Enhancing UA efficiency and boosting ROI with advanced creative optimization

Overview 

• To improve its user acquisition campaigns, mobile gaming company Smartmove needed to get more efficient at assessing the performance of its large volume of creatives. The aim was to quickly bring down low-performing creatives and make room for more tests.
• However, their basic creative performance data wasn’t good enough for them to make well-informed decisions.
• Implementing AppsFlyer’s Creative Optimization proved to be the game-changer they needed, providing creative-level ROAS and retention metrics and empowering Smartmove to make data-driven decisions. This fresh approach led to improved overall campaign performance and ROI.

Background 

Smartmove emerged as a prominent player in the mobile gaming industry, establishing its foothold with a diverse portfolio of captivating games. Founded in 2014 with a vision to redefine gaming experiences, Smartmove quickly gained traction in the market. 

In a landscape where user acquisition (UA) plays a pivotal role in driving growth, Smartmove quickly recognized the power of effective creatives in enhancing campaign performance. What’s more, with privacy regulations limiting user data, creative testing is an increasingly essential tool for marketers looking to optimize campaigns. 

Understanding that identifying and promoting winning creatives could significantly boost their success, the Smartmove team were looking for expert help to streamline their creative management processes and gain a competitive edge. 

Challenge 

Smartmove was facing several challenges in effectively managing and optimizing their vast volume of creatives across various advertising networks. 

The team relied on basic data provided by ad networks, such as clicks, CTR, and impressions, to evaluate creative performance. However, this approach didn’t provide the detailed insights they needed to accurately identify effective creatives. 

With a high production volume (four to five creative sets per week), and limited inventory from ad networks, Smartmove needed to quickly experiment with creatives, bringing down low-performing ones to make room for new tests. However, they couldn’t do this without creative-level ROAS and retention metrics. This challenge was exacerbated by the diverse range of products, creators, and creative types Smartmove worked with.

In addition, a lot of manual effort went into classifying creatives as high-performing or low-performing. This made it difficult for Smartmove to optimize and scale their creative strategies effectively.

Solution

Implementing AppsFlyer’s Creative Optimization suite gave Smartmove a comprehensive solution to their creative management challenges. It provided detailed metrics that enabled Smartmove’s User Acquisition team to make informed decisions and optimize creatives more effectively. Smartmove could now accurately identify and eliminate underperforming creatives, while replicating successful ones – resulting in better overall campaign performance.

Smartmove also made use of features like creative tagging and advanced performance reporting to gain valuable insights. With creative tagging, they were able to efficiently manage, analyze, and optimize creatives. This generated a wider array of parameter variations, so the team could run ongoing testing to pinpoint optimal combinations. 

For instance, they were able to explore how specific age demographics responded to different video colors, and tailor their content accordingly. Understanding that different age groups have distinct preferences for video aesthetics, they prioritized matching colors in fonts, costumes, and backgrounds to cater to user preferences.

Smartmove also saw a big benefit in being able to visualize trend charts of creatives. Armed with these new, visual insights, they were able to evaluate ad network algorithms regarding creative spending and optimize their advertising strategy. 

AppsFlyer’s Creative Optimization suite also helped Smartmove to significantly reduce the time spent managing and classifying creatives. Instead, they were able to allocate more time to implementing crucial strategic initiatives. On top of this, they now had the comprehensive data to support accurate decision-making, enabling them to optimize creativity and shorten creative testing time.

Results 

The implementation of Creative Optimization yielded impressive results for Smartmove. By reducing manual workload by 50% and shortening creative testing time by 40%, they managed to significantly improve the efficiency of their UA operations. 

Moreover, Smartmove saw a notable improvement in campaign performance, with a 50% reduction in creative fatigue and increased ROI. Through using Creative Optimization, the Smartmove team identified winning creatives, optimized campaign spend, and drove overall growth and success.

Looking forward 

Moving forward, Smartmove is keen to expand its advertising network coverage beyond platforms like Google and Facebook. The team is focused on obtaining detailed insights into viewer engagement levels for each creative, including metrics such as the percentage of viewers who engage for three seconds, five seconds, 20 seconds, or view the entire ad. This information will enable them to fine-tune their creative strategies and optimize campaign performance effectively. 

By harnessing data from a broader range of advertising networks, Smartmove aims to stay ahead of the curve and drive even better results in their future campaigns.

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