1. It’s An A.R.M.’s
Race (Acquisition,
Retention, and
Monetization in Mobile
Gaming)
Brian Sapp
Director, Developer
Partnerships

2. Overview
• Introduction To Tapjoy
• User Acquisition
• User Retention
• Monetization
• Pre-launch Checklist

3. Tapjoy by the Numbers
9 0 0 MILLION
mobile devices
75,000 1.2 MM 600 MM 100 MM
Apps Daily Ad Daily Monthly
Engagements Sessions Active Users

4. Acquisition

5. Mobile Acquisition Channels
How are developers promoting free-to-play apps?
• Rewarded installs • Organic discovery (top charts,
• Non-rewarded installs search, word of mouth, etc.)
• Video ads
• Cross promotion
• Social discovery (FB, Twitter,
etc.)

6. Mobile Acquisition Channels
What you can expect to get from:
Featured Placement: Front page placement App to App Cross-Promotion: Free cross
of your app in the platforms market, promotion
normally for no more than 7 days.
@ 1% of DAU traffic of hosting app,
15,000 – 30,000, paid, per day very dependent on placement
100,000+, free, per day
Review Sites: Have your app reviewed on a
Tapjoy User Acquisition: Pay per install bid blog site
system
@ 1,000 +/- installs, hard to track
@$0.10 bid - 5,000+, per day actual volume, important for app
@$1.00+ bid - 60,000+, per day store
Free App Promotions: Destination apps
and sites that feature your app
$5,000 - $20,000 for 1-7 day
listing, no volume guarantee (2,000-
30,000 installs)

7. The Holy Grail – Getting Featured on Google
Play
Can translate into as much as $1-$2 million in immediate revenue.

8. The Holy Grail – Getting Featured on Google
Play
Sessions New Users DAU’s ARPDAU
200,000 $.05
160,000 $.04
120,000 $.03
Featured!
80,000 $.02
40,000 $.01
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9. Getting Featured
What they’re looking for:
• Well Known IP • Technology Supported
• Retina Display, Multitasking, Gyroscope,
• Prior Hits Accelerometer, Location Services, Game Center,
• Territories Available etc.
• Languages Supported • App Store Landing Page
• Supported Devices • One-liner that captures what makes your app
special
• User Reviews/Ratings
• Video on Google Play Store
And of course…a great game!

10. New User Flow
The new user flow is one of the most important parts of a
successful game.
• Optimize the download (<50 MBs)
• Show off the cool parts of the game
• Use clear directions
• Get the user playing as soon as you can
You have @ 30 seconds to hook your users and
under 5 mins to teach them.
• The goal is to shoot for 70% tutorial
completion rate

11. Optimize the Download
Tapjoy Network Android Conversion Rate:
(clicks to installs)
Total Conversion
Megabytes Rate (CVR)
0-50 50-60%
50-100 30-45%
100+ 14-20%
The smaller the file,
the better the CVR.

12. Start Off Simple
Take Users by the Hand and Guide Them Into the App
• During the first 30 seconds put the user on rails, don’t let them get lost
• This is your chance to take an uncertain user and create a engaged user
• You can’t display everything, show off your core loop and build from there
CSR Racing iOS

13. Retention

14. Take Advantage of Social APIs
• Most social networks offer free connections API’s and SDK’s
• Forcing a connection to a network can cause a large drop-off in new
users
• Present the choice to your users, use the network icons and let them
opt in to sharing
Orange’s TV Check app saw a
75% drop off when the app
forced users to connect with
Facebook.

15. R
Social Channels
Sometimes it’s better to create your own social
layer
Surface social
activity to
users early on

16. Incentive Friend Invites
• 3x more monthly sessions
Reward users • Average: 11.9 monthly sessions
for inviting their • Facebook: 32 monthly sessions
• Facebook: 7% to 12% sign up
friends when rewarding users with coins
Subway Surfer*
Clash of Clans MinoMonsters
*Kiloo Games/Chartboost Case Study

17. Reward Users for Inviting Friends

18. Daily Rewards
Give your users a reward for coming back every day.
• In the later days of the reward cycle give the users bigger or exclusive
rewards
• Show them what they earned and also show them what is coming up

19. Build Daily Rewards Into The Game Play
CSR Racing iOS

20. Use Push Notifications
Mobile users are slightly A.D.D. – remind them to come back through notifications,
but don’t spam them.
Appointment Mechanics Notifications
Appointment Mechanics

