Avazu mDSP Native Ads - Battle Utopia Game App (6)
With Native ads being all the rage i'd love to get a profitable campaign on Avazu's mDSP Native Ads, which they launched a month or so ago.
This is my first follow along in about 4 years of being a member, i'm not one to ask for help, however i need it and would be incredibly grateful to any and all suggestions.
Everything i've done so far will be listed below, and any limited nuggets of data will also be here to help anybody else in the same or similar situation.
Offer: Evolution: Battle Utopia (Android)
Network: Glispa
Payout: $1.50
Geo: UK (why? i live there, could have also been AU which i deem to be more expensive, and US, which i thought probably slightly more saturated)
Why?
Suggested by Glispa AM, checked on AppAnnie and shows as steady and not becoming less popular.
FOUR things for a Native ad on Avazu mDSP.
1) Title
2) Description
3) Image (1200px x 627px)
4) CTA
Brainstorm
- Played the game for an hour, it wasn't as crap as i thought it would be to be honest, i'm not going to be become a gamer and play it while taking a dump until my legs go numb but it was interesting.
- Also read several pages of comments on the App Store.
Decided i would spend 30 minutes or however long it takes to create a solid description text
Outcome: Captain your team to traverse, terraform & colonize a hostile planet inhabited by bandits & aliens
Too long? Boring? What can be improved
Find a good "Hero" image, with the game title and characters.
Outcome:
OK for initial testing?
Make a simple CTA besides "Install"
Outcome: "Play Now - FREE"
Reasoning: NOW, instant gratification. FREE, takes away doubt of having to pay for this game.
Should i have stuck with "Install"?
I decided to split test Title's first, with the same Description, Image and CTA.
So in my first rounds of tests all elements stayed the same except the Native Ad Titles.
Targeting
Android OS 5+
- From previous very limited promotion of gaming i know that later versions of Android perform better.
Day parting
- I did not apply this to the first round of testing, in hindsight this was a bit daft.
Brands of Android
- Samsung, HTC, Sony (The big three)
Connection type
- WIFI (Big game, 100mb+)
Exchange
- MoPub, biggest Native Inventory, want to just stick with 1 exchange for simplicity
Titles Tested
(~1% CTR, 2% CVR, $10 spend) "Evolution: Battle Utopia" - this was my control to base all other tests against
-----> Out of curiosity i tested the control with some images of little sports cars on the image, to see how it affected CTR. CTR ~1.9% (low spend). I imagine people thought "WTF are sports cars doing in space?!"
(~1.7% CTR, 2%+ CVR, $32 spend) "The Walking Dead in SPACE" - Game is post apocalyptic based, similar to the Walking Dead, so decided to test this
-----> Also tested a spinoff of the above Walking Dead angle, with an image of Darrel (wahey Darrel!) on the Hero image. It gained slightly higher CTR perhaps due to peoples curiosity (1.86% CTR, low spend)
-----> Also tested another spinoff with a title of "Rick Grimes needs YOU..." - it flopped with a CTR of ~1.1%
(~1.1% CTR, $12 spend) "Like a SciFi Clash Clans!" - Reference similar game
(~1.1% CTR, spend $10) "RTS, Combat + RPG Element" - Use gamer Lingo, RTS (Real Time Strategy), describe game elements
(2% CTR, spend $10) "#1 Post Apocalyptic RTS" - Coupling gamer lingo with an indication that it's popular among many people = social proof
(2% CTR, low spend) "SPECIAL OFFER: Today Only" - Wanted to make a title that perhaps blended into the content as "news" or a "special offer"
(1.3% CTR, low spend) "DON'T MISS: Battle Utopia" - Scarcity, people don't like missing out
(1.8% CTR, low spend) "Todays #1 FREE App!" - Same "News" type angle
Stats review
I noticed that HTC was vastly outperforming Samsung, (a specific handset in particular) even though Samsung had the majority of traffic.
I noticed CTR on Skout was good, and had a few conversions so...
