Soft-launching a Puzzle Game and Signing with a Publisher

Word Tour: Word Puzzle Games had a stagnant growth before joining Appodeal.

By joining the Appodeal Accelerator, Kal Anthony, the developer behind Word Tour, was able to harness a suite of tools and expert advice that optimized the game's ad strategy and significantly improved its key performance indicators (KPIs).

Thanks to a series of improvements from Appodeal in the monetization strategy, Kal was able to boost Word Tour performance metrics. The results? We vastly surpassed the recommended requirements of some of the top mobile game publishers.

With the new and improved metrics, Kal got the best conditions to sign a contract with AAA Fun, a Top Publisher.

Today, Word Tour’s growth has exploded way beyond Kal's own expectations.

For many game developers, the passion for crafting mobile games often overshadows the intricate world of marketing and monetization. Kal Anthony's "Word Tour: Word Puzzle Games" stood at this crossroads. 

When Kal joined Appodeal Accelerator, we launched the first User Acquisition soft-launch campaign. With a very small budget, and targeting users in the USA, we collected data, analyzed the metrics, and compared them with the industry averages.

The metrics of Word Tour after that first UA campaign were far from ideal. Even though the game offered fun word puzzles and took players on a word adventure, its potential was not fully reached because of a suboptimal monetization strategy. 

Without the right growth tools and data insights, even the best games might not find the success they deserve in this vast mobile gaming industry.

Still, Word Tour retention metrics were promising, proving Kal’s skills to create a mobile game with high chances of success. However, Appodeal experts observed insufficient placements for ad interstitials, and not enough engaging ad types like rewarded video ads. The game was leaving money on the table.

On top of that, with monetization metrics that did not meet the minimum industry thresholds, securing a publisher seemed increasingly elusive.

In response to the challenges faced by "Word Tour: Word Puzzle Games," Appodeal deployed a multi-faceted strategy designed to unlock the game's full potential.

Recognizing the delicate balance between user experience and revenue generation, the team suggested a more aggressive (yet user-friendly) ad placement strategy. 

This included doubling the frequency of interstitial ads, ensuring they were presented at natural transition points within the game to minimize the player’s disruption.

To further engage users and offer value, Appodeal recommended integrating more rewarded video opportunities. 

The rewarded video ads were strategically placed where players would welcome extra help, for example, after challenging levels. That encouraged a higher engagement without hurting the user experience in Word Tour.

Beyond ad strategies, Appodeal also focused on enhancing overall user engagement.

Kal applied a series of improvements, subtly adjusting game mechanics to encourage longer session lengths and more frequent interactions. We introduced new in-game rewards, and adjusted the difficulty curve.

Word Tour also integrated the Appodeal Growth Platform, a robust analytics and ad mediation designed to provide real-time insights into user behavior and performance.

To ensure the highest-paying ads were always displayed first, we activated the Appodeal monetization auto-pilot. At the same time, Appodeal Analytics allowed Kal Anthony to monitor and adjust growth strategies, in real-time, for the best results.

Equipped with tools for user segmentation, A/B testing, and many more features, Kal had the security and comfort that every change positively impacted user engagement and monetization in Word Tour.

"Word Tour: Word Puzzle Games" witnessed a remarkable transformation in its performance metrics.

After all the updates to boost ad revenues while keeping high retention rates, Appodeal launched a second soft-launch user acquisition (UA) campaign. 

The second UA campaign, targeting the USA market, had a modest budget to maximize impact. Using Meta Ads (former Facebook), we reached mobile users with an affinity for puzzle games. This approach made sure our ads stayed relevant and kept users engaged.

The results exceeded all our expectations., as demonstrated by the following charts:

While the retention metrics of Word Tour were fairly decent, compared with other casual puzzle games, after the second UA soft-launch, the retention rates on short and mid-term increased further.

That was the evidence we needed to know Word Tour had the potential to be a top-earning hit.

Appodeal’s strategy was never focused on improving in-game performance. Nevertheless, for full transparency, the following metrics prove that increasing ad interstitial frequency or adding more rewarded video ads did not hurt user engagement.

After Kal's improvements in Word Tour, the “N of interstitials per user” tripled, and the “N of rewarded video ad per user” increased by x8 times. 

With these tweaks, and contrary to any industry trend, the “Daily Time Spent” per user increased by 20%. Even the "User Session Length" grew by a meager 5%, proving there was no downside.

These visual representations demonstrate the strategic solutions provided by Appodeal: With the right insights and adjustments, substantial growth in both user engagement and revenue is attainable, even within a highly competitive market.

The transformation of "Word Tour: Word Puzzle Games" under Appodeal's guidance was about improving metrics unlocking potential and opening doors.

With the new and improved metrics, Kal Anthony secured a partnership with a publisher, marking a significant milestone in the game's journey.

“Word Tour: Word Puzzle Games" achievements and ongoing growth exceed initial expectations. We jumped from a developer's vision to a mobile gaming success story only because Kal Anthony applied to the Accelerator Program and joined Appodeal.