Let’s face it: mobile game user acquisition is like trying to get a high-end TV or console on Black Friday — it takes strategy, quick thinking, and the right tools to achieve your goals. And these days, the mobile games market is more competitive than ever.

The mobile games market isn’t the Wild West anymore; it’s a battle royale where the map keeps shrinking. After the unprecedented buzzkill of its first-ever contraction in 2022, there are now more companies duking it out for less money and maybe even fewer players. Translation? Effective user acquisition isn’t just important — it’s life-or-death for your game.

In a world where app stores are crammed tighter than a rush-hour subway, your game needs more than flashy graphics and a catchy name to stand out. Throw in privacy hurdles, skyrocketing ad costs, and the ever-present specter of ad fraud, and it’s clear this isn’t some “spray and pray” situation. 

You can’t just throw spaghetti at the wall. It’s all about precise targeting, mind-blowing creative content, and enough data-crunching to make your analytics dashboard sweat. It’s time to outplay your competitors with a killer combo of paid ads, organic reach, and engagement strategies that will make even the most skeptical gamer hit “Install.” Ready to crush it? Let’s dive in!

Want to increase your own game installs? We can help! Schedule a call with us, pronto!

Chapters

What the @#$% is mobile game user acquisition?

WTF is mobile game user acquisition? Well, think of UA as your game’s personal hype train — a finely tuned machine designed to draw in players through killer strategic marketing campaigns and organic growth initiatives. You have to know your target players, find them across the many realms of social media and game platforms, catch their eye with genius creatives, and rope them into becoming long-term monthly active users. A successful UA strategy doesn’t draw in players who are just passing by, it draws in those who are going to set up camp and stay awhile!

Paid and Organic Growth

Even though the games marketing industry is one full of friendly and helpful people, the industry itself is a cutthroat business – highly competitive with those who can’t cut it drowning in a very red ocean. It’s essential for marketers to scale their player base, drive revenue growth, and secure market visibility. 

To hit the top of the charts in such a packed space, effective UA relies on a heady mix of paid campaigns (think TikTok and Meta) and organic initiatives (think community engagement and app store optimization). Surprise: People actually watch ads (if they’re good), talk about games, and even read app store descriptions! 

Data Analysis and Iteration

As for how you make sure your lasso hits the mark? You need an analytics whiz focused on a variety of metrics, which better include important key point indicators (KPIs) like cost per install (CPI), conversion rate (CVR), and return on ad spend (ROAS), to make sure you’re being as efficient as a cyborg and not throwing your marketing budgets in the shredder.

Of course, this wouldn’t be mobile gaming without hurdles. Privacy regulations, like Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT), have made getting granular user data harder than finding a rare Pokémon. And don’t even get us started on ad fraud — that delightful little parasite eating away at your budget. Both of these, along with other factors, have contributed to the cherry on top of all of this: Rising ad costs!

But hey, marketers are scrappy, and we’ve found ways to pivot – like using first-party data and predictive modeling to aid creative differentiation and cost optimization. These are, without a doubt, two of the biggest things that now separate the winners from losers in the realm of game marketing. Though, let’s be clear: Fraud prevention tools and careful attribution analysis are also critical for safeguarding revenue loss from greedy goblins trying to game the system with illegitimate installs and ad interactions.

Holistic and Comprehensive UA

To really keep batting 100 with your user acquisition, you need to blend innovative techniques with proven best practices. That means leveraging a mix of paid channels – social media platforms, rewarded video ad networks (think IronSource and AppLovin), and so on – while continuously optimizing campaigns through testing and data analysis. 

Combining these paid UA campaigns with organic growth efforts — like influencer partnerships, user-generated content, and community building — can elevate your overall user acquisition strategy into a sustainable framework for scaling games and clinching player loyalty!

Terms You Should Know

Impressions

Impressions are how many times an ad or creative is seen by people. Fun fact: The click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who have clicked on your ad. It can be found with a simple formula: clicks ÷ impressions = CTR

Attribution

Attribution is the process of assigning value to actions users take that lead to a conversion / install (typically, this is, in part, to properly credit and pay those who helped contribute to the install – such as ad inventory suppliers).

App Store Optimization (ASO)

ASO is a tactic for increasing your app’s visibility in app stores – typically for the purpose of driving more installs. ASO incorporates keyword research, A/B testing, creative iteration, and various other methods for increasing visibility.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a tactic for increasing your app’s (or website’s) visibility in search engine results – also typically with the purpose of driving more installs. SEO incorporates keyword research and knowledge of search engine algorithms for increasing visibility.

Organic App Installs

Organic app installs are app installs that come through “organic” marketing initiatives (i.e. non-paid advertising) – such as content marketing or social media marketing. Installs driven by ASO and SEO would also typically be considered organic app installs.

Churn

Churn is the term for customers who uninstall your app after a specified time period. Your churn rate can help you understand how “sticky” your app is. Your churn rate can be calculated with this simple formula: (lost customers ÷ total customers at start of time period) x 100 = churn rate

The Importance of a User Acquisition Strategy

Honestly, your groundbreaking app or game won’t matter if no one knows it exists. A great user acquisition (UA) strategy guarantees your game doesn’t fade into oblivion among thousands of others. By targeting the right people, optimizing costs, and driving measurable results, proper user acquisition turns “just another game” into something gamers actually care about (and will download!).

But a UA strategy isn’t just about throwing ads at a wall to see what sticks. It’s a thoughtful, calculated effort to reach the right audience without draining your budget. In a market where everyone’s fighting for attention, it’s the difference between smart marketing and lighting money on fire. With metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV), you can make sure you’re getting an actual return on investment (ROI) instead of just hoping for the best.

But here’s the kicker: Acquiring users isn’t the finish line – it’s just the start. Retention is like binding magic. A good UA plan ensures new users don’t ghost you after day one (D1) by focusing on onboarding, in-app incentives, and personalized experiences. Because let’s face it: churning through users like fast food isn’t sustainable.

In the end, a serious UA strategy works smarter, not harder. It’s your secret weapon for staying relevant, profitable, and scalable in a crowded market. Skip it, and you might as well start drafting that “we’re shutting down” message now.

Types of User Acquisition for Mobile Games

Mobile game user acquisition uses a heaping handful of strategies to attract new players and drive engagement, but, broadly speaking, you can boil them down into two main buckets: paid user acquisition and organic user acquisition. Each of these has its own distinct tactics, strategies, tools, and goals – but absolutely both are required to have a successful mobile game.

Paid user acquisition relies on targeted advertising campaigns to drive installs and engagement. This approach involves using platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google Ads, TikTok, and ad networks like IronSource and AppLovin. Influencer marketing can also be considered a form of paid UA. Paid UA strategies typically include:

        • Display and Video Ads: Engaging creatives, such as rewarded video ads, playable ads, and interstitials, entice players with game previews or rewards.
        • Search Ads: Paid placements in app stores or search engines to target high-intent users.
        • Influencer Marketing: Collaborations with content creators to reach niche audiences and foster trust in the gaming community.

