Super casual games, how to grow?

Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “Jobs” (ID: zhirent), the author of the sauce.

Generally speaking, the characteristics of super casual games are shorter life cycle and lower CPI, but now super casual games are also It can be a long life cycle and gradually change to Midcore.

Why should we pay attention to its CPI and LTV for a super casual game, how to improve the natural addition? Maybe the following article will give you some inspiration.

This guest sharer, Hanpei Cui, from the Google Global Developers User Growth Team, when sharing on the Overseas User Acquisition Growth Methodology, we can deeply feel that he is super casual The professional understanding of the game, the content shared by Hanpei is very practical, but due to the limited space, we only share some methodologies and part of the experience to share with everyone.

Our theme today is still growing around users. For the growth of users, after a product matures, when your operating costs and all expenses are stable, your user growth is yours. Real income growth, so user growth is a very important part of the development of Internet companies, then can user growth drive operations, products to match user growth to make some adjustments?

Here, I want to share some from the market, CPI, LTV, and finally share four practical experiences, including how to use seasonality to improve advertising efficiency, several important indicators of super casual game acquisition, and common Google Ads Campaign. Use questions and how to select events & footage.

1. Let’s talk about the market

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points for overseas growth practice

First introduce the market format of the market. We can see the annual growth of the mobile advertising industry in 2018 from the above picture. I am very surprised that the annual increaseThe fastest, not India, not Indonesia, not China, but Argentina, so when you choose overseas markets, you don’t have to focus on the most fierce market, you can also see if there is any better growth. region. On the other hand, in the investment of mobile advertising, the biggest investment in 2018 is the well-known emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points for overseas growth practice

The ultra-casual game we talked about today is a product that relies on traffic to realize, so a very important indicator is eCPM (effective cost per mille) – showing the revenue generated by 1000 ads.

With eCPM, CPI and Market Size, we divide the regional market into 5 echelons. The first echelon is known to developed countries such as Anglo-American, Australia, and Canada. The second echelon is Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. The Japanese and Korean markets have recently been a market for a large number of developers. The eCPMs in these two markets sometimes exceed the first echelon. The third echelon is a part of Latin America and Eastern Europe such as Brazil, Switzerland, and Belgium. The eCPM of many Eastern European countries will fluctuate greatly and will be affected by the seasons, but on average, it will be in the second echelon position. The fourth echelon is the second echelon in our traditional sense, such as France, Denmark, and Russia. The fifth echelon is a market that we usually understand to be more difficult to realize, such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, etc.

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points for overseas growth practice

Another question Many Internet companies continue to pay attention to, that is, whether to make a subscription model? In Europe and the United States, subscriptions are very user-acceptable, and companies such as Netflix and Youtube generate revenue through a large number of subscriptions. For users, subscriptions are more than just buyout products and content.At the core is the high quality service and experience that companies can provide to their users.

So enter today’s theme, Hyper-Casual Game. In fact, there are already some big casual games in foreign countries. For example, VOODOO is known as a game factory. It makes the game an industrial process, from game planning, production and development, promotion testing to final launch, a game. The cycle is generally less than two weeks, and compared to a heavy SLG (Simulation Game) game, the development cycle is 1-2 years, and the online operation has to be adjusted for trial operation, which shows the advantages of super casual games. At the same time, one of the reasons for the popularity of ultra-casual games is the high eCPM market, because ultra-casual games can capture users with very low CPI, especially in emerging markets and even the head market, through high eCPM. Complete the realization.

2. About CPI

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points of overseas growth practice

Generally think that the characteristics of super casual games are short life, CPI is low, but now Ultra-casual games can also achieve a long life cycle and gradually change to Midcore. Many people will ask me how much CPI to do, how many eCPM can make money, you can see the above picture, if the super casual game is better in the US market, a CPI can be 0.3-0.5 US dollars, and if You do Casino games, very high LTV, one person 2-300 dollars, but at the same time users are constantly converting and losing, the CPI of this type of users is also very high.

3. About LTV

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points of overseas growth practice

A lot of people will mention the word LTV. There are many ways for Google to calculate LTV. Most companies also use their own BI to measure LTV. Most of them use the market. As far as I know, the game department of a domestic Internet company will have a special person to stare at each product-related LTV indicator. This is also the KPI of their assessment. Therefore, it is recommended that you improve from multiple dimensions. LTV, including user’s attention, stickiness, retention, natural growth, etc., then I will mainly talk about natural growth.

Everyone knows that when we do an app, we will go to the list and grab the top of the list. Why? Since the product is at the top of the list, we buy 1 user is equal to buy 1.5 users. When we are at the top of the list, the natural traffic will increase. For example, we buy a YouTube video ad, and the video ad has its own virus transmission effect. I bought a user, and it is very likely that this user will help me spread this advertisement.

4. About using seasonality to improve your advertising efficiency


Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points for overseas growth practice

In most cases, the LTV of ultra-casual games is relatively short, so it is recommended that you focus on the next day’s retention. It is safer to maintain 60% of the next day’s retention of a super casual game. In addition, you can use the festival to enlarge the promotion effect. Many times we see eCPM at the height of Christmas time. For example, in North America, many areas are in a cold environment near Christmas. Coupled with holidays, users spend a lot of time indoors, so many manufacturers will increase the frequency of advertisement display during this time, but pay attention to it. It is during this time that the user’s retained data will have a certain decline. Therefore, if you can buy and raise users early, it will be an effective practice to increase the frequency of advertisements during the Christmas season.

5. Important metrics about super casual game acquisition


Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points of overseas growth practice

Next, I will show you some of the most important indicators in super casual games. First, ranking, the natural quantity of super casual games is very Precious, if the manufacturer can climb to the top of the list, have enough budget, and the cost of pre-purchase is also very low, then you can try to get the ranking ahead and get more downloads. In addition, the game duration of each game of the user, the length of the game limits the frequency of advertisements that each developer/day developer can display, so the setting of the game duration also needs to be adjusted frequently.

6. About common usage issues with Google Ads Campaign

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points for overseas growth practice

Next, I will introduce you to some common problems encountered when using Google products to do UA. A very common problem: low bids, many times when people are more cautious when running advertisements, such as A developer can make money with a CPI of $0.50. He chooses to bid $50 on the first day to run an advertisement. It turns out that he can’t run at all, so you can try bid higher when you advertise, on bid high. There are two ways to do this: the first is that the bid is particularly high, but you should also pay attention to controlling your budget. The advantage of this is that you can get a higher quality user, even if the bid is wrong, the loss is still available. One is within the scope of control; the second is low bidding and high budget, which is adjusted from low price, which is more of a bidding method we have seen so far.

7. About selecting events & material

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points of overseas growth practice

For different products in different countries, to choose different events, such as live-based products, you may need to choose a short conversion cycle, and high-paying events.

Many advertisers are reluctant to buy material when they do promotion, but in fact, buying more material will not increase your cost, but will give you a window to promote your product. If the type and proportion of the material are all completed, maximizing the material library can increase the probability of covering the largest user group.

The above is my simple sharing today, thank you.

Super casual game life cycle is short? Here are 7 knowledge points for overseas growth practice

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