Philippe Grazina– Aug 2, 2022
Introduction
The global market for games is booming. Thousands of new games are launched every month. Competition is fierce and standing out amongst the crowd is difficult. For any hypercasual game to be successful, it must attract a wide range of players. Without a dedicated audience, your game simply won’t get the advertising revenue it needs to generate profits. Unfortunately, getting people’s attention in the incredibly overcrowded game marketplace isn’t easy. Game developers have to find innovative ways to spark people’s interest and encourage installs.
User Acquisition (UA) is the art of attracting new players via targeted marketing activities. Here at TapNation, we know that developing and implementing a robust UA strategy is crucial. Our experts can assist you in making sure that your game fulfils its potential for building revenue using concentrated and effective UA methods.
If you are involved in the development of a hypercasual game, you should have a thorough understanding of UA. In this piece, we’ll look closely at why you need to take UA into consideration when building a prototype.
Summary
- What is UA and why is it important for game developers?
- The Main Types of UA Campaigns
- Paid User Acquisition Campaigns
- Owned and Shared User Acquisition Campaigns
- App Store Optimisation (ASO)
- How to develop effective UA strategies
What is UA and why is it important for game developers?
The formula for a successful game seems simple enough. Develop a concept, generate installs, grow your user base, and monetize them via advertising revenue. As many game developers can attest, however, finding that audience of dedicated players isn’t easy. This is where the power of UA can make all the difference.
Developers need to know that their game is enjoyable, but they also need to be able to locate and attract players. This makes UA a critical component of game prototype development.
The majority of UA campaigns are designed using accepted performance marketing principles. UA helps developers to find out what a potential user wants from a gaming experience.
UA can be used to identify what social trends are currently the most popular. Incorporating trending themes is a great way to encourage users to install a product. What aspects of your game are attracting players? Vigorous testing can identify what creatives are driving installs. You can then focus on these aspects during the development stage and incorporate them into your UA campaigns.
UA is a powerful tool that works to convince high-quality players to download and install your game. It promotes brand recognition and fosters engagement. A professionally executed UA campaign will dramatically enhance the discoverability of a game. If your prototype development strategy does not incorporate UA, then your game may fail to attract an audience once launched.
The Main Types of UA Campaigns
The UA strategies a game company implements will depend on the types of users they wish to target. In general, there are four main types of UA campaign forms:
- Paid User Acquisition Campaigns
- Owned and Shared User Acquisition Campaigns
- App Store Optimisation (ASO)
A game developer may decide to focus on just one of these UA methods, or they may opt to use a combination. Generally, it is more effective to combine the different types of UA approaches. A broader, more diversified UA strategy has a greater potential to attract more users.
Paid User Acquisition Campaigns
This is the type of UA that comes to most people’s minds when they think of a user acquisition campaign. Paid UA campaigns utilise paid media marketing in the form of advertisements, posts, banners, and so on. The most common media channels for paid UA campaigns include social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. A paid UA campaign may also include Google ads and ad networks like IronSource Mobile or AdRoll. Sometimes a paid UA campaign may enlist online influencers to help promote the game or app.
Owned and Shared User Acquisition Campaigns
Owned UA campaigns focus on obtaining new users via your existing media channels. This could be redesigning an old website or creating an entirely new website to promote your game. Bulk email or SMS campaigns are often used as part of owned UA media marketing campaigns.
Shared UA campaigns are an offshoot of your work with your existing channels. The term relates to the organic process of acquiring new users. This is a great way of obtaining new users as your current pool of players will do the acquisition work for you. Shared promotions, blog posts, memes, or advertisements that go viral all work hard to attract new users organically.
Shared UA campaigns rely on quality content that is relevant to users’ interests. Content or promotions related to your game need to be rich in value and tightly targeted to your demographic.
App Store Optimization (ASO)
App store optimization (ASO) is related to both your paid UA and your shared UA. A potential user may land on your app store page after clicking on a paid advertisement. Or a user could find their way via a blog post or viral meme. They may simply run across your game while searching Google or the store itself.
Optimising your app store page will boost the visibility of your game and enhance your overall UA efforts. Developers should ensure that they have a short and memorable name for their store and that their keywords are relevant. A concise captivating description, pleasing visuals and attractive artwork are all part of good ASO.
How to develop effective UA strategies
A major challenge of developing an effective UA campaign is that many users are now suffering from what is termed ‘ad fatigue’. Users are bombarded with advertisements, so often they simply stop engaging.
Another issue is the cost of a UA campaign. UA campaigns need to be tightly budgeted. All cost-related metrics should be constantly evaluated.
UA strategies should be based on a rigorous testing process incorporating precise analytics. TapNation can provide you with the expertise you need to develop UA strategies that will ensure your prototype is a success.
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