While ad campaigns are integral to any user acquisition effort or marketing initiative, they’ve become way more difficult to spend effectively on in the last few years due to changes in privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, etc.) and privacy rules from major providers like Apple and Google.

Despite its potential for scalability, paid UA requires careful monitoring of costs and metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC) and return on ad spend (ROAS) to ensure profitability.

Learn more about specific challenges with paid user acquisition below:

Organic User Acquisition

Organic user acquisition refers to all “unpaid” outreach – “unpaid” meaning you aren’t directly paying a provider for ad space. Obviously, organic user acquisition does still cost money in the form of social media managers and content marketing. All in all though? It’s less costly than paid UA campaigns are, and it has a longer tail, so it’s a vital part of any user acquisition effort. Key components include:

        • ASO and SEO: App store optimization (ASO) focuses on improving your game’s visibility and conversion rate in app stores by optimizing app titles, descriptions, keywords, and visuals. Search engine optimization (SEO) does the same thing for search engines! Learn more:
        • Content marketing: Content marketing utilizes blog posts, videos, and social media to build awareness and engagement. Learn more:
        • Community building: Community building entails engaging with players on social media platforms like Discord, Reddit, X, and Facebook to foster loyalty and word-of-mouth buzz. Learn more:

Organic channels aren’t just the supporting cast in your user acquisition play — they’re the secret sauce for retention, and retention is the key to sustainable growth. Why? Because organic channels let you build actual relationships with your audience. You know, the kind where they talk to you, you talk back, and suddenly you’ve got a loyal community instead of just a bunch of download stats.

Unlike paid campaigns, which are like fireworks (big, bright, and over in a flash), organic user acquisition is the gift that keeps on giving. Nail it, maintain it, and you’ll have a steady stream of users discovering your app years after you hit “Post.” Paid ads might provide instant results, but organic content is where you plant seeds and grow a forest.

Above all, it’s important to remember: Paid campaigns don’t exist in a vacuum. Run a killer ad campaign, and you’ll probably see some organic uplift — players who stumble across your game thanks to the buzz your ads created. Think of it like this: your paid ad campaign rockets your game into the app store’s Top 10, a curious player spots it there, and bam — they’re downloading because it looks popular. Organic and paid aren’t enemies, they’re teammates. Play them right, and you’ve got a winning combo.

Know Your User Acquisition KPIs

Whether you’re splashing cash on a paid ad, teaming up with an influencer, or agonizing over which shade of blue makes your app store icon pop, one thing’s non-negotiable: knowing your key performance indicators (KPIs). Key performance indicators are like a game guide for winning UA strategies. They help you measure, tweak, and optimize your efforts so you’re not flushing money down the ad-spend drain or attracting users who bounce faster than a rubber ball.

Terms to Know

Here’s a crash course in the KPIs that matter most and how they should dictate your user acquisition strategy!

Budget

A budget is one of the most basic KPIs. It’s simply the amount of money you’ve set aside to run a campaign over a specific timeline. Every campaign should have a budget and predefined scope so you aren’t simply running ads indefinitely and burning through your company’s money.

Conversion Rate (CVR)

Your conversion rate is the percentage of people who see your ad and subsequently download your app. CVR can be calculated with the following formula: (conversions ÷ impressions) x 100 = CVR

Customer Acquisition cost (CAC)

CAC is essentially how much money it costs to acquire a user. CAC can be calculated with the following formula: total marketing costs ÷ total new customers = CAC

Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)

Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the rate at which you generate revenue from an ad campaign. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on an ad campaign and get 10,000 users who spend on average $12 each on in-app purchases, then you’ve generated $120,000 from the campaign which is a ROAS of 120%. 

What specifically is the ROAS (return on ad spend) formula?

It’s pretty simple: (user generated revenue over a specific timeframe) ÷ (ad spend over the same timeframe)

Most marketers target a ROAS of at least 100% meaning you’ve recouped your entire campaign budget. Ideally you really want to be hitting above 100% though, which would mean you’re actually making profit (a very good thing!). UA campaigns which consistently perform under 100% need to be seriously evaluated for efficacy and either optimized or cut.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

ARPU measures how much revenue the average user generates – though it typically is used to measure short-term goals, as opposed to a user’s entire lifetime revenue. ARPU can be found with the following formula: total revenue ÷ total users = ARPU

Lifetime Value (LTV)

LTV is also used to gauge how much revenue a user generates – however, it covers the course of their lifetime in your app through in-app purchases or ad revenue. It’s an important KPI to keep an eye on, because you always want it to be higher than what it costs to acquire a user. High quality users greatly lift LTV.

There are multiple formulas for finding LTV, but one of the most simple is: average revenue per user per day x average number of days user is retained = LTV

Payback Window

A payback window is the amount of time it takes for marketing spend to be recovered from a user acquisition campaign. Payback windows vary wildly by business objectives but span from 30, 60 or 90 on the low end, to 180 or 365-day or even multi-year payback at the high end.

A typical model for payback window analysis is to measure your cohorts by a Dx ROAS percentage. If you have a D90 payback target, that is the point at which your cohorts need to be hitting 100% ROAS. 

In order to make sure your cohorts are on this trajectory, it’s important to measure your cohort maturation against early ROAS targets which map to a cohort maturation curve which will derive 100% ROAS by your payback window. 

Historically, game growth marketers have had granular channel and user level data which enabled companies to accurately and cleanly measure revenue and cost and operate with a high confidence that their ad spend was backing out profitability within their payback windows. 

With the loss of granular IDFA data due to ATT, there is much more ambiguity regarding the value of specific player cohorts across some marketing channels. This has caused many advertisers to become more conservative with their payback projections, shortening their payback periods.

Why KPIs Matter

Tracking these KPIs enables teams to:

        • Identify Success: Recognize high-performing campaigns and reallocate resources accordingly.
        • Highlight Challenges: Detect underperforming strategies and troubleshoot them promptly.
        • Ensure Profitability: Confirm that user acquisition costs remain below user-generated revenue.
        • Refine Campaigns: Use data-driven insights to iterate and optimize future efforts.

Making KPI monitoring part of your UA workflow isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s your secret weapon for transparency and clarity, staying laser-focused on your business goals, and building a foundation for sustainable growth. Sure, everyone loves a quick win (hello, low CAC!), but don’t forget to play the long game. Balancing those short-term gains with powerhouse metrics like LTV is how you go from “flash in the pan” to actual holistic success.

Media Billing Models

Sure, tracking general KPIs is great, but if you really want to level up, you’ve got to dig into the specifics — especially when it comes to top-of-funnel ad performance. These KPIs are the crystal ball for your marketing funnel, showing you exactly how your campaigns are doing and where you might be leaking potential players. Nail these metrics, and you’ll be unstoppable. Ignore them at your own peril!

Cost Per Click (CPC)

CPC is one of the most common media buying models. In CPC, an advertiser pays a vendor, such as a game developer or advertising network, for every click on their ads. These are especially common for UA campaigns where the goal is to drive traffic to a certain digital property. 

