I literally loathe some popular games that I have never played. I genuinely hate them, with passion. And it’s all because of their ads.
Specifically, their playable ads.
The idea behind a playable ad is pretty simple: give people a taste of the game or app in the hopes that they’ll covert on the ad, click it, install your game, and become an engaged, retained player. The theory is great. The execution, too often, is not. And when playable ads fail, you become even less likely to convert people who just want a power-up, gold, or a free life to a player in your game than if you had not shown them any ads at all.
In fact, when the playable ad and the in-app execution of it are seriously bad — as is far too often the case — you actually turn potential players into active haters.
Congratulations, you’ve just paid good marketing dollars to do some anti-marketing.
Check out all 6 ways in my post on Singular’s blog … but here’s a teaser:
- Games should be fun (but your playable isn’t)
- Let the people play (but you killed the game after 10 seconds)
- Don’t sell too hard (but you’re doing ABC: always be closing)
- Decide if it’s a playable or a video (but we have to watch your ‘playable’)
- Don’t add multiple timers (but you’re making people wait on hold)
- Provide an escape route (but your X isn’t clickable)
Get all the details in the full post.