How does the software launch: analysis from Zorka.Mobi and Nitro Games
Each developer once realizes that the time has come to show your product to future users. Soft-Launch - the first test of the application for survival, it is a test run reveals its strengths and points to weaknesses. In this practical article, Alexey Adamovich (head of media buying in Zorka.Mobi) and Mikko Kahara (director of marketing, Nitro Games) share the experience of soft-lunches.
Head of the media buying department Zorka.Mobi
A developer company can have as many devices and testers as it pleases, but real users often do things that even professionals will not think about. Yes, living people can click on the same place in the interface a hundred times or just on the same button. And at this moment the “fully finished application” may break. In addition, a soft launch helps to test several in-app solutions (for example, monetization models, registration type, UX settings, etc.).
We will be realistic: not all developers can afford to have a full QA-department, but it’s still expensive to give testing to outsourcing. If to simplify: users do the work of testers from the heart, “with immersion”. Therefore, a technical soft launch is also correctly called, for example, “QA-launch”. In addition, outsourcing teams do not know the product as well as the developer, and they still have limited resources (number of iterations, testing period, etc.).
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Technical soft launch is better to do on cheap traffic - in India, Pakistan, Iran. The average CPI in this case will be approximately $ 0.05. And to check the stability of the application, 1 000 installations will be enough. That is, the approximate budget of such a campaign will be about $ 50. It will be a little harder with localized applications. They should not be soft-terminated on cheap traffic, because they are tied to a specific market and users will not understand anything. And you get a bunch of "garbage" instead of feedback. In addition, this solution will avoid unnecessary costs for the purchase of test devices.
If we talk about the device on Android, then for soft-launch it is necessary to choose only flagship models. Usually it is about 10 top devices. Such a step will provide the most relevant feedback, eliminating the problems of the “hardware” itself. It is better to disable or restrict older models in the developer panel. In general, when purchasing traffic, you should register all the necessary restrictions to reduce the share of negative and incorrect feedback.
All this concerns, first of all, non-gaming applications. It is a bit more complicated with gaming: it is imperative to connect game designers, analysts, and monetization specialists to a soft launch. After all, there are much more feedback and evaluation metrics in this case.
Marketing Director Nitro Games
- What do you mean by “soft-launch”?
- For me, soft-launch is a period of time in which we introduce a limited circle of the audience to the game. First of all, to find out whether users like the gameplay. We carefully monitor the game performance data, player reviews, marketing efficiency and, in parallel with this, we continue to develop. After all, our goal is to give players the most pleasant experience of interacting with the game by the time it is published in the app store. And also make sure that the project will be a good case.
- What determines the choice of country for soft-launch?
- We select a number of countries based on the audience and the business model of the game in order to assess the scalability and effectiveness of marketing. Since we make games with synchronous multiplayer, we conduct tests in countries where we can get the greatest number of simultaneous players for an adequate price. It also helps to test in practice the capabilities of our back end.
- Is it true that the most popular countries are Canada and Australia?
- According to the industry - yes. They give the correct idea of ​​efficiency in Western markets. True, due to the fact that today publishers often test games in these countries, the picture is no longer as accurate. And this is understandable: if a country constantly acts as a guinea pig for a soft-launch, then this inevitably affects the behavior of users, and especially the first players.
- Do you fix the installation cost for each of the sources before starting the soft-launch?
“Usually we test several ways to attract users and types of campaigns at once, as well as optimize campaigns based on events. We work with free bets and strive to achieve an acceptable level of CPI subject to limitations.
- Does it make sense to abandon the purchase of traffic from social networks and attract players only through the search of the stor?
- Yes, it can be effective, but I do not know of cases when its share would be 100%. For example, the search cannot be optimized based on events and cost - and these are important metrics that can increase the effectiveness of a campaign.
- When buying traffic, are you targeting narrow targeting or a wide audience?
“Since each method has advantages, we mix both approaches.” We also learned how to work with similar audiences: using Facebook algorithms, we create them based on groups of players with high involvement.
- What, from your point of view, is more important: to technically test a build or check game mechanics and monetization?
- The mechanics of the game and the effectiveness of monetization. We mainly focus on customer retention and life value, while at the same time continuing to test and optimize user experience. But with serious bugs, of course, you should understand long before the soft-launch.
- List the five key metrics that you track with the soft launch.
- Hold, ARPDAU, ARPU for a certain period, user ratings and key marketing metrics (CPI, CPE, etc.).
- Did you have to reduce onboarding in the game after a test run?
- Onboarding and the first user experience (FTUE) are important game processes that are constantly supplemented and refined. As a reduction, and vice versa: it is not the technical volume that is important, but the feedback.
- How much content can I play the game on a soft-launch?