The formula for CPC is: ad cost ÷ ad clicks = CPC

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

CPM is another very common media buying model. In CPM user acquisition campaigns, the advertiser pays for every 1,000 impressions – AKA ad views (mille being Latin for 1,000). These are great for when you want to raise awareness but don’t necessarily need to drive traffic anywhere. 

The formula for CPM is: (ad spend ÷ impressions) x 1,000 = CPM

Installs Per Mille (IPM)

IPM is often a better way to measure an ad’s effectiveness than CPM or CPC – as they are based on installs, instead of simple ad views or clicks (which are not always intentional). 

The formula for IPM is: (installs x 1000) ÷ impressions = IPM

Cost Per Install (CPI)

In CPI user acquisition campaigns, advertisers pay for every install that can be attributed to an ad placement. This can be great for increasing your install rate, but the quality of installs can vary from vendor to vendor and the cost associated with CPI user acquisition campaigns are generally high. CPI campaigns are best coupled with specific granular targeting. 

The formula to find your CPI is: campaign spend ÷ installs = CPI

If you’re ready to grow your game with killer paid advertising campaigns, reach out to us! We have years of expertise, proprietary media modeling, and a strong track record of success!

Craft Your Mobile Game User Acquisition Strategy

Alright, now that you’ve got the basics of mobile gaming user acquisition down and know the building blocks, it’s time to start flexing your games growth muscles. A solid plan isn’t just about throwing ads into the void — it’s about reaching the right players, squeezing the most out of your marketing dollars, and setting your game up for long-term domination. Ready to craft a killer UA strategy that’ll take your game to the next level? Let’s break it down, step by step.

Identify Your Target Audience

There are two approaches to creating a product-market fit for a game. One is to build the game you have in mind and then find an audience that fits it. The other is to find an underrepresented audience and build a game that caters to them.

Define Your Audience Early

Begin by deciding whether to build a game for a predetermined audience or identify an underserved audience and create a game tailored to them. This decision shapes the foundation of your UA strategy. Niche audiences often offer lower competition and higher engagement, making them an excellent choice for developers seeking sustainable growth.

Develop Player Personas

Player personas are detailed profiles that encapsulate the motivations, needs, and preferences of your ideal players. These personas help pinpoint where potential users are most likely to be found and how to design marketing messages that resonate.

Examples of Mobile Game Personas

Key components of a player persona include:

            • Demographics: Age, gender, and geographic location.
            • Psychographics: Interests, motivations, and values.
            • Behavioral Insights: Gaming habits, platform preferences, and social media usage.

Tracking and analyzing existing players’ behavior inside analytics platforms can provide key insights for building accurate player personas. If you’re unable to do this, then using social media data and surveys to gather insights can yield similar results.

Developing accurate personas is important for deciding where you will ultimately place ads, what social media platforms you’ll build a presence on, and what mechanics and narratives your game will have.

Test Different Demographics

Don’t forget to test different demographics as well. Even if you’ve identified your main audience, you may be surprised at the traction you get in different age groups, geos, genders, etc. Small-scale ad campaigns targeting different groups can yield surprising results.

            • Tools for the job: Your in-game analytics platform, app store analytics, Facebook data and analytics, Google Trends, Google alerts for mentions of your game, genre, etc.

Continually Gather and Analyze Player Data

It is important to note that keeping tabs on your target audience should be a continual part of your user acquisition and retention efforts. Gaming trends and gamers are constantly changing – and the types of gamers who are drawn to your game may not be the same from one year to the next.

Scope out the Competition

Getting a feel for the competition goes hand-in-hand with identifying your target audience and creating a game. If you find out the competition for the game genre you’re thinking of going with is stiff, for instance, you might want to try out a genre with less competition.

Much like with your target audience, keeping tabs on the competition should be a continual part of your user acquisition strategy. 

Begin by researching the genre and audience of your game. Identify competitors in your niche and evaluate their performance metrics.

            • What to Look For: Player demographics, download trends, revenue insights, and marketing strategies.
            • Why It Matters: Understanding what works for competitors can help you adapt successful strategies while avoiding oversaturated markets​.

Evaluate Competitor Strengths and Weaknesses

List your direct and indirect competitors and assess their strengths and shortcomings. This could include:

            • Gameplay mechanics and features.
            • Monetization models, such as in-app purchases or ads.
            • App store ratings and reviews.

Use this information to identify areas where you can outperform your competition or offer a unique experience. For example, if players frequently complain about long load times in a competitor’s game, you can pre-emptively avoid such issues by ensuring your game has quick load times – and leverage that fact in your own marketing​.

Examine Advertising Strategies

Analyze your competitors’ advertising efforts, including:

            • Ad Placements: Platforms like TikTok, Meta, and YouTube.
            • Creative Styles: Ad formats, messaging tone, and visual design.
            • Player Response: Read comments (and analyze “reacts”, if available on the platform) to see how gamers are responding to your competitors’ ads. This can help you understand what to avoid and what to emulate.

By analyzing competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, you can uncover opportunities to refine your go-to-market strategy, optimize marketing efforts, and attract players.

Explore Community Engagement

Competitor communities on platforms like Discord, Reddit, or Facebook can be goldmines of information. Observe:

            • Engagement Levels: Active discussions, feedback, and user-generated content.
            • Player Pain Points: Issues players want resolved.
            • Brand Perception: How players view the competitor and their loyalty level.

Understanding these dynamics allows you to improve your engagement strategy and foster stronger connections with your audience.

Use Competitive Intelligence Tools

Leverage tools designed to streamline competitive analysis, such as:

            • Sensor Tower: Provides rankings, ad insights, and user behavior data.
            • Google Trends and Alerts: Track relevant trending topics and competitor mentions.

These tools help you stay updated on market movements and position your game strategically.

            • Tools for the job: Apptopia, Sensor Tower, Similarweb, Facebook Ad Library, Google Trends, and Google Alerts.

Include App Store Optimization (ASO)

App store optimization (ASO) is critical for anyone making mobile apps. No visibility = no downloads = no revenue. Well-executed ASO enhances your game’s visibility and conversion rates in app stores – ensuring discoverability and driving organic downloads. For this reason, app store optimization is a cornerstone of mobile game user acquisition.

ASO can be broken down into two focuses: discoverability and conversion. Both are important for overall game marketing success.

Discoverability Optimization

Discoverability focuses on the things you need to do in order for people to see your app to begin with. It also focuses on keeping app ratings high. These all impact where and how your app shows up in search results, top charts, and promotional or featured sections of an app store.

            • Keywords: Incorporate high-traffic, low-competition keywords into your game title, subtitle, and description. Use A/B testing to determine the most effective combinations.
            • App Categories: Choose relevant and popular categories to position your game effectively against competitors.
            • Ratings and Reviews: Encourage user feedback to maintain high ratings and actively respond to reviews to build trust.

