Mobile games marketing 101 guide focusing on fundamentals of user acquisition optimization, mobile advertising metrics, iterative creative process, ASO, mobile marketing team structure and KPIs.

1. Mobile Games Marketing 101 Guide
1
03.11.2019
Dima Pinchuk
dimapinchuk.dub@gmail.com

2. 1. Key Pillars of Mobile Games Marketing
2. Key Pillars of Mobile Games Marketing: Acquisition & Conversion
3. Key Pillars of Mobile Games Marketing: Retention & Monetization
4. Acquisition Optimization
5. Acquisition Optimization: Ground Rules
6. Acquisition Optimization: Normal UA Lifecycle
7. Basic Spreadsheet Template for Acquisition Campaign Planning
8. Creatives Optimization
9. Creatives Optimization: Creative Half-Life
10. Creatives Production Sprints
11. Creatives Optimization: Feedback Loop Operating Model
Content
12. Creatives Optimization: Iterations
13. Creatives Optimization: Ground Rules
14. Importance of ASO
15. ASO Ground Rules
16. Acquisition & Conversion Metrics
17. Retention & Monetization Metrics
18. Mobile Marketing Team: Main Functions
19. Mobile Marketing Team: KPIs & Metrics to Follow
20. Importance of Soft Launch
21. Deciding on a Soft Launch Market
22. Scenario of Defining Budget for Test Acquisition Campaign
23. Marketing Tools & Platforms

3. ACQUISITION & CONVERSION
RETENTION
ACQUISITION & CONVERSION
RETENTION
MONETIZATION
RE-ACTIVATION
Typical Mobile Game Acquisition Funnel
Key Pillars of Mobile Games Marketing
The main mobile marketing function that serve the
funnel best will:
• User Acquisition: Analytics & Optimization Strategy
• Creative: Brief, Delivery & Optimization Strategy
• ASO: Optimizing Discoverability & Conversion
• Monetization: Rewarded Videos & In-App Ads
• Retention: CRM, Conversions After Install & Re-
activation
The key pillars of mobile games marketing are mirroring the Funnel which represents the main stages of
a user journey Install & Re-activation

4. Key Pillars of Mobile Games Marketing: Acquisition & Conversion
User Acquisition: Analytics &
Optimization Strategy
Creative: Brief, Delivery &
Optimization Strategy
ASO: Optimizing
Discoverability & Conversion
1. To ensure CPI (CPA) < LTV
2. To maintain ad campaigns
scalability
3. To split campaigns by efficiency to
define an ad investment strategy
4. To send feedback to Development
5. To facilitate decision making on
product strategy after soft
launch/technical launch
1. Creative is located at the top of the
conversion funnel
2. Creative is the driver of acquisition
3. Creative sends early signals of the
product-market readiness
1. 50+% of games downloads are
coming from search
2. It is critical to maintain
discoverability and conversion of users
coming organically
1 2 3

5. Driving incremental revenue, maximizing players’
LTV & improving advertising ROI through:
• Rewarded videos
• Relevant In-App Ads
Monetization: Rewarded Videos & In App Ads
5Retention: CRM, Conversions After Install &
Re-activation
Improving CPAs and Retention through:
• Identifying and fixing conversion gaps
• Relevant communication with players through
segmented & A/B tested push notifications:
1. User Journey driven push notifications
2. Product Updates driven push notifications
3. Life Cycle Driven push notifications
• Communication test’s elements: time, message,
incentive, tone of voice, etc
Key Pillars of Mobile Games Marketing: Retention & Monetization
4

6. 6
Acquisition Optimization
41%
23%
16%
11%
8%
0
0.2
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0.8
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1.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Cohort X Daily RetentionMain criteria for optimization is Predictive ROI
• pred. ROI = pred. LTV/Spend
Predictive LTV is a model driven calculation that would
be based on:
• historical data from the existing products
• unit economics' benchmarks for a new game
focusing on Daily Retention and ARPDAU
where model would track Day 1,3,7,14,28 LTVs and
compare the trajectory against delta of predicted final
LTV numbers
Example of data visualization & cohort performance
analysis.
• Daily retention benchmarks for Days 1, 3, 7, 14, 28
• 7000 installs at Day 0
• ARPDAU of $0,20
User Acquisition: Analytics &
Optimization Strategy
1

