Intelligent Artifice, formerly the Mobile User Acquisition Show

Danika Wilkinson is a product marketer at Social Point, where she is responsible for the overall, high level marketing strategy of one of their games. She strategises all aspects of game marketing, and guides UA specialists in performance analysis and optimisations.

In our conversation today, Danika goes deep into the specifics of their creative process - and outlines how their very different processes for Facebook and other channels have been dramatically effective. She walks us through not just how her team’s tests are structured, but also about how their testing process has changed their workflow dramatically for the better.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🔀 Why Danika and her team use a custom DSP for creative testing. .
🧮 The specific testing process on the DSP that results in reliable results. .
🏆 Purchasing set impressions for new creatives through sub-publishers yields clear IPM results for which creatives work—and which don’t.
🔬Mitigating risk by rolling out creatives starting from low to high risk partners.
💸 The key difference between low risk partners and high risk ones.
🕸️ Creatives that have good IPMs in testing are likely to work in like campaigns.
🎉 Creatives that perform well in MAI campaigns can do well in AEO and VO campaigns as well.
💡Ideas come from everywhere.
🤓Using hypotheses to shortlist and prioritise creative development.
🌿For Facebook, weed out the creatives with terrible IPM - and treat MAI tests as a screening for VO and AEO.
🌟 Remember, Facebook rewards quality.
⏳ You can extend the life of a winning campaign with variations. Up to a point.
🚀 How to give internal creative teams the space and energy to ideate about new concepts.
🔍 The ideal lens to look at creatives with is through your player persona.
🦋 Beauty in ads lies in the eyes of the user.
🃏 Why tacky ads work

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-set-up-a-high-impact-creative-process-on-and-off-facebook-with-danika-wilkinson-product-marketer-at-social-point/ 

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
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Brett Nowak is the founder of Liquid & Grit, a product research company for games, that creates actionable reports about new game features and industry trends for game developers.

In our interview today, Brett describes his unique approach to hiring. He has developed an interview and onboarding process guaranteed to remove biases, get the best person for each role, and thus develop a quality team that involves almost no talking or in-person interaction with the candidates. Today, we dive into this fascinating and counterintuitive approach to hiring.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

👥 What inspired Brett’s zero-touch hiring process.
0️⃣ What the zero-touch hiring process looks like - and what it optimizes for.
📡 How a remote hiring process eliminates biases; even unknown ones.
⛰️ Using lean methodology to build a topnotch team.
🏃🏿‍♂️ Why it is important to emphasize diligence over domain expertise.
🌠  Does experience correlate with performance?
💬 Examples of responses to a test in Liquid & Grit’s hiring process.
🌎 Top talent exists everywhere. Even on Craigslist.
🤐 Liquid & Grit’s zero-touch onboarding process. Is it weird not to talk to a human during onboarding?
🍪 Almost everything can be templatized.
👎 The surprising way that emotional attachment is a liability.

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/the-zero-touch-interview-process-for-hiring-superstars-with-brett-nowak-founder-at-liquid-grit/  

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

Claire Rozain is the user acquisition manager at the UK-based firm, Product Madness. Her experience spans a wide range of mobile apps; right from dating to games

On the show today, Claire underlines the critical importance of using live ops to increasing the user life time value even if users already have a strong LTV

Note: The opinions and views shared in this episode are the interviewee’s - and they aren’t in any way connected to the views of the company Product Madness.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

⏫ User LTV can always be extended. 
🔑 Key strategies to extend LTV.
🔔 The impact a push notification can have.
⛩️ Why UA and CRM should not be siloed.
📛 It is so important to use personalisation to connect with users
🔱 Three things to get right: timing, frequency and message.
🎇 The key types of live ops events.
🙋 The best way to understand what users want? Ask them!
🧩 Why user segments are crucial for crafting great experiences.
🎭 Incentives can be a double-edged sword. Striking a balance can be tricky.
🤭 Common mistakes marketers make when organising live ops.

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-use-live-ops-events-to-extend-user-ltv-with-claire-rozain-user-acquisition-manager-at-product-madness/ 

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

John Koetsier sees the effects of the imminent IDFA changes in iOS 14 happening in real-time. As a Forbes columnist, he has seen from close up the changes in the mobile ad tech ecosystem over many years that have led us to this point.