Conversion Optimization

Conversion testing focuses on the things you need to do in order for people who have already seen your app to take the leap and download it. Similar to discoverability optimization, it also focuses on A/B testing icons, keywords, and the like. But there is also a strong focus on testing out different preview videos, screenshots, and descriptions.

            • Visual Assets: High-quality icons, screenshots, and preview videos are crucial for making a compelling first impression.
            • Descriptions and Texts: Write concise, engaging descriptions that highlight unique features and value propositions.
            • A/B Testing Visuals: Experiment with different icons and screenshots to identify designs that boost click-through rates.

Key App Store Components

An app store has a lot of moving parts. It’s important to understand what all these parts are to ensure you’re making the best decisions possible when it comes to your ASO strategies.

App Store Product Page Sections

Product Landing Page

The product landing page for a mobile game contains everything a user needs to know about the game itself and is where players can download the game.

It prominently displays the game title and game icon, provides a synopsis of the game, lists the mobile game developer and/or publisher, shows the aggregate rating of the game, includes game reviews, and often shows data such as how many downloads the game has and how large the game is.

The product landing page contains the following important elements for A/B testing or iteration: App Title, Subtitle, App Icon, App Previews, Screenshots, App Description, Promotional Text, Ratings & Reviews, Keywords, In-App Purchases & Subscriptions, What’s New, Categories, and Localization.

Storefront

The storefront, or front page, is where users land when opening an app store directly. Each app store is a little different, but it typically includes featured apps, a search bar, and quick access to top charts, app discounts, and category pages.

Featured apps may be hand-picked by an app store’s editors or algorithmically generated by the app store based on the user’s interests. In either case, they typically only feature apps with high user ratings and a fair volume of downloads and revenue.

Top charts

Top charts highlight the most popular apps. They are typically broken down by most downloaded and top grossing. Often they can be segmented by free or paid apps and by app category as well. In order to appear here, you typically need to have a significant amount of downloads and revenue behind your mobile game.

“Breakout” apps – new apps seeing quick and strong growth – may also be featured in this area. This allows new apps that don’t have the download or revenue volume to appear in top charts to be featured prominently.

Category pages

Category pages provide category-specific top charts and featured apps, allowing people to dig deeper into a specific area they are interested in than they could from the top charts or storefront alone.

Gaming apps are typically broken down into the following categories: Action, Adventure, Arcade, Board, Card, Casino, Casual, Family, Educational, Music, Puzzle, Racing, Role Playing, Simulation, Sports, Strategy, Trivia, and Word.

Discounts page

Many app stores feature a section dedicated to app discounts and sales. It’s a great place to find a great app at a bargain price. To appear in this section, you must be running a deal on your mobile game.

Search bar

The search bar is typically accessible anywhere in the app store. It’s also the main go-to for finding an app through an app store search. Over 60% of app downloads come via the search result in app stores. Because of this, an Apple search ad or Google ad can be very effective.

Key KPIs and Metrics for ASO

ASO has its own subset of KPIs to watch to ensure that the changes you’re making are effective to your larger user acquisition goals. Here is a look at several of the most important app store optimization KPIs – and how they’re affected.

Downloads and Installs (CR)

The most basic metric to watch is how your ASO impacts downloads and installs of your mobile game. This is also one of the main metrics typically used for ranking in the stores top charts (the others being gross revenue and user ratings). This metric also factors into your conversion rate (CR).

conversion rate equation

Gross Revenue (ARPU, LTV)

Gross revenue is another basic metric of success for your mobile game – and also impacts the ranking of your mobile game in app store charts. It’s also a component of figuring out KPIs such as Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and Lifetime Value (LTV).

average revenue per user equation

User Ratings and Reviews (CR)

User ratings impact how your mobile game shows up in search results and top charts, so it’s important to humbly read user reviews, implement feedback when necessary, and respond to complaints. Because ratings and reviews are a window into your app for newcomers, they impact conversion rate (CR).

Keyword, Category, Chart Rankings (CR)

Keywords, categories, and top charts all go hand-in-hand. The categories you select for your mobile game will dictate what charts and sections it shows up under in the app store. Every keyword will dictate when and where your app is found in search results. You always want to optimize for low competition and high volume – which affects your conversion rate (CR).

Icon, Name, Subtitle (CTR)

Ranking high in keywords, categories, and top charts is only half the battle. The other half of the battle is getting people to click on your app when they see it. This is measured by the click-through rate (CTR), which is impacted most by your icon, mobile game name, and subtitle.

Continuously Iterate Your ASO

ASO is not a one-time task. Regular updates based on user behavior, market trends, and competitive analysis ensure sustained visibility and performance. By combining data insights with creative adjustments, developers can refine ASO strategies for maximum impact.

By embedding a strong ASO framework into the broader user acquisition strategy, mobile game developers can secure an organic edge in the competitive gaming market while complementing paid marketing efforts.

Don’t Forget Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is the process of iterating on your website to make sure its pages are appearing higher in search results on Google and other search engines. Much like ASO does for app stores, SEO enhances your game’s discoverability and conversion on aforementioned search engines. By properly optimizing your website and its content for search engines, you can attract organic traffic, engage potential players, and drive downloads – making it an effective, cost-efficient, complementary component to your overall user acquisition strategy.

Here are the key components of effective search engine optimization.

Website Optimization

            • Metadata: Ensure titles, meta descriptions, and headers include relevant high-traffic, low-competition keywords. For instance, depending on your game’s genre, keywords like “casual puzzle game” or “top RPG mobile game” could improve search rankings and attract your target audience.
            • Mobile-Friendliness: A responsive website design ensures optimal user experience across devices, which is crucial for mobile game audiences.
            • Page Load Speed: Faster-loading pages improve search engine rankings and reduce bounce rates.

Content Marketing

            • Create blog posts, game guides, and videos that are optimized for relevant keywords. This establishes authority and drives traffic.
            • Leverage evergreen content to maintain consistent visibility. Topics like “top strategies for winning in [game name]” can remain relevant and valuable over years.

Backlinking and Social Signals

            • Generate backlinks from reputable gaming websites, blogs, and forums to improve search rankings.
            • Promote content through social media platforms to drive engagement, which can indirectly boost SEO.

Keyword Strategy

There are several tools to help you decide which search terms, or keywords, you should be focusing on for your search engine optimization. Firstly, you should find out what keywords people are already using to find you by connecting your website to something like Google Search Console.

Remember when we talked about competitor research above? What search terms did you use to learn who your competitors are and what they are doing? Those could also be great keywords to pursue so you’re showing up as an alternative alongside your competitors.

Ultimately though, you’ll want to use tools that allow you to see how many people use a search term in a given month vs. how many companies are ranking for those search terms.

            • Conduct keyword research to identify terms with high search volume and low competition. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help refine your strategy.
            • Focus on long-tail keywords such as “best free mobile puzzle games” to capture specific search intent and reduce competition.

Once you know the keywords you want to use, you can use additional SEO tools to help you create content that will rank for those keywords.