7. 7
Acquisition Optimization
The model will be adjusting itself by comparing
predicted LTVs with the actual ones. The optimization
can be based on:
- CPA - cost per conversion from install to desirable
action - and early Retention stats versus pred. LTV
(existing titles)
- CPI versus pred. cARPI - average cumulated
revenue per install during lifetime (new titles)
Ideally, the campaign optimization decision should be
made 24 hours after install
Example of data visualization & cohort performance
analysis.
• Ad investment of $8540 (CPI of $1,22)
• 28D ROAS of 64%
User Acquisition: Analytics &
Optimization Strategy
1
8540
5454
-2000
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213141516171819202122232425262728
Cohort X Cumulative Revenue, % ROI

8. 8
CPA Optimization
1. Try to narrow down the attribution window for a
targeted Action/Event
2.Use proxies. Proxy is the event happening prior the
main event & indicating high chance of the main event
completion
3.Longer Lifetime leads to lower accuracy in LTV
predictions
4.It may take months to nail down LTV for
midcore/hardcore games
Acquisition Optimization: Ground Rules
User Acquisition: Analytics &
Optimization Strategy
1
CPI Optimization
1. CPI optimization is widely used for Hyper Casual
games
2.Moreover, due to the genre specifics, CPI is used
by many as the main criteria for deciding on the game’s
future
3.In other words, for an unfinished hyper casual title it
is the ad CPI that tells if it’s worth continuing the
product
Purchase traffic with broader targeting at launch: the narrow targeting data might be misleading during the scale up stage
The higher the bid is, the more inventory is available. Inventory = channels + audience. It’s not a linear function though.

9. 9
UABUDGET
TIME
NORMAL UA LIFECYCLE
Acquisition Optimization: Normal UA Lifecycle
LAUNCH
GROWTH
MATURITY
DECLINE
PRODUCT UPDATE• UA campaigns are performing their
best at the hard launch stage
• It becomes challenging to scale up
profitably at the maturity stage of a
product lifecycle
• Updates are giving the second life to a
product resulting in improved ROAS
User Acquisition: Analytics &
Optimization Strategy
1

10. 10
Source Objective Targeting Impressions Clicks CTR CPC Installs Install CR CPI Targeted Event Targeted Event
CR
CPA Budget
Facebook App Installs Interests
App Installs Custom
Audience
App Installs Lookalike
Instagram App Installs Interests
Awareness Demographics
Total
Basic Spreadsheet Template for Acquisition Campaign Planning
Campaign planning is also mirroring the user journey: from impressions at the top of the funnel till the completion of the targeted
event (action) at the bottom of it.

11. Creative: Brief, Delivery,
Optimization
Creative is at the top of the conversion funnel pursuing the
goal to drive best possible conversion rates through high
frequency of content delivery, ongoing A/B tests & iterative
optimization.
Start with the Brief by clearly defining:
• Objective
• Positioning statement
• Target Audience: demographics, behavior, brand
preferences
• Creative tech specs
Ongoing research on competition:
• Use AppAnnie and Facebook Ads Library to define
affinity games and study the competitors creatives
2
Creatives Optimization
Nail down your creative’s Job To Done
• Job To Be Done: Functional, Emotional or Social
Support your brief with the Hypothesis Statement
• Hypothesis: If [variable], then [result] because [rationale]
Example:
If we show people’s hands holding and playing the smartphone
or tablet [variable] in our ad, we will increase the click-through
rate [result] as research says that showing the practical usage
of an app increases ad efficiency [rationale].

12. 12
Creatives Optimization: Creative Half-Life
PERFORMANCE
TIME
Creative Half-Life
Creative: Brief, Delivery,
Optimization
2
• According to Google, a creative performance
has its evident half life with the point of no
return and rapid decline in performance
• The early stats of performance decline are the
sign of the upcoming rapid fall, meaning the
better half life of a creative has passed
• This is the point when the new cycle of
creative development should be launched
• Run weekly/bi-weekly creative production
sprints to be always ready to replace creatives
at the moment of rapid performance fall
NEW & EXCITING
INITIAL DECLINE
RAPID PERFORMANCE FALL
LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE LEVEL

