Elevate Your Social Casino App with Retargeting


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Social Casino was one of the top-grossing mobile app categories in 2018 and has gained popularity across a wide range of audiences. 

Social Casino can be further sub-categorized into slots, poker, and bingo. Rather than requiring payment or wagering monetary value, these apps operate on a free-to-play model. The players are provided free credits that are reloaded periodically for the player to use. These apps have strong ranking on the major social media platforms and they are themed to simulate gambling activities.

Although Social Casino has gained momentum in respect of popularity, according to Adjust, it falls behind on most casual apps in terms of user retention and app engagement. Thus, app marketers turn to retargeting to improve user lifetime value (LTV) and win back lapsed users.

Is Retargeting Effective for Social Casino Apps?

To measure the effectiveness of the retargeting strategy we ran an Incrementality test on two of our top social casino clients. For the bingo app, we divided the audience into two groups and showed respective creative ads: 

  • Control - public service announcement (PSA) creative was shown
  • Target - reactivation creative was shown

For the slots casino app, we used a holdout group which is similar to the control group, with a difference that they weren’t shown any ads:

  • Holdout - no ad creative was shown
  • Target - reactivation creative was shown

In terms of control group size, we used 6% and 20% respectively. As early as 2 days lapsed, retargeting users improved app revenue.

Revenue Table-2

Metrics:

  • Lift - % likelihood that a user will purchase if the ad is shown

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  • Incrementality - actual % of purchases received because the ad was shown 

Screen Shot 2019-10-25 at 2.04.06 PM We were able to see positive results as early as 2 days lapsed given that for other app categories mostly longer lapsed periods are generally used (D7, D14, D30, etc). The below table shows the revenue lift and revenue incrementality of the slots casino app per different lapsed day ranges: 

Lift Per Lapsed Day Range (Slots Casino)

Lapsed-02

Aarki also retargeted lapsed users who have been inactive for more than a year and still see positive lift and incrementality—proof positive that retargeting campaigns work to help to improve user retention and engagement. 

Choosing the Right Ad Creatives Is the Key

Creative is one of the important pillars in retargeting. Social casino app users like these games because they mirror the excitement of gambling. When designing ad creatives for social casino apps, keep in mind that the users want to see the resemblance to Las Vegas slot machines. That means creative should never be subtle, but just as flashy and eye-catching as the Vegas strip. Offering new app features and higher-level gameplay are the two most effective creative approaches for social casino apps. 

new features High level gameplay

Retarget lapsed users, measure your campaign performance, and make your social casino app a hit! 

 

Topics: Retargeting