21. Monetization

22. R
Store Funnel
• Make it easy for users to find your store and buy items.
• No more then two clicks
• Prompt to the store when currency runs out

23. R
Store Design
• Use icons over text when possible
• Design for the phone, not tablet, use all your real estate
• Let users know they’re getting a deal
• A well designed, clean store = happy customer

24. Mobile Revenue Channels
Direct Payment - In-app purchase (IAP) through iTunes or Google Checkout
• Top 25 Grossing Apps can earn as high $1 million to $8 million a month in
revenue
Alternate Payment – Offerwalls, Banner ads, Featured ads, and Videos
• Alt pay, like Tapjoy’s Marketplace and ad units, typically account for 30%-40%
in additional revenue on iOS & 50% + on Android
iTunes Google Offerwalls

25. Mobile Revenue: Ad Types
1
5
1
3
1
2
1
4
1
1
1
1 Rewarded Offerwall 1
3 Featured Ads 1
5 Videos
1
2 Non-rewarded Offerwall 1
4 Banner Ads

26. Which Ad Units Are Right For My
Game?
HARDCORE CORE CASUAL
Usage: Usage:
Usage: Low Engaged User/Massive User Base
Highly Engaged User/Smaller User Base Engaged User/Large User Base
Monetization: Monetization:
Monetization: Low ARPDAU ($.01-$.04)
High ARPDAU ($.15-$1.00) Mid Level ARPDAU ($.04-$.15)
Ad Solution: Ad Solution:
Ad Solution: Alt Pay/Featured Ads/Video Ads
Alternative Payment Platform Alternative Payment Platform
Featured Ads/Video Ads Banner Ads/Cross Promo Wall
Are you leaving revenue on the table? Are you balancing user
engagement with monetization?

27. Smart Ad Placement
Try to place ads in less conspicuous areas where users regularly view, but
that don’t interfere with game play.
• Landing screen/Main Menu
• Inventory screens
• Transition pages/Loading pages
• Use featured ads sparingly (Every
third app launch, post PVP play)
• Only show ads to non paying users
Consider giving users the option to remove ads with a purchase.

28. Pre-launch Checklist

29. Self-Publish or Get Published?
Get Published?
• Make sure you get adequate, hard
commitments on marketing budget and
promotional efforts, including agreed upon
KPIs/metrics.
• Know what you’re giving up and getting in
return.
• Get references – Who have they worked with
before? How did it work out? Ask other
developers.
Self-Publish?
• You should have at least $100K-$200K to
promote your app or be pretty damn sure
Apple/Google are going to feature your app
• Ideally you already have a built-in user base
playing your previously launched titles that you
can use for cross promotion

30. Checklist
QA like crazy
 Maximize device and OS
coverage
Integrate SDKs
 Social
 Monetization
 Analytics
 Advertising
Create required creative asset
 App icons and screenshots
 Banner creative
 Video trailer
Localize
 Prioritize Japanese &
Korean

31. App Icons
They are starting to look a bit similar…

32. What Should You Be Tracking?
A baseline set of metrics from launch will help you identify problems early
• DAU
• New users
• 24hr, 2nd day, 7 and 30 day re-engagement
• New user funnel (Install, Open, Tutorial Start & Finish)
• Average game session length
• APRDAU & ARPPU
• % of users monetizing
• Item sales
• IAP sales
This is a basic list to get started.
As the game matures you’ll learn the
KPI’s (key performance indicators) for
your game

33. Testing the Waters
• Choose a smaller region to test in
– Everybody uses Canada, so you’re probably better off going with
another English-speaking country (ex. AU, NZ, SG)
– Get 5K+ DAUs flowing through your app
• Focus on retention (next-day, 7-day, 14-day)
– Rough targets: 40%+ next-day, 25%+ 7-day, 15%+ 14-day
– Tutorial completion rate goal at 70%
– Are users dropping off at a certain level? If so, why? What items
are users buying the most?
• Monetization measurement
– High end: $1 ARPDAU
– Realistic ARPDAU range: $0.04-$0.15
– % DAUs monetized: 1%-5%
• Take care of any bugs
Proceed with a full launch only when you’re happy with the performance of
your bucket test

34. Thank
You!Brian.Sapp@tapjoy.co
m
@sappalicious
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