13. Creatives Production Sprints
Creative concept
development
Production Testing
Deploy & monitor
performance
Creative concept
development
Production Testing
Deploy & monitor
performance
Creative concept
development
Production Testing
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

14. Creatives Optimization: Feedback Loop Operating Model
Run the production cycle in a non-stop mode and let it feed itself with insights from previous campaigns
FEEDBACK
LOOP
OPERATING
MODEL
Insight Mining & Hypothesis
Brief, Production, Launch
Testing
Analyze & Learn

15. Creatives Optimization: Iterations
Turn a couple of ideas into dozens of creative assets
Ad Pattern 1 v. 1.0
Ad Pattern 2 v. 1.0
Ad Pattern 3 v. 1.0
Ad Pattern 4 v. 1.0
Ad Pattern 2 v. 1.0
Ad Pattern 2 v. 1.1
Ad Pattern 2 v. 1.2
Ad Pattern 4 v. 1.0
Ad Pattern 4 v. 1.1
Ad Pattern 4 v. 1.2
Creatives’ Metrics to Track:
• CTR = clicks/impressions
• IPM = installs / thousand
impressions
• CPI = spend / installs
• Quality Score = CTR * CR install
• View Through Rate = completed
views / impressions
• Average View Duration

16. • One single & best performing creative can be the driver of the overall UA performance
• Grab attention in the first 3 seconds
• Always add subtitles: 70% of Facebook users are watching ads w/o sound
• Creative Half Life: notice the performance decline at the right time
• Organize weekly/bi-weekly creative production sprints for sustainable performance
• Run the production cycle in a non-stop mode and let it feed itself with insights from previous
campaigns
• Turn a couple of ideas into dozens of creative assets and iterate on the best performers
Creatives Optimization: Ground Rules

17. ASO: Optimizing discoverability &
conversion
3
• 30% of installs are going to position 1
• 17% of installs are going to position 2
• 12% of installs are going to position 3
• 82% of users don’t list below 25th position
BEFORE AFTER CONVERSION INCREASE
Importance of ASO

18. • Ongoing conversion optimization through A/B tests of the ASO Visual Part:
Icon, Video, Screenshots Gallery, Feature Graphic.
• Ongoing discoverability optimization: Title (iOS, Android), Subtitle (iOS,
Android), Description (iOS, Android), Short Description (Android), Keywords
(iOS only). Nota Bene: consider the “weight’ of every specific text element.
• Addressing Ratings and Reviews: reply to negativity and leverage feedback
• Ongoing search for the sweet-spots: keywords with a high Search Volume /
Difficulty ratio, indicating strong consumer demand and relatively low
competition to rank highly
• Monitoring your keyword rankings and your competitors’
• Localizing your app’s metadata to increase discoverability and conversion
across regions
• Tracking your paid vs. organic downloads mix to uncover efficacy of your
ASO efforts
• Following the best practices which are constantly updated
ASO: Optimizing discoverability &
conversion
3
TITLE
SUBTITLE
KEYWORDS
DESCRIPTION
iOS, Android
iOS, Android
iOS
Android
ASO TEXT ELEMENTS WEIGHT
ASO Ground Rules

19. User Acquisition: Analytics &
Optimization Strategy
Creative: Brief, Delivery,
Optimization
ASO: Optimizing
Discoverability & Conversion
KPIs
• Traffic Volume
• Traffic Quality
• ROI
• Budget Control
• ROAS
Metrics
• Reach
• CTR
• CPC
• CPT (Apple Search)
• Installs
• Install CR
• Quality Score
• CR into payment
• CPI
• CPA (CAC)
• newDAU
• K factor / virality
• Retention
• Spend
KPIs
• Frequency and volume of content
• Turnaround time
• Adherence to brief
• Cost Control
• Outsource Network
Metrics
• CTR
• IPM / Result Rate
• CPI
• Quality Score
• View Through Rate
• Average View Duration
• Time to Market
• Production Cost
KPIs
• Discoverability
• Conversion
Metrics
• App Units/ Impressions
• App Units/ Product Page Views
• Product Page Views/ Impressions
• Visitors
• Installs
• Conversion rates
• Uninstall rates
• Keywords ranking
• Ratings and Reviews
• Paid versus organic dwnlds mix
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
l
1 2 3
Acquisition & Conversion Metrics