- Basic requirements: the main loop (core loop) must function in the game and, of course, the conceived number of elements of the metagame must be present. Of course, it is important to set up a working monetization scheme.
We hope that this material will help novice developers to avoid the most common errors of the test run.
Alexey Adamovich
Head of the media buying department Zorka.Mobi
A developer company can have as many devices and testers as it pleases, but real users often do things that even professionals will not think about. Yes, living people can click on the same place in the interface a hundred times or just on the same button. And at this moment the “fully finished application” may break. In addition, a soft launch helps to test several in-app solutions (for example, monetization models, registration type, UX settings, etc.).
We will be realistic: not all developers can afford to have a full QA-department, but it’s still expensive to give testing to outsourcing. If to simplify: users do the work of testers from the heart, “with immersion”. Therefore, a technical soft launch is also correctly called, for example, “QA-launch”. In addition, outsourcing teams do not know the product as well as the developer, and they still have limited resources (number of iterations, testing period, etc.).
')
Technical soft launch is better to do on cheap traffic - in India, Pakistan, Iran. The average CPI in this case will be approximately $ 0.05. And to check the stability of the application, 1 000 installations will be enough. That is, the approximate budget of such a campaign will be about $ 50. It will be a little harder with localized applications. They should not be soft-terminated on cheap traffic, because they are tied to a specific market and users will not understand anything. And you get a bunch of "garbage" instead of feedback. In addition, this solution will avoid unnecessary costs for the purchase of test devices.
If we talk about the device on Android, then for soft-launch it is necessary to choose only flagship models. Usually it is about 10 top devices. Such a step will provide the most relevant feedback, eliminating the problems of the “hardware” itself. It is better to disable or restrict older models in the developer panel. In general, when purchasing traffic, you should register all the necessary restrictions to reduce the share of negative and incorrect feedback.
All this concerns, first of all, non-gaming applications. It is a bit more complicated with gaming: it is imperative to connect game designers, analysts, and monetization specialists to a soft launch. After all, there are much more feedback and evaluation metrics in this case.
Mikko Kahara
Marketing Director Nitro Games
- What do you mean by “soft-launch”?
- For me, soft-launch is a period of time in which we introduce a limited circle of the audience to the game. First of all, to find out whether users like the gameplay. We carefully monitor the game performance data, player reviews, marketing efficiency and, in parallel with this, we continue to develop. After all, our goal is to give players the most pleasant experience of interacting with the game by the time it is published in the app store. And also make sure that the project will be a good case.
- What determines the choice of country for soft-launch?
- We select a number of countries based on the audience and the business model of the game in order to assess the scalability and effectiveness of marketing. Since we make games with synchronous multiplayer, we conduct tests in countries where we can get the greatest number of simultaneous players for an adequate price. It also helps to test in practice the capabilities of our back end.
- Is it true that the most popular countries are Canada and Australia?
- According to the industry - yes. They give the correct idea of ​​efficiency in Western markets. True, due to the fact that today publishers often test games in these countries, the picture is no longer as accurate. And this is understandable: if a country constantly acts as a guinea pig for a soft-launch, then this inevitably affects the behavior of users, and especially the first players.
- Do you fix the installation cost for each of the sources before starting the soft-launch?
“Usually we test several ways to attract users and types of campaigns at once, as well as optimize campaigns based on events. We work with free bets and strive to achieve an acceptable level of CPI subject to limitations.
- Does it make sense to abandon the purchase of traffic from social networks and attract players only through the search of the stor?
- Yes, it can be effective, but I do not know of cases when its share would be 100%. For example, the search cannot be optimized based on events and cost - and these are important metrics that can increase the effectiveness of a campaign.
- When buying traffic, are you targeting narrow targeting or a wide audience?
“Since each method has advantages, we mix both approaches.” We also learned how to work with similar audiences: using Facebook algorithms, we create them based on groups of players with high involvement.
- What, from your point of view, is more important: to technically test a build or check game mechanics and monetization?
- The mechanics of the game and the effectiveness of monetization. We mainly focus on customer retention and life value, while at the same time continuing to test and optimize user experience. But with serious bugs, of course, you should understand long before the soft-launch.
- List the five key metrics that you track with the soft launch.
- Hold, ARPDAU, ARPU for a certain period, user ratings and key marketing metrics (CPI, CPE, etc.).
- Did you have to reduce onboarding in the game after a test run?
- Onboarding and the first user experience (FTUE) are important game processes that are constantly supplemented and refined. As a reduction, and vice versa: it is not the technical volume that is important, but the feedback.
- How much content can I play the game on a soft-launch?
- Basic requirements: the main loop (core loop) must function in the game and, of course, the conceived number of elements of the metagame must be present. Of course, it is important to set up a working monetization scheme.
We hope that this material will help novice developers to avoid the most common errors of the test run.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/349474/
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