In our keynote chat, organised by Mobile Growth Summit, John shares his speculations about the reasons why Apple is executing such a huge shift in its IDFA policy. What are the pressures and/or motivations at play here? 

In examining these reasons, we can perhaps predict trends of big tech. Apple’s actions will not stand alone; Google and Facebook are sure to not only react, but to come up with their own policies. 

We talk about the future of privacy, and how it collides with targeted marketing. And more importantly, where does ad tech go from here?

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🔒  Privacy has always been critical for Apple.

👎 Why Apple views ad tech negatively.

😈 What might bad actors do with readily accessible IDFAs?

⚡ How IDFAs were an improvement for privacy in user tracking, but still dangerous. 

🗣️ Politics plays a bigger role than you think. 

📊 Cambridge Analytica 2.0?

⚔️ Big Tech frenemies: Apple, Google, and Facebook.

🦸 Champion of the little guy? Apple and its optics.

⁉️ Why too many privacy choices is as good as no choice at all.

⏰ What may have precipitated the extension of Apple’s deadline.

🏋️ Why Facebook’s decision to opt out is a power move. 

⏭️ Be prepared: Android is probably next. 

☯️ The huge distinction between HAVING an ad network and BEING an ad network. 

🔐 How differential privacy may be the answer. 

🌍 Privacy is a global trend and ad tech has to adapt to survive.

Check out the full transcript and show notes here: http://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/mgs-deep-dives-idfa-the-unseen-forces-behind-apples-idfa-policy-changes-with-john-koetsier-columnist-at-forbes

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

Andy Carvell is the co-founder of the growth consulting firm Phiture. Before founding Phiture, Andy led the retention team at Soundcloud, where he helped drive some massive experimentation-driven growth. He is also known for his Mobile Growth Stack, a framework that was built on a 15-year career developing mobile products. 

In today’s conversation, Andy outlines the impact of privacy changes in iOS 14 on retention and engagement strategies, especially how the reduced reliance on IDFAs impacts tooling and targeting. He also talks about what to look forward to in iOS 14, and using successful strategies from his push notification playbook to increase IDFA opt-ins.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🥰 Why the impact of iOS 14 on retention strategies for apps might not be huge.
🆔 What are scoped identifiers? They’re the reason analytics and attribution will continue to operate as they do post iOS 14 as well.
🔀 Cross-platform user tracking that currently uses the IDFA will need to change
🔗 Deep linking will still exist. Deferred deep linking needs figuring out.
💨 Shifting from deterministic to probabilistic methods to identify users will make some magic vanish.
👀 Using fingerprinting to identify users might be a grey area in Apple’s privacy ruling.
🌎 Privacy changes will affect geofencing campaigns and segments that require accuracy to work.
👍 Surprisingly most CDPs are well set up with regard to user privacy; and have solutions to continue without IDFAs for most part.
📒 Account creation within apps is going to become more important.
😎 Cool stuff to look forward to in iOS 14.
📋 How to use push notification prompt strategies to get pre-permissions for IDFAs.
📚 There are other opt-in playbooks to learn from.

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-idfa-changes-in-ios-14-will-impact-retention-and-engagement-strategies-with-andy-carvell-co-founder-at-phiture/

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

Our guest today is Gonzalo Fasanella, Chief Marketing Officer at Tactile Games. Gonzalo and his team have taken a strikingly unconventional approach to user acquisition and growth - by running ads that emphasize short, dramatic vignettes of stories rather than gameplay. Today we’re thrilled to dive into how they think about their strikingly original creatives, how their teams are structured to drive creativity, how they measure and track their performance - and much much more about everything that has made their hit game Lily’s Garden such a huge hit.

Key highlights:
📖 What inspired Tactile Games to create story-driven games
🥇 Making the story a priority instead of an afterthought in a design-heavy game
♀️ The idea of creating a relatable female protagonist
🏡 Filling a gap in the market by creating relatable games
🔎 Why Tactile Games relied on focus groups for key decisions about ads - and how these focus groups were structured.
🎨 How to determine the right mix of flow and elements to ensure ad recall for users
😾 The surprising starting point for making great ads is understanding how annoying people find ads.
🧪 The key elements of high performing ads that the team identified from focus groups.
😂 Most ads out in the market are either funny or cute. 
💫 Why Tactile Games explored emotions other than funny or cute.
🧮 The challenge of finding analytical performance marketers who are also creative
🏋️ Exposing creatives to data is the way to empower them
⛳ Tactile Games surfaces only two KPIs in front of their creative teams.
👍 Why virality is not the goal
🖊️ How to structure your working environment to foster creativity
🤖 How Tactile Games has used automation to supercharge UA

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-create-story-driven-ads-that-drive-massive-performance-with-gonzalo-fasanella-chief-marketing-officer-at-tactile-games/ 

**

Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

Kevin Bravo is among the few people we know who have pulled SKAdNetwork apart to study how it works.