            • Tools for the job: Tools like Google Search Console can assist you in finding out how people are discovering your website. Tools like Moz can help you discover high-ranking keywords. Tools like MarketMuse can help you craft content that ranks highly for specific keywords.

Localization

            • Optimize content for different languages and regions to capture a global audience.
            • Include region-specific keywords and cultural references to improve relevance in localized search results.

Choose the Right Channels

In mobile game user acquisition, selecting the right channels is vital for reaching your target audience efficiently – and maximizing ROI in the process. The right combination of channels allows marketers to diversify their campaigns, reduce reliance on any single source, and capture a broad spectrum of potential players.

When it comes to choosing the right channels to engage with your audience, there is an abundance of choices, but they can largely be broken down into two buckets: organic channels and paid channels – though there is some overlap between the two. A balanced approach that incorporates both ensures sustainable growth and consistent user engagement.

Paid channels come in a few different flavors. There are your everyday ad platforms, social media ad platforms, and CTV/OTT ad platforms.

Popular Paid Marketing Channels: Social Media (Facebook), Web (Google), App Store (Apple), Ad Platforms (Unity, ironSource, AppLovin).

Social media ad platforms

Social media ad platforms are ad platforms run by individual social media companies. These include Meta for Business (for Facebook and Instagram ads), LinkedIn Ads, X Ads (formerly Twitter Ads), TikTok Ads, and more. Since these platforms typically have the most data about their users, they’re the best for segmentation and targeting.

Ad networks and rewarded video platforms

The largest ad platforms allow you to find ad space across the web or mobile spaces through ad networks. Major ad platforms with ad networks include Unity, Digital Turbine / AdColony, AdMob,and AppLovin. These are great for broadstroke campaigns that raise brand awareness. These platforms also specialize in rewarded video – one of the most compelling ad formats for acquiring users.

Paid search platforms

Paid search platforms are essentially a subcategory of the ad platforms mentioned above, but deserve their own space because they leverage organic searches. With paid search, you can display an ad above the search results of a query – making it a great tool if you know how people tend to find you or your competitors in organic searches. Google Ads and Apple Search Ads are the main heavyweights in this category.

CTV/OTT ad platforms

CTV and OTT ads target viewers streaming shows and movies through various platforms such as Hulu and Netflix. These are among the most opaque platforms to run ads through, but can still be useful if you know your audience watches certain programming. Hulu and Netflix run their own ad platforms, while platforms like Vibe and Mntn connect to a host of other streaming service providers or smart TVs.

Organic Uplift

One thing to remember about paid user acquisition campaigns is that they lead to organic uplift. Paid conversions lead to organic conversions through word-of-mouth and social sharing. Additionally paid conversions increase app store rankings – which makes it easier for your mobile game app to be seen and purchased organically by prospective players.

                • Tools for the job: Largely mentioned above, but to provide a quick summary: Meta for Business, Google Ads, Apple Search Ads, Unity, AppLovin, Vibe, etc.

Organic Channels

In order to ensure your game continues to grow and thrive, it’s imperative that you’re not simply hawking ads, but nurturing the seeds they plant. Without an organic online presence, ad efficacy will quickly fall and player retention will be much more difficult. Additionally, organic channels allow you to raise brand awareness and increase player loyalty in a much more cost-efficient manner than ads can.

Popular social media channels

Social media platforms

Social media platforms are the most obvious organic lever in any marketer’s arsenal. Facebook pages and X handles (formerly Twitter handles) are pretty standard industry-wide – but it’s important to gauge where your audience is to make the best choice to focus your time and resources. You may be surprised to find that your audience mostly hangs out on Pinterest!

Social media is also often the front line for player questions, complaints, praise, and other engagement. So it’s important to be easily accessible and respond to messages and comments in a timely manner.

Online communities

Outside of standard social media profile pages, you can also build online communities. Some popular platforms for building online communities include Reddit and Discord. Reddit is especially popular for sharing user-generated content (more on that in a moment), while Discord is popular for real-time user engagement – such as chatting, watch-parties, live events, and community help.

Both Discord and Reddit are popular for AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions – where fans have the opportunity to ask direct questions to those they follow. These are great for engaging with both your current audience and pulling in new fans. Just make sure to remain tactful as well as fun and personable.

Testing Channels

Starting with small ad campaigns can be a great way to test the waters for a channel. It will allow you to see the segmentation and targeting the platform offers, plus you’ll be able to get a feel for how much traction you might expect to get. It’s important to be consistent in testing to get the clearest results, but if you’re seeing a lot more traction on one channel vs. another, it generally makes sense to focus your efforts there.

It can be a bit more difficult to test organic channels and online community platforms – as once you’ve started engaging with an audience on one of these, you don’t want to abandon them. Instead, make sure to do your research beforehand – if your competitors are doing well on a platform, chances are you will find an audience there too. Make sure to read up on the best practices for engagement on the platforms you ultimately select as well.

            • Begin with small campaigns across multiple platforms to assess effectiveness.
            • Use A/B testing for ad creatives and targeting strategies.
            • Regularly analyze KPIs such as click-through rates (CTR) and customer acquisition costs (CAC) to optimize campaigns.

If you must leave a platform once you’ve curated a following, even a small one, be sure to be transparent with them about the reasons why you’re leaving and provide them with an alternative platform to connect with you on.

            • Tools for the job: Native platform tools, MMPs, and other data analytics tools, such as the Upptic Growth Platform, can all help you to make sense of which channels are performing for you and which are not.

Utilizing a Multi-Channel Approach

It’s important not to silo yourself or be invisible on platforms where your target audience and players are. A multi-channel approach ensures visibility, resilience, and scalability.

            • Combine paid channels for rapid user acquisition with organic channels for ongoing engagement.
            • Balance experimentation with proven strategies to identify high-performing channels.
            • Utilize analytics to monitor channel-specific performance and adjust budget allocations.

Make use of Content Marketing

Content marketing is an essential part of a mobile game user acquisition strategy. It focuses on creating and sharing valuable, engaging, and relevant content to attract and retain players. By building a connection with your audience, content marketing enhances your brand’s visibility, improves engagement, and drives organic growth.

Organic content comes in three flavors – evergreen content you produce yourself, interactive content meant to engage with your players, and content created by your fans. Both are great for both user acquisition and retention – but for different reasons.

Evergreen Content

Evergreen content is content you produce regularly to raise brand awareness and engage with your audience. This can include blog articles, podcasts, webinars, live streams, and more. Evergreen content can be a great lever for increasing your search engine optimization (SEO) ranking – especially through longform blog articles.

But it can also keep your audience engaged with you outside of your game. Many game players love hearing about the work of their favorite game developers on podcasts and live streams – and if there is an opportunity to help develop the questions or topics of such content, they will gladly offer input.

            • Examples: Blog posts, game guides, trailers, gameplay walkthroughs, developer diaries, and behind-the-scenes insights.
            • Purpose: Showcase your game, connect with players, distribute important updates, and improve search engine rankings.