Decided to create another campaign targeting just Skout, placed a "Skout" logo on the hero image and changed the title to "Skouts #1 Rated Game" and Description to "Evolution: Battle Utopia - The #1 rated game by Skout members. Why aren't YOU playing?" Spent $50 - no conversions... This is the sort of crap i do, i get easily sidetracked and lose momentum.
Ok, onwards...
Next campaign, i decided to take what i learned (besides don't target Skout) and test other elements using the "#1 Post Apocalyptic RTS" title, as it garnered a good CTR. In hindsight maybe i should have stuck with the Walking Dead angle? What do you think?
Title: "#1 Post Apocalyptic RTS"
Description: Same (Captain your team to traverse, terraform & colonize a hostile planet inhabited by bandits & aliens)
Image: Test RPG images vs COMBAT images
CTA: Same (Play Now - FREE)
Searched for suitable Combat and RPG images.
Two images on left represent RPG images, 2 on right the Combat images.
RPG images both performed better, top left did best (~2.5%), bottom left (~2.1%), top right (~1.6%), bottom right (~1.3%)
Took winning image into new campaign targeting just HTC, Day parted to 5pm - 2am.
Split tested with same image along with overlays of store reviews, ratings and also a "badge" i made to make HTC owners think the game was "optimized" for them.
Good idea? Bad Idea?
These images have so far been declined by MobPub Exchange - not sure why, have contacted AM.
I would love anybody with experience to give some critique on what i've done. Below are some direct questions and queries i have regarding this type of traffic source...
Knowing stats to aim for would be great, for RON and generic targeting what sort of CTR is achievable?
What sort of CVR are the pro's getting from Native ads to Play Store apps?
Is the image most important for CTR? Would you recommend just having "Evolution: Battle Utopia" as title and testing dozens of images?
I'm ok with fireworks so can do image manipulation and add overlay banners (eg, top left corner, "FREE" banner) etc, i've thought to test actual gameplay images too. I even thought to test gameplay footage of dialogue, and changing the dialogue to make it more intriguing/eye catching.
I'm curious what percentage of apps/placements only display "Feed Stream" (App Icon, Title, CTA) as opposed to "Content Stream" (App Icon, Title, Description, Image, CTA) ?
Hey bud! Great to see a follow-along from you - have learned so much from you over skype and expecting to continue my learning with this thread here.
I have 0 experience with native ads and close to 0 experience with gaming apps, but am 100% interested in seeing how you get on with this!
Amy
I love the way you break everything down! any updates, buddy?
Any update?
Updates? Nope... i've been waiting nearly a month for someone to offer some advice on this thread...
Originally Posted by mykeyfocus
With regards to your images you tried to use for RPG and action elements: I looked at running this game on Avazu but after doing alot for research i switched to Magic Rush but regardless of that i played the game for a couple of nights (for a couple of hours each time) and i must say if you go in-game you can get some cracking screen caps. There is sniping sections witch despite being limited on actual involvement look shit hot for advertising purposes and your action shots looks quite static, again, if you go in-game again you get get mid shot and the actual moment your bullets hit the enemy and they're getting splattered witch i think would be much more exciting for the purposes of action.
RPG wise there is actually some quite cool looking menus that would majorly appeal to the Fallout/skyrim/isometric players and other RPG nuts who would eat this sort of app up. Skill menus with cool icons and lists of new guns and whatnot witch again i think are more engaging to people looking to sink some time in to a RPG type scifi game. I think the preconception now is that these game though they look cool are quite static and uninvolved, so promoting the exciting and action element would trump that.
Day parting so soon seems like you could miss out on all the "bored at work" folk that do some serious app hammering while working 9-5, but like i said when i started i'm greener than grass (and i don't mean in profit) and this is just a thought i had.
Hope some/any of this is of any use you, and i'm sorry i didn't touch on your direct questions, i know not the answers to these.
Fellow English dweller and Mobile game app installer (attempted).
Tom
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