Why your mobile game needs high-quality creatives
Mobile Games
October 13, 2022
When marketing a mobile game, you can’t bypass video assets, users will expect it, whether directly on your game’s listing page or even in outside ads. People want to see the gameplay, understand the goal. Video assets are there to ensure gamers will want to download (and keep playing) your game, you need one.
According to Sensor Tower, video ads accounted for more than half of game advertising share of voice on all major mobile game advertising networks. However, not all creatives are created equal. A poorly crafted video might hurt the experience and drive some potential users away. As with most content online, quality matters!
While a poorly-made creative will set you back (it can harm conversions by 20%), a high-quality one will help your mobile game in more ways than one. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so which story are you telling with your video assets and how can you ensure it’s a good one? Why do you need to invest in high-quality creatives?
To boost your conversion rate
The key to a great conversion rate? A good app preview video. Your app preview video is the key to making a good first impression (and that can increase your CVR by 35%), after all, it shows up on your game’s listing page without the user needing to scroll down. The preview video is there to grab the user’s attention and compel them to download the game. It’s an essential tool of organic growth.
20% of users will rely solely on the preview video to make the decision of installing – or not – your app, it’s impossible to ignore the impact of an effective preview video. Users don’t tend to explore a product page, so in the app stores, the preview video will be your best shot at convincing them to download your game. More than that, they’ll expect to see one, to be able to see the gameplay and understand what your game is about.
Indeed, visitors who watch the video are 3x more likely to install. That’s not negligible. Beware, this only works if your preview video is high-quality. A poorly-done one can hurt your conversion rate by 15-20%. On the other hand, a high-quality app video can increase your conversion rate by up to 40%. It pays to invest in quality.
And it’s not just about the preview video, your screenshots are also important. If the video is of great quality but they swipe to find a poorly done screenshot, all your hard work will be useless. Screenshots should also match the high quality of your video, they’re also a great opportunity to showcase your best assets and selling points with a clear CTA in case people just skip over the video (or don’t have a fast enough internet connection at the time).
To attract quality users and lower churn
It’s one thing to get users to click on your app page and download your game, it’s another one to make them stay and invest time and money in your product. Believe it or not, a good quality creative can help you lower your churn rate and boost user retention. A good user is a user who stays. How does the quality of creatives impact your user retention?
Essentially, video assets are there to convey the value of the game to users. If done correctly, they will properly illustrate why this particular game is suitable to the viewer. It’s important to be as honest as possible, you can choose a specific angle to promote your game (and rely on user motivations to create compelling video ads) but don’t pretend to be something you’re not.
This is not limited to ASO assets, you should be careful with your UA creatives too. They may be eye-catching enough to drive people to the stores but if they’re not explaining well enough what your game is about, people will leave without downloading. So you may have improved your impressions but your conversion rate will suffer.
For example, misleading video ads may bring a lot of clicks and get people to frantically download your game, but they won’t stay long. Worse, after deleting the app, the frustration feeling the experience gave them will stay (and they will associate your brand and your games to that feeling). So misleading creatives won’t be considered high-quality.
On the other hand, if the user comes across a relevant video ad that shows them true-to-game visuals with a strong narrative, they’ll get hooked. And once they decide to download the game, they will find what they’re looking for in there. This satisfaction will stay with them because the game matches their expectations and they will see your brand in a positive light. Not only will they be invested in your game, but they may be swayed into trying out other games from your portfolio.
A high-quality creative will help you convert the relevant audience, it’s not about converting as many people as possible, but converting the right ones, the ones who will enjoy your game and keep engaging with it. A spending consumer is one that feels invested in the game.
To grow your brand
Preview videos and video ads are a part of your brand. And branding is a cornerstone of mobile games. You can’t build a successful mobile game without strong branding. Your game needs to be recognizable, so does your brand. Having a strong brand image will help you promote your other games to your existing users, it’ll also make it easier to successfully launch new games and attract more users.
You’d recognize Angry Bird’s aviary characters anywhere, just like you’d recognize Candy Crush’s bright colors and Lily’s Garden main character. Having a strong brand identity, one that you can easily convey through design and color choices, is a must.
Low-quality visuals, clunky narrative, botched transitions, etc will reflect directly on your brand. Your video (whether it’s a video ad or a preview video) can’t look half-finished or rushed, you need it to be visually appealing and interesting to watch. It will impact how players see your game, allowing you to create a trusting relationship with them. Trust is the backbone of conversions and sales, an invested user will be more inclined to dedicate his attention to your game.
Just like every ad product, low-quality visuals will reflect poorly on you while high-quality assets will boost both your brand image and brand recognition. Ryan Kelley, ASO Specialist, mentioned that you can’t rely solely on the app stores’ existing users, you need to drive them there yourself with a compelling branding strategy. Bring them to the stores with the goal of downloading your app. How? By showing them enthralling video assets.
To stand out from the crowd of mobile games
You’re not the online mobile game out there. The medium keeps growing and with it the number of mobile games available to users. To be successful, you need to stand out. There are a lot of ways to do so: working on your keywords for better ranking, a strong social media presence linked with UA campaigns, and a branding strategy. For most of those, you’ll need creative assets, and they’re not something you can overlook. Not only do you need them but you need them to be good enough.
According to SocialPeta, there were 19 million active ad creatives in the first half of 2021, 180% more than the previous year. Mobile users, especially mobile gamers will be subjected to a huge amount of ads. If you want to earn their attention, you need to steal the spotlight.
That’s where the quality of your video asset comes into play. A high-quality video will help you attract (and keep) the attention of users, users who are constantly swarmed by ads. Viewers can feel the care you put into your asset. If you want them to notice your creative assets, you need to pay attention to their quality.
What are you waiting for?
In the end, it’s all about setting yourself apart and increasing your app’s installs by quality users. Creative assets are unavoidable, however, you can’t rush them and hope for the best. Videos will help users assess the value of your mobile game, a high-quality video is the key to improve your game’s perception by viewers.
Video assets are a stepping stone toward mobile games’ success. SocialPeta analyzed Rollic’s approach to ad creatives for their successful hyper-casual game High Heels and stated that “the high-quality ad creatives also bumped up the game’s revenue. Rollic’s hyper-casual games made a major contribution to Zynga’s revenue growth in Q1”.
Creatives are not just a side-note of your app promotion strategy, they’re at the heart of it. They link you to your users and allow you to connect with them and foster a strong relationship on that basis. As Gabriel Machuret, ASO Specialist, would say: “Put some care into it.”
And if you need any help steering that ship in the right direction, here at Apptamin we’d be happy to give you a hand.
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