Interactive Content

Unlike evergreen content, interactive content encourages active user participation, fostering a sense of agency and involvement. This type of content is particularly great for engaging with current players of your game – increasing overall retention. It can also drive new traffic to your game when people see their friends engaging with and sharing your interactive content.

Some examples of interactive content include quizzes (such as “Find out which character from [game name] you are!”), polls (such as “What would you like to see in an upcoming DLC?”), and AMAs (“Ask Me Anything”) where people can submit any questions they want about the game for the game creators to answer.

            • Examples: Polls, quizzes, AMAs, etc.
            • Purpose: Drive engagement and build loyalty with current players – as well as expose prospective players to your game and its features.

User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-generated content, often abbreviated as UGC, is any content that your audience makes that can be leveraged for marketing. For instance, many game players will create fanart incorporating their favorite game characters.

Encouraging players to do this and showcasing the art they send your way is a great way to not only engage with your players, show you value them, and increase retention, but also a great organic marketing opportunity – as your fans will share their art across their own social platforms as well, increasing your brand awareness through word-of-mouth.

Other forms of user-generated content include cosplaying, fan films, fan fiction, game mods, and more. While there is certainly a line to be drawn between earnest adoration and intellectual property (IP) theft, keep in mind that each of these is an opportunity to connect with a fan and for your game to be seen by new segments of people.

Web3 games can take this a step further by allowing players to create in-game assets which can be traded in digital marketplaces – opening up whole new realms of collaboration between marketers, developers, and players.

            • Examples: Fan art, game mods, and community-created guides.
            • Purpose: Encourage players to participate in your game’s ecosystem and amplify reach through their networks.

Combine Paid and Organic User Acquisition

As mentioned earlier, neither paid nor organic acquisition will give you what you need to scale your game. Both must be used in a holistic manner. In general, keep in mind the following funnel: Paid acquisition → organic uplift → organic acquisition → repeat.

If your game growth is a campfire, paid acquisition will always be your starter fuel through organic uplift. But once the fire gets going, organic acquisition is the giant sustainable logs that keep the fire going. You will need to continue to add new logs (organic acquisition) and use fresh starter fuel (paid acquisition and organic uplift) to keep the fire going – but ultimately, the logs (organic acquisition) are providing the bulk of your fire (games growth).

Paid & Organic Acquisition Together

Use Automation Whenever Possible

Automation has been a game-changer for the marketing industry – allowing companies and individuals to do much more with much less time and manpower. If you’re not using automation in your everyday marketing, then you’re playing a losing game with your competitors – as you will never get as good of a return on investment (ROI) or return on ad spend (ROAS) as they do.

Many ad bids are now automated by default. All you need to do is plug in your parameters (target audience, date range, geos, budget, etc.), set the maximum price you’ll accept for ad space, and let the platform do the rest of the work.

Outside of ad bidding though, automation is also very useful for A/B testing in app store optimization (ASO), creating and testing different creative elements, iterating quickly on designs and marketing campaigns, managing social media, and much more. Make sure to take advantage of a variety of different automation tools.

Focus on Making Great Creatives

Great creatives help attract high-quality users who won’t churn. It’s important to use a variety of creatives for your paid and organic campaigns – keeping in mind that some platforms cater to different ad formats. It’s also important to A/B test your creatives and continue optimizing them with automation and data-driven insights.

Mobile Game Ad Formats

Here is a look at several of the most popular creative formats.

Mobile Game Ad Types

Banners ads

A banner ad is the simplest form of mobile game advertising. Inside a game, they are typically small rectangular ads that are displayed at the top or bottom of the screen. Banner ads can be static or animated and are usually less than 30 seconds in length.

Outside of a game they appear mostly in the margins of websites. Due to ad blindness, also known as banner noise, these are among the least effective types of ads. However, they still have some utility in user acquisition especially because they are generally low cost compared to other ad types (and they work surprisingly well on things like weather apps!).

Interstitial ads

An interstitial ad is a full-screen ad that is displayed between game levels or at other natural breaks in gameplay. They are typically 15-30 seconds in length and can be either skippable or non-skippable. These can be very effective because the advertiser has a captive audience and is able to weave a short narrative while they have players’ attention. 

Playable ads

Playable ads allow users to play a simplified game experience before downloading it. These ads are very effective because they make the advertising experience more dynamic than ever before. Instead of a video or static advertisement that can be buried, ignored, or overlooked, playable ads allow users to try before they buy. This is more effective for advertisers, as more downloads come from players that have already tried the game before.

Rewarded ads

Rewarded ads are, quite simply, ads that users are rewarded for viewing. Most commonly these come in the form of rewarded video ads that players can watch in exchange for in-game currency or useful in-game items.

Incentivized ads

Incentivized ads are ads that reward players in one game for completing objectives in another game. For instance, an ad in Game 1 might tell a user to finish Quest X in Game 2 in order to receive 200 gold coins in Game 1. As you can see, while rewarded ads reward players for simply viewing an ad, incentivized ads actually move the player into the other game to complete an action and receive their reward – increasing the likelihood of conversion and retention.

Native ads

Unlike other ads, a native ad, ideally, doesn’t look out of place at all. It’s embedded so cohesively with the surrounding game environment that it just seems like part of the game. Examples are finding a poster inside a locker during a stealth game or hearing a radio spot in your car on a driving sim.

Search ads

Search ads are ads that show up in search engine results. These are best equipped with high-volume, low-competition keywords that are relevant to your game or audience. Understanding your user is exceptionally useful when working with search ads. Search ads are typically text-only and must direct to a web page (search engines) or app product page (app stores).

Video ads and posts

Video ads are typically 15-30 seconds in length and can be either skippable or non-skippable. Within a game, skippable video ads give players the option to skip the ad after a few seconds, while non-skippable video ads must be watched to completion. Often a video ad can also be combined with game mechanics to act as a rewarded video ad.

On a social media platform, video ads and organic video posts are typically much more engaging and effective vs. static ads and posts. Like with in-game video ads, it’s best to keep social media video creatives to 15-30 seconds. It’s also highly recommended that all video creatives come with subtitles, as it’s estimated that anywhere from 75%-95% people have sound off on their devices by default.

Static ads and posts

Static creatives are still pictures – sometimes combined with captions or written posts. Like banner ads, these are less effective due to the fact they don’t catch people’s attention as much as more eye-catching creatives like video. However, they can still be quite useful – especially on social media. Using memes and other static imagery can be a great way to engage with your audience.

Here is a snapshot of the most successful creative trends we’ve seen working recently.

The Rise of User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-generated content has become a dominant force in mobile game advertising due to its authenticity and relatability. Players resonate more with content that mirrors organic, real-life experiences rather than highly polished advertisements.

                • Why It Works: UGC-style creatives feel native to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, blending seamlessly into user feeds. Ads showcasing a casual over-the-shoulder gameplay recording or someone interacting naturally with a game on their phone often outshine overly produced trailers.
Cozy Vibes and Relatable Scenarios

This trend emphasizes ads that depict comforting and familiar moments to attract viewers. Cozy vibes, such as showing someone playing a game while enjoying coffee, tap into users’ desire for relaxation. Similarly, relatable scenarios like waiting in line can effectively showcase the game as a go-to entertainment option during downtime.

