UA Strategy for Games (White Nights Conference Helsinki 2016)

1. UA STRATEGY FOR GAMES
ANH NGUYEN – USER ACQUISITION MANAGER AT ROVIO
WHITE NIGHTS HELSINKI 2016

2.  UA Manager @ Rovio
 2 years in Rovio
 Managing global UA campaigns for Angry Birds 2,
Plunder Pirates, Nibblers…
ANH NGUYEN

3. AGENDA
 What is UA?
 Audiences
 Common UA tactics
 Paid User Acquisition

4. AUDIENCES
WHAT IS USER ACQUISITION?

5. WHAT IS USER ACQUISITION?
 User Acquisition is data drive marketing with “Return on Ad Spend” focus

6. WHAT IS USER ACQUISITION?
 User Acquisition is data drive marketing with “Return on Ad Spend” focus
 UA is mainly for F2P games

7. WHAT IS USER ACQUISITION?
 User Acquisition is data drive marketing with “Return on Ad Spend” focus
 UA is mainly for F2P games
 UA is involved in early phase of game development
 Concept, creative
 Market research
 Audiences
 Soft Launch
 Global Launch
 Post Launch / F2P game’s lifetime

8. AUDIENCES
AUDIENCES

9. AUDIENCES
 Audience types:
 Hardcore: Arrange time around gaming session
 Mid-core: Arrange gaming session around schedule
 Casual: Play games when time presents / allows

10. AUDIENCES
 Audience types:
 Hardcore: Arrange time around gaming session
 Mid-core: Arrange gaming session around schedule
 Casual: Play games when time presents / allows
 Audiences affecting your User Acquisition’s plan
 Mid-core & hard core users are very engaged but small user base -> Competing with CoC, GoW with high
CPIs
 Casual game have broader user base -> Cheaper to acquire
 UA help to validate audience, game arts, mechanic -> Possibly adjust the game accordingly

11. AUDIENCE - HOW TO TARGET CORRECT AUDIENCES?
 Use User Acquisition’s parameters
 Age
 Gender
 Country
 Platform
 Device Type
 Similar / Competitor’s games as benchmark

12. AUDIENCES
HOW TO START WITH USER ACQUISTION?

13. HOW TO START WITH UA?
 Pre-production testing
 Appstore optimization
 A/B testing at every level of UA
 Acquiring users via paid channel

14. PRE-PRODUCTION TESTING & APPSTORE OPTIMIZATION
Testing target audience
 Before game launches:
 Game concept, gameplay & character arts
 Naming
 Icon
 Appstore’s metadata

15. PRE-PRODUCTION TESTING & APPSTORE OPTIMIZATION
Testing target audience
 Before game launches:
 Game concept, gameplay & character arts
 Naming
 Icon
 Appstore’s metadata
 After game launches
 Continue optimizing whole user funnel
 Improving store conversion via A/B testing, Appstore optimization
 Keywords optimization

16. TESTING

17. TESTING

18. TESTING

19. TOOLS FOR TESTING & ASO
 Prio Launch:
 Appannie, Appscotch
 Facebook advertising
 Mobile A/B testing for ASO tools (Splitmetrics…)
 After game launches
 Google Play Store A/B testing platform
 Keywords: Appannie, Sensortower, MobileDevHQ, Google Keywords Planner tool

20. AUDIENCES
PAID USER ACQUISITION

21. PAID USER ACQUISITION
 A highly successful mobile advertising strategy leverages several ad networks to manage ad
inventory and acquire users across channels.

22. PAID USER ACQUISITION
 The Core of UA is LTV > eCPI
 Analytic is essential
Freemium Economics
By Eric Seufert

23. PAID USER ACQUISITION
 Many advertisers have 40-50% spend
outside US
 Common paid channels
 Facebook
 Video networks (AdColony, Unity, Vungle,
Applovin…)
 Chartboost
 Always exploring new channels or ad type
format (Instagram or FB Video Carousel)

24. PAID USER ACQUISITION
 To spend at scale:
 Increase CPI bid
 Increase CTR & CVR

25. CREATIVE - INCREASE CTR & CVR
CTR (Ad creative)
 High quality art
 Gameplay focused
 Video > banner
 CTA
 Characters
 Appealing to target audiences
CVR (Appstore metadata)
 ASO- display related
 Icon
 Screenshots
 Ratings & reviews
 Video
 Description

26. GOOD ADS ARE IMPORTANT

27. SUMMARY
 UA is important part of F2P game company
 Knowing your audience, picking right battle
 UA help to validate audience, game arts, mechanic
 UA does not mean having big budget to spend
 Testing & ASO are critical for every game launches
 Paid UA is all about LTV > eCPI
 If you could not bid high, focusing on optimizing toward CTR & CVR

28. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING