discounts and special promotions for those who haven’t played in a while. Players especially are looking for game elements and calls to action that grab their attention and resonate with personal preferences. Dynamic retargeting has proven efficient in bringing back players and increasing their loyalty.
19. U N D E R S T A N D W H Y T H E Y L E A V E Measure uninstalls Understanding why users uninstall your app provides you valuable insights about your user acquisition and retargeting strategies. It also offers valuable information about the game itself and the experience it has failed to deliver. Uninstalls are also one of the key criteria for the app stores ranking algorithms, so keeping the uninstalls rate at its lowest helps you attract more organic traffic.
20. SUCCESS STORY
22. D R E A M B O X F O R F R E E D O M Campaign period January 2017 to October 2017 Used formats • Mobile Ads (app installs banners) • Mobile Carousel • Fullscreen Video Number of installs 34 271 CPI Goal 2,3$
23. D R E A M B O X F O R F R E E D O M Stage 1: CPM & CPI based campaign, mobile ads only Audience: Male, 18-75+, members of the fan pages of SLG, RPG, Warcraft, Dota Banners: static banners set showing ingame content Results Average CTR=0,64% Average CPI=3,13$ Optimization Russian users prefer brighter, more eye-catching banners, so the creatives for the Stage 2 were optimized accordingly. Ads generating less than 1 000 impressions and CPI > 2,3$ were stopped
24. D R E A M B O X F O R F R E E D O M Stage 1: CPM & CPC based campaign, mobile carousel only Audience: Male, 18-75+, members of the fan pages of SLG, RPG, Warcraft, Dota Banners: mobile carousel Results Average CTR = 0,83% Average CPI = 2,92$ Optimization New creatives were made brighter and more interactive Client chose fast budget allocation method
25. D R E A M B O X F O R F R E E D O M Stage 3: CPM, CPC & CPI based campaign, mobile ads, mobile carousel & fullscreen video Audience: Male, 18-75+, members of the fan pages of SLG, RPG, Warcraft, Dota + Interested Audience targeting Banners: fullscreen video, added CTA into creatives Results Average CTR = 0,9% Interested Audience CTR = 3% Average CPI = 2$ Interested Audience CPI = 1,8$ Optimization Interested audience has generated higher CTR and lower CPI
26. elena.egorova@corp.mail.ru THANK YOU!