                • Impact: These scenarios make ads feel less intrusive and more like an authentic part of everyday life, enhancing engagement and trust.
Developer-Style Interviews

Authenticity takes center stage with this trend, as game developers or team members share insights about their game in short, unscripted videos. This personal touch fosters a deeper connection between players and the creators behind the game.

                • Key Benefit: These interviews humanize the game development process and create a sense of trust and transparency with potential players.
Over-the-Shoulder Videos and Live Playthroughs

These formats provide an unfiltered look into gameplay:

                • Over-the-Shoulder Videos: Viewers see the game from a first-person perspective, often accompanied by a personal commentary or gameplay tip.
                • Live Playthroughs: Real-time demonstrations showcase genuine reactions, highlighting the game’s mechanics and user experience.
                • Why It’s Effective: Both approaches build trust by offering transparency and helping users visualize how they might experience the game.
Informative and Value-Driven Content

Ads that go beyond selling and offer value — such as gameplay tips, walkthroughs, or unique strategies — are increasingly favored. This content draws players in by providing utility rather than a hard sell.

                • Example: An ad that explains “5 tricks to master level 10” feels more engaging and useful, especially for retargeting campaigns, and can increase overall player retention and reduce churn.
Declining Trends: AI Voiceovers and Fake Gameplay
              • AI Voiceovers: Although AI-generated voiceovers are efficient, their robotic tone often fails to convey the authenticity players seek.
              • Fake Gameplay: Misleading ads that misrepresent actual game mechanics have lost traction. Ad-skeptical players now demand transparency and truth.

Cross-Promote Your Mobile Game

Cross-promotion in mobile game advertising refers to the act of placing ads or other promotion for one of your mobile games into another one of your mobile games. This is a good idea for a few reasons: 

          • Active players of one game will be familiar with and appreciate your quality of work and, therefore, be more inclined to try another game of yours.
          • Assuming both games are on the same platform, conversion is more likely. 
          • Assuming both games are the same genre, conversion is more likely. 
          • It’s essentially free advertising.

So, you should definitely cross-promote your games whenever you can – especially, if you have multiple games of the same genre on the same platform!

          • Tools for the job: Service providers like Ironsource and Adikteev offer in-app cross-promotion tools for app developers.

Utilize Multi-Platform and Cross-Platform Gaming

Multi-platform games are simply games that are released on multiple platforms. The benefits of a multi-platform game are, first and foremost, the ability to capture players outside of a single gaming ecosystem. That said, in many cases, making a multi-platform game also means a longer development period and additional resource allocation for maintenance.

Cross-platform gaming takes this a step further by allowing people on one platform, like Playstation, to play the same game with people on another platform, like Android. One of the most well-known examples of a cross-platform game is Fortnite. Additionally, some cross-platform games allow players to switch between devices without losing their in-game progress (though they usually have to purchase the game for each platform they play it on). This is sometimes known as cross-progression.

Multi-Platform vs. Cross-Platform

Cross-platform games often require even more development and maintenance than multi-platform games, as well as the proper infrastructure, so making one should not be considered lightly. However, as more and more people game on multiple platforms, and the process for doing this becomes easier and easier thanks to technological advancements, it can definitely provide a competitive advantage.

Ultimately, you need to balance the resources required to create and maintain your game app across these different ecosystems with the return you get on doing so. That said, it’s not uncommon to find many apps and games available in at least Apple iOS’s App Store and Android’s Google Play.

And since Apple is much more stringent about which apps are allowed in the App Store, it’s practically a given that if your app is approved there it will also be approved for Google Play. On the other hand, if you’re thinking of expanding your Google Play app to Apple’s App Store, you will want to make sure you have all your bases covered before proceeding.

          • Tools for the job: Unreal Engine and Unity are a couple of the top game development tools – and many plugins are available for cross-platform development. Both allow you to create games for iOS and Android. If you’re planning to put your game in both the App Store and Google Play, make sure to check out all the requirements and restrictions for each store beforehand.

The last few years have been full of ups and downs for the mobile marketing and gaming industries. Here is a look at a couple of the top trends and how to alleviate the pressures associated with them

Privacy Concerns

Mobile marketing is built on data. Over the last decade, the industry has built efficient and holistic pipelines for capturing data, analyzing that data, and making data-driven decisions. Then, in 2021, Apple released its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework with iOS 14.5 – effectively gutting the ecosystem the industry had built.

ATT effectively cut marketers and developers off from important data about their ad viewers and app purchasers – not only making segmentation and targeting more difficult, but also making ad attribution more difficult. Apple created SKAdNetwork (SKAN) as a solution, but marketers throughout the industry have found it less than adequate compared to what they previously had.

While Apple created its App Tracking Transparency framework amid consumer and government concerns regarding data privacy, there’s no doubt that Apple has benefited from this chaos. Indeed, more marketers are turning to first-party solutions like Apple Search Ads to fill in gaps they now have with third-party data and solutions.

Similarly, Google is also on the road to limiting the data that marketers and developers receive – both on the Android platform and across the web – with the company developing its Privacy Sandbox and ultimately planning to phase out third-party cookies and GAID (Google Advertising ID).

While the last few years have been tumultuous, and the next few years look to be equally tumultuous, there are some solutions to help mitigate the issues these changes have caused.

Solution: Use shorter predictions and payback windows

A lack of data makes predictions more, well, unpredictable. In order to compensate for the lack of data in projections, keep your projection periods short and, additionally, stick to shorter payback windows.

Extending your payback windows may justify your ad spend, but it ultimately hurts your marketing long-term. If you aren’t seeing the results you need with tighter payback windows, you should iterate and innovate on your user acquisition campaigns – not get fuzzy with the numbers.

Solution: Use mixed media modeling

With tighter returns on ad spend (ROAS), it’s important to spend every marketing dollar effectively. With a drop in traditional measurement capability, companies will need to seek alternative ways of measuring ad effectiveness. One way to do this is with mixed media modeling.

This approach uses multiple data sources to track how different channels contribute to a sale. By using this method, companies will be able to attribute sales to specific marketing channels and better understand where to focus their marketing resources.

Solution: Innovate with communities

One potential workaround to issues with ad attribution is to forgo ads in favor of partnering directly with online communities where your target audience congregates. Getting in touch with community leaders and offering to do Q&As and AMAs in their space, as well as provide discount codes and other perks to community members, is a great way to not only raise brand awareness, but connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Solution: Build out your data infrastructure

First-party data will become more valuable as stricter privacy policies are put in place. Companies that are able to collect user data will have a competitive advantage over those that do not. Because of this, companies should consider building out infrastructure for collecting first-party data and teams for analyzing and acting on this data.

