Upping the game for Social Point's user acquisition campaigns
Socialpoint levels up UA measurement with incrementality insights
Socialpoint is an acclaimed video game developer and publisher based in Barcelona. The company was founded in 2008 and specializes in free-to-play mobile and social network games for iOS, Android, Amazon, and Microsoft. Its most popular titles include Monster Legends, Dragon City, and Word Life.
As a result of the industry-wide change to a privacy-first future, many app marketers are moving away from traditional forms of user acquisition (UA). Socialpoint, for instance, has already embraced new methodologies by partnering with us to test our Incremental Impact product for one of its biggest titles: Dragon City.
The challenge
At Remerge, we use a causal impact analysis methodology to provide insights on the performance of app marketing campaigns that target users without an ID. Our product distinguishes between paid and organic marketing activities by revealing the incremental cost per install (iCPI), incremental cost per action (iCPA), and the incremental uplift of an ad campaign. The methodology is based on running campaigns on identifiable sub-markets (treatment), while leaving other sub-markets unexposed (control).
Socialpoint has become one of the early adopters of incrementality. The team decided to test our solution to gather insights for optimizing future app marketing campaigns. They started with Dragon City, one of their biggest titles with 15 million downloads in 2021.
The strategy
We ran a total of 14 tests with Socialpoint during an 8 week period, splitting the treatment and control groups by device model; this approach allowed us to build similar and stable groups which are less likely to change over time. We experimented with multiple creatives to identify the best performing assets and discovered that video performed significantly better than static and native ads, in terms of both CTR and conversion rate.
The results
Looking at the iCPI and iCPA, we achieved the lowest ever number seen by Socialpoint for UA. During the test phase we reached competitive performance based on their goals – an impressive feat given the short timeframe of the tests.
One of the highlights from the incrementality tests was the coming together of data scientists from both Remerge and Socialpoint. This was not only key to the success of the project, but also important for validating the methodology, exchanging ideas, and establishing a trusted working relationship.
« We are doubling down on building tools that will enable our UA teams to measure actions with 100% incrementality in the event that all other types of measurement move away »
ALEXANDRE NOIROT-COSSON, HEAD OF MARKETING FOR LIVE GAMES
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Episode 3: Entering a new chapter in user acquisition campaigns