20. KPIs
• Revenue
Metrics
• Incremental revenue
• LTV increase
• eCPM
• Frequency Cap
• ARPDAU
Monetization: Rewarded Videos & In App Ads
5Retention: CRM, Conversions After Install &
Re-activation
KPIs
• Retention
• Reactivation
Metrics
• Reactivation rates
• Retention rates
• PN Opt-in Rates
• PN Open rates
• Uninstall rates
• PN Disable Rates
Retention & Monetization Metrics
4

21. User Acquisition Analytics ASO
Monetization &
Retention
Creative Services
Marketing Product
Management
• Facebook &
Google Ads
• Apple Search &
SEM
• Ad Networks
• Influencer
Marketing
• User Acquisition
Analytics
• Product Analytics
• Customer
Analytics
• Financial
Analytics
• Market &
Competitor
Research
• Content &
Copywriting
• 2D Promo Art &
Graphic Design
• Video Production
• Creative
Management
• Outsource
Management
• Playable Ads
(HTML5)
• Graphic & Text
ASO
• Working with
Ratings &
Reviews
• In App
Advertising and
Rewarded Videos
• Retention
management
(PNs)
• Conversion gaps
identification and
reporting
• Product Specific
Marketing
Strategy
• Tactics, Timelines
& budgets
• Benchmarking
and reporting
• Soft Launches
and Commercial
launches
• Tech Integration
• Featuring
RE-ACTIVATION
ACQUISITION &
CONVERSION
ACQUISITION &
CONVERSION
RE-ACTIVATION
ACQUISITION &
CONVERSION
RETENTION
MONETIZATION
Mobile Marketing Team: Main Functions
RE-ACTIVATION

22. KPIs
• Traffic Volume
• Traffic Quality
• ROI
• Budget Control
• ROAS
Metrics
• Reach
• CTR
• CPC
• CPT (Apple
Search)
• Installs
• Install CR
• Quality Score
• CR into payment
• CPI
• CPA (CAC)
• newDAU
• K Factor
• Retention
• Spend
KPIs
• ROI
• Budget Control
• Reporting quality
and delivery
timing
Metrics
• Predictive model
accuracy
KPIs
• Frequency and
volume of
content
• Turnaround time
• Adherence to
brief
• Cost Control
• Outsource
Network
Metrics
• CTR
• IPM / Result Rate
• CPI
• Quality Score
• View Through
Rate
• Average View
Duration
• Time to Market
• Production Cost
KPIs
• Discoverability
• Conversion
Metrics
• App Units/
Impressions
• App Units/
Product Page
Views
• Product Page
Views/
Impressions
• Visitors
• Installs
• Conversion rates
• Uninstall rates
• Keywords ranking
• Ratings and
Reviews
• Paid versus
organic dwnlds
mix
KPIs
• Revenue
• Retention
• Reactivation
Metrics
• Incremental
revenue
• LTV increase
• eCPM
• ARPDAU
• Frequency Cap
• Reactivation
rates
• Retention rates
• PN Opt-in Rates
• PN Open rates
• Uninstall rates
• PN Disable
Rates
KPIs
• Revenue
• Profitability
• Active users
Metrics
• 360 view
User Acquisition Analytics ASO
Monetization &
Retention
Creative Services
Marketing Product
Management
Mobile Marketing Team: KPIs & Metrics to Follow

23. Importance of a Soft Launch
• Mobile Games Marketing is a gradually scaling process
• Doing a big bang campaign with millions of dollars involved is a risky endeavor when the product efficiency metrics are unknown
• Saying that, the best practice would be running the product’s soft / technical launch first before going all in
• Your app will receive validation upon soft launch. This justifies your commitment to the project, and you can continue to give it the
time and resources it requires
• The product performance in a tested market will then drive decision making process on the game’s future: Keep and Optimize, Scale
or Kill
Soft Launch Primary Objectives:
• Fix Bugs and Broken User Journeys before a hard launch
• Analyze early users' reaction
• Optimize marketing spend by testing user acquisition strategies in markets similar to their launch market
• Figure out UA budget expectations
• Test creatives and media mix
• Gather data in real-time about your apps, services and users, providing a solid foundation to continue developing
• Determine what features are popular and which could be added to provide a better service
• Test users’ LTV across different localities
Importance of Soft Launch