Additionally, take advantage of Apple’s data collection opt-in screen on the App Store. Make sure to provide those who download your game with a compelling reason to opt-in to data collection – whether that’s a better user experience, targeted ads, or something else.

Pandemic Highs and Economic Lows

The pandemic was largely good to the mobile games industry, but as life returns to pre-pandemic norms amid a fluctuating economy, things have definitely taken a downward turn. In 2022, for the first time ever, the mobile games industry saw a decline in revenue. While the outlook still looks rosy overall for mobile gaming, now is a good time to take stock of things.

Mobile Game Revenue 2016-2024: The mobile games industry experienced uninterrupted growth for over a decade, until downturns in 2022.

Solution: Pull back on spending and evaluate channels

One of the first things to do amid all the chaos in the economy is to pull back on spending and evaluate the performance of your channels to make sure you’re focusing on the ones that are most effective. Once you’ve done a channel audit and dropped the ones that aren’t achieving top performance, you can begin injecting money back into paid and organic initiatives.

Solution: Focus on niches

As more mobile games enter the market even as players exit it in increasing numbers, it’s more important than ever to find niches with less competition and own them. Do your due diligence in deciding what genre your next game will be and what audience you want to target. Look around for underserved demographics and provide them with a stellar experience so you can own that segment.

Analyze and Optimize with a Marketing Stack

It’s been said repeatedly throughout this article, but can’t be understated: You need to continually analyze what you’re doing and optimize performance in order to succeed in the mobile games industry. If you don’t have a data scientist on your team, invest in one. Data analysis is full-time work, but the reward from being able to make data-driven decisions speaks for itself.

Building a Marketing Stack

In order for anyone to do effective data analysis, they need a great marketing stack. Every marketer will use different tools to get the job done, but every marketing stack should have the following components.

Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP)

A mobile measurement partner (MMP) is a company that provides attribution for marketing campaigns. They collect and organize the raw data from your marketing campaigns so you can better understand their performance.

Marketing Data Warehouse

A marketing data warehouse consolidates all your data – whether it be from ad platforms, your website, your CRM, or other marketing tools – in a single place. This is important for seeing every customer’s journey through your company’s funnel and touchpoints, from first contact to playing your game. This information can help you understand pain points and provide a better experience for prospective and current players.

Visualization Tools

Visualization tools allow you to digest all the data you have access to. Looking at raw data is massively difficult and overwhelming, but data visualization makes it easy for a data scientist to identify trends and turbulence in your marketing initiatives.

Workflow Management Tools

A workflow manager allows you and your team to keep on top of all the marketing initiatives. Between paid advertising, evergreen content, data analysis, and creative development – workflow management tools are essential for ensuring work isn’t forgotten and gets completed on time.

                • Tools for the job: Workzone and Workamajig offer project management tools aimed at marketing. Notion, Wrike, Trello, and Asana provide general workflow management solutions.
Workflow Automation Tools

Workflow automation tools make it easier for you and your team to stay on top of work and smoothly transition from one phase of work to another. These can take some time to prepare, and require established pipelines so you can organize inputs and outputs, but are well worth the setup required.

                • Tools for the job: Zapier allows you to integrate different tools with each other and set up triggers for automated actions. CRM tools like HubSpot and Salesforce Marketing offer automation within their ecosystems. And management tools like Notion, Trello, and Asana provide some automation as well.

Beware of Mobile Ad Fraud

Mobile ad fraud: the cockroach of the marketing world — annoying, persistent, and seemingly everywhere. At its core, it’s the dirty trick of using mobile ad tech to scam advertisers, game publishers, or supply partners out of their hard-earned cash. In the cutthroat arena of mobile game marketing, ad fraud isn’t just a headache — it’s a full-blown migraine. For developers and marketers, it means torched budgets, analytics that might as well be fiction, and campaigns that fail before they even get off the ground. Fun, right? Not so much. Let’s tackle it head-on.

 

Ad Fraud at a Glance

Types of Ad Fraud

          • Click Spam and Ad Stacking: Fraudsters flood attribution systems with fake clicks to claim credit for organic or paid installs. This inflates performance metrics and siphons revenue from legitimate sources.
          • SDK Spoofing: Simulated app installs and user events generated by malicious software mislead marketers into thinking campaigns are more successful than they actually are.
          • Click Injection Fraud: On-device malware intercepts real user actions, such as app installations, to steal attribution credit.

The Scale of the Problem

Ad fraud is an insidious issue that manipulates marketing campaigns through deceptive tactics like click spamming, SDK spoofing, and bot-driven fake installs. Alarmingly, it’s estimated that fraudulent activities accounted for approximately $81 billion in losses to the digital advertising industry as of 2022. In mobile gaming, ad fraud affects up to 31% of iOS app installs and 25% of Android installs, leading to inflated costs and undermined trust.

Impact on Campaign Performance

Ad fraud distorts critical performance metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), return on ad spend (ROAS), and install attribution. By falsifying user interactions, fraudsters make it difficult for marketers to accurately gauge campaign success or optimize user acquisition strategies. This can result in inefficient budget allocation and missed opportunities for genuine growth

Mitigating Ad Fraud Risks

As you can see from the above statistics, mobile ad fraud is a major source of lost revenue and ad-spend for the industry. So what can be done about it? To safeguard marketing efforts, mobile game marketers can implement a few different measures.

          • Leverage Trusted Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs): Platforms like AppsFlyer and Adjust offer robust fraud prevention tools that identify and block suspicious activity before it impacts campaigns.
          • Implement Multi-Layered Defenses: Combine pre-install fraud detection tools with post-install analytics to ensure comprehensive protection.
          • Analyze Attribution Data Holistically: Cross-reference multiple data sources to detect inconsistencies, such as repeated IP addresses or irregular conversion patterns.
          • Partner with Reputable Networks: Collaborate with ad networks known for their transparency and strong anti-fraud protocols​.

The #1 thing you can do is to carefully examine your attribution data and make sure none of your data exists in a silo – this includes having access to as much data as you can get from marketing partners. Pooling all your data together makes it easier to find inconsistencies and irregularities (such as repeated IP addresses for conversions). Having a team member devoted to detecting ad fraud is one of the best ways to make sure no ad fraud slips through the cracks.

Additionally, many MMPs and ad platforms offer ad fraud prevention tools that can help with your own ad fraud prevention efforts.

          • Tools for the job: MMPs like Adjust and AppsFlyer have tools to aid in ad fraud prevention. Make sure they’re a part of your marketing stack!

Key takeaways

As you can tell, mobile game user acquisition isn’t exactly a walk in the park — it’s a marathon through a jungle of data, strategy, and constant fine-tuning. If there’s one thing to drill into your head or tattoo on your arm from all this, it’s that data reigns supreme, iteration and optimization are non-negotiable, and creative engagement with your audience is your golden ticket to success.

It’s a ton of work — enough to make even the most seasoned teams sweat, let alone a lone warrior. So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t be shy. Our brilliant experts at Upptic are just a call away and ready to help you crush it. Let’s do this!

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