In our conversation today, Kevin talks offers a minute understanding of literally the bits and bytes of how to make use of SKAdNetwork conversion values to offer as much insight as possible within the limited capabilities of iOS 14  . As changes are imminent, app developers are going to have to tap into their creativity and past user activity data to be able design solutions that are uniquely suited to the conversion value framework within their apps. 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🛠️ The mechanics of how SKAdNetwork works 

🖱️ The journey of a user from click to conversion

🌐 How ad signatures enable user attribution

⏳ The tale of two timers: understanding how postbacks work

💾 The two functions that are critical for tracking on SKAdNetwork

📨 How to use your 64 bits of information wisely

⛰️ How identifying what makes a high value user high value is key to making the most of SKAdNetwork

🔢 Different models for picking conversion values

📱 Selecting the right in-app events to send signals

💰 Understanding your how your LTV curve is shaped plays a big role in determining the right conversion value model

🎛️ What is mixed modelling: tracking revenue and engagement events

🧲 How to pick conversion models for ad monetized games

⏰ Using some of the 64 bits to connote time elapsed.

🎨 How subscription apps can get creative by using events other than free trial and subscription 

📏 One size doesn’t fit all: conversion streams play dictate how bits can and should be optimised

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-design-a-conversion-value-framework-for-succeeding-with-skadnetwork-with-kevin-bravo-co-founder-at-2nd-potion

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

There’s speculation and worry about what marketing will look like in a post-IDFA world - especially since laser-focused targeting of high-value users on platforms like Facebook has been so incredibly successful. But there is no reason that the future should be entirely gloomy without this ability to laser-target users. We’ve all been in a world without hyper-targeting; we just have to look back to lessons from the past to see what the future might look like. 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

💰 Why we are bidding very high on Facebook’s value-optimized campaigns, but not on Snapchat or TikTok

🧮 How marketers justify high CPIs and CPMs on Facebook

🔬 Precise targeting is very impactful; but we are going to learn to live without it

📜 What we did pre-2016 is going to help us navigate the future

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/back-to-the-future-how-pre-2016-ua-strategies-prepare-us-for-a-post-idfa-world/

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

Our guest today is Erich Detert, senior performance marketing manager at InnoGames. 

Copy is often overlooked because of the great focus on visual creatives, and therefore becomes a missed opportunity for marketers to connect with and persuade potential users. In our conversation today, Erich underlines the critical importance of ad copy in performance marketing, and shares his observations of how his experiments have impacted key metrics and lead to more qualified users and stronger ROAS.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🧪 What inspired Erich to start testing ad copy.

🔮 What sort of results you can expect from each type of ad copy.

🖱️ Why more clicky or sensational copy may not always be the best performer.

✨ Why high quality, representative ad copy can be even more important with iOS 14.

📏 How length makes a difference to performance of ad copy.

🌱 What early stage startups should do with ad copy tests.

🎥  How important ad copy is for video as compared to display or image ads.

🎞️ How important video thumbnails are in driving performance.

📱 What channels the ad copy matters in.


Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/why-ad-copy-is-critical-for-mobile-ua-campaigns-with-erich-detert-senior-performance-marketing-manager-at-innogames

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Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co

We’ve discussed at length about the upcoming changes in mobile measurement as a result of IDFA becoming opt-in in iOS 14.

A critical aspect of navigating this change is about managing user consent to make the most of the options in iOS 14. In this episode, we talk about what you can do with consent flows – and why it matters for your iOS 14 strategy.

Key highlights: 

📋 Why getting consent matters.

💬 You can only ask once.

🔔 Test soft prompts before a hard one, much like for PNs

🎯 Test the right messaging in the Apple-provided prompt

⏳ Why delaying opt-in is the best decision in certain cases

Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-maximize-idfas-opt-ins-with-thoughtful-user-consent-flows/ 

**

Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:
http://RocketShipHQ.com
http://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

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Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:
http://HowThingsGrow.co