24. • As the games in Soft Launch phase often lack any
localization apart from English, it is proposed to
select the countries with the decent knowledge of
this language among population.
• For a more polished product which doesn’t require
high volumes of traffic for test purposes, it is advised
to soft launch in higher GDP countries.
• For a product with potentially multiple tech issues
and with high volumes of traffic required, lower GDP
and lower CPI countries can be your choice.
Belgium Denmark
Finland
Netherlands Norway
Sweden
Canada Australia
New Zealand Ireland
Higher GDP & CPI Lower GDP & CPI
MALAYSIA THAILAND
PHILIPPINES
Deciding on a Soft Launch Market

25. Objective
Test the new product through Soft launch in 2 markets by
predicting the potential product’s performance and analyze
user acquisition by looking at
• 1,3,7,14, 28 Day Retention
• Conversion into payments
• ARPDAU
• Stickiness
• Game rating and reviews
• User acquisition
• CPIs
• Organic growth
• User engagement
• Monetization
• Virality
• Conversion Bottlenecks
Assumption
Genre: Midcore game
Release stages: Soft Launch first - > Scaling Across other
territories second
Platforms: iOS
Featuring status: None
Budget: CPI * Required Volume + Creative Production Costs
CPIs Source: Chartboost , Limited information through Facebook
IQ insights, AppAnnie & Appsflyer
Volume: Calculator of Statistical Significance and industry
benchmarks by Game Analytics
Soft Launch country requirements:
• English language knowledge
• Solid GDP
• CPI
• Cost Index
• Conversion Index
Scenario of Defining Budget for Test Acquisition Campaign

26. Budgeting exercise (Demo)
Targets
Retention Day 1 – Day 28 Targeted 28th Day Retention: 8%
Conversion into paying users Targeted conversion into paying users: 5%
CPI Targeted CPI: $3.0 - $4.0
To achieve solid confidence interval of around 1pp we need about 7000 installs in a tested
cohort
Budget for One Market and One Channel
• Media Cost = 7000 * Market CPI
• + Creative Costs
Source: https://mindbox.ru/ab-test-calculator/
Option A
Option B
# of conversions # sample size conversion % confidence interval
Installs 7000
CPI A $ 3,00
CPI B $ 4,00
Budget A $ 21 000
Budget B $ 28 000
Total $ 49 000
Scenario of Defining Budget for Test Acquisition Campaign

27. Market and Competitors analysis
1. AppAnnie
2. Data Magic
ASO Analytics
1. iTunes Connect
2. Google Play Connect
3. ASO Desk (+ semantics design)
4. App Follow (+ semantics design)
Competitors’ activity analysis in app
stores
1. AdMobiSpy
2. AppAnnie
3. AppFollow
4. ASOdesk
5. Similar Web
Social media monitoring
1. Brandspotter
2. YouScan
3. Publer
Users reviews analysis from mobile
marketing channels
1. AppFollow
2. ZenDesk
Advertising automation
1. Acquired.io
Uninstall Rates analysis
1. Uninstall.io
2. In trackers
Fraud detection
1. AppsFlyer
2. Adjust
5. Sensor Tower
6. Mobile Action
7. App Twik
8. The Tool
Marketing Tools & Platforms

28. Qualitative Research and
demographics profiles designs
1. Facebook Analytics
2. App Annie
Remarketing Tools
1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Criterio
4. Remerge
5. myTarget
Incentive traffic tools
1. In-App Offer walls: Fyber, Tapjoy, IronSource
2. Paid incentive traffic: AdvertMobile, AppBooster, Push App, Wake App
In App Advertising
Appnext
UnityAds
CRM Solutions
1.Optimove
2. Braze
ASO Experiments platforms
1. Google Play Console Experiments
2. Splitmetrics
3. Store Maven
6. Vungle
7. Mobup
8. Adcolony
9. StartApp
1. FB Audience Network
2. AdMob by Google
3. Applovin
4. Unity Ads
5. Appodeal
Marketing Tools & Platforms

29. 29
Thanks
dimapinchuk.dub@gmail.com