Matej Lancaric (UA & Marketing Consultant at lancaric.me) dives with Shamanth Rao (Founder at RocketShip HQ - Mobile UA Agency) into the art of the soft-launch and the 3 key stages that are important to nail.
For the technical phase where you test the game stability and tracking, acquire users from Tier 4 countries (Philippines, Mexico, anywhere with low CPIs) so you don't need much budget.
In the retention stage, you want to measure: tutorial completion rate, D1/7/28. Also start analyzing the first time user experience: check each step of the onboarding flow that might cause anybody to drop off and start A/B testing what works better
Matej starts soft launches on the Google Play Store because he doesn't want to wait 2 days for Apple to review the game.
Different game genres call for different benchmarks but a classic is 40/20/10: 40% D1, 20% D7, 10% D30. If you can get 60% D1 in hypercasual it's great.
You need to be in soft launch for 3-6 months (usually 6 months) to see how cohorts mature, do creative testing, test new UA channels.
With soft launch you need to put in the efforts to iron out details before you go global, but also be ready to kill the game if it is stagnating (opportunity cost).
For the technical phase where you test the game stability and tracking, acquire users from Tier 4 countries (Philippines, Mexico, anywhere with low CPIs) so you don't need much budget.
In the retention stage, you want to measure: tutorial completion rate, D1/7/28. Also start analyzing the first time user experience: check each step of the onboarding flow that might cause anybody to drop off and start A/B testing what works better
Matej starts soft launches on the Google Play Store because he doesn't want to wait 2 days for Apple to review the game.
Different game genres call for different benchmarks but a classic is 40/20/10: 40% D1, 20% D7, 10% D30. If you can get 60% D1 in hypercasual it's great.
You need to be in soft launch for 3-6 months (usually 6 months) to see how cohorts mature, do creative testing, test new UA channels.
With soft launch you need to put in the efforts to iron out details before you go global, but also be ready to kill the game if it is stagnating (opportunity cost).
For the technical phase where you test the game stability and tracking, acquire users from Tier 4 countries (Philippines, Mexico, anywhere with low CPIs) so you don't need much budget.
In the retention stage, you want to measure: tutorial completion rate, D1/7/28. Also start analyzing the first time user experience: check each step of the onboarding flow that might cause anybody to drop off and start A/B testing what works better
Matej starts soft launches on the Google Play Store because he doesn't want to wait 2 days for Apple to review the game.
Different game genres call for different benchmarks but a classic is 40/20/10: 40% D1, 20% D7, 10% D30. If you can get 60% D1 in hypercasual it's great.
You need to be in soft launch for 3-6 months (usually 6 months) to see how cohorts mature, do creative testing, test new UA channels.
With soft launch you need to put in the efforts to iron out details before you go global, but also be ready to kill the game if it is stagnating (opportunity cost).
Notes for this resource are currently being transferred and will be available soon.
3 stages to a soft launch: technical stage, retention stage, monetization stage.
First thing you do after the game is developed so you can test the game stability and tracking: identify issues, bugs, attribution, SDKs, etc.
[💎 @04:53] For the technical phase where you test the game stability and tracking, acquire users from Tier 4 countries (Philippines, Mexico, anywhere with low CPIs) so you don't need much budget.
Key metrics to look for: crash rate, ANR rate, anything that blocks people from playing the game.
You probably want to go with Facebook, and in this case you want to verify data is tracked correctly on Facebook and attribution tool.
On Android use the Google Play Console to check app vitals and aim at an ANR < 0.5%-1% and crash rate < 1%.
Hockeyapp and Crashlytics let you track these as well.
Then go slowly into the retention stage by adding Tier 2 and Tier 1. Netherlands, Denmark, etc.
[💎 @09:10] In the retention stage, you want to measure: tutorial completion rate, D1/7/28. Also start analyzing the first time user experience: check each step of the onboarding flow that might cause anybody to drop off and start A/B testing what works better.
This is also the time to start testing creatives, then to add the iOS built and compare results with Google Play.
[💎 @10:23] Matej starts soft launches on the Google Play Store because he doesn't want to wait 2 days for Apple to review the game.
[💎 @11:55] Different game genres call for different benchmarks but a classic is 40/20/10: 40% D1, 20% D7, 10% D30. If you can get 60% D1 in hypercasual it's great.
The retention stage and the monetization stage can be worked on simultaneouslyif you have a big enough team.
Measure: conversion rate to paying user, ARPU, ARPDAU, LTV, ROAS.
The goal here is to achieve an LTV > CPI or a specific ROAS DX target.
You should be always be in constant discussion with the product team and the analytics team.
Volume of users to reach at this stage is often defined by the analytics team and allows to know how many paying user (e.g. 500/month) you need to get statistically significant numbers. If you have lower conversion rates to payment then you will need more users.
This is the time you are preparing for a global launch so you need to be 200% sure.
You will know after 1 week if things are really bad.
Focus on retention before monetization so you can focus on the early stages of the player funnel first. If you have a problem with retention early in the funnel you will lose even more lower down the funnel.
Volume per stage:
If it is for a subscription app (non-game) or ad-driven business, you still need to go through these stages but just adjust to your app.
For a 6 months soft launch:
[💎 @25:35] With soft launch you need to put in the efforts to iron out details before you go global, but also be ready to kill the game if it is stagnating (opportunity cost).
3 stages to a soft launch: technical stage, retention stage, monetization stage.
First thing you do after the game is developed so you can test the game stability and tracking: identify issues, bugs, attribution, SDKs, etc.
[💎 @04:53] For the technical phase where you test the game stability and tracking, acquire users from Tier 4 countries (Philippines, Mexico, anywhere with low CPIs) so you don't need much budget.
Key metrics to look for: crash rate, ANR rate, anything that blocks people from playing the game.
You probably want to go with Facebook, and in this case you want to verify data is tracked correctly on Facebook and attribution tool.
On Android use the Google Play Console to check app vitals and aim at an ANR < 0.5%-1% and crash rate < 1%.
Hockeyapp and Crashlytics let you track these as well.
Then go slowly into the retention stage by adding Tier 2 and Tier 1. Netherlands, Denmark, etc.
[💎 @09:10] In the retention stage, you want to measure: tutorial completion rate, D1/7/28. Also start analyzing the first time user experience: check each step of the onboarding flow that might cause anybody to drop off and start A/B testing what works better.
This is also the time to start testing creatives, then to add the iOS built and compare results with Google Play.
[💎 @10:23] Matej starts soft launches on the Google Play Store because he doesn't want to wait 2 days for Apple to review the game.
[💎 @11:55] Different game genres call for different benchmarks but a classic is 40/20/10: 40% D1, 20% D7, 10% D30. If you can get 60% D1 in hypercasual it's great.
The retention stage and the monetization stage can be worked on simultaneouslyif you have a big enough team.
Measure: conversion rate to paying user, ARPU, ARPDAU, LTV, ROAS.
The goal here is to achieve an LTV > CPI or a specific ROAS DX target.
You should be always be in constant discussion with the product team and the analytics team.
Volume of users to reach at this stage is often defined by the analytics team and allows to know how many paying user (e.g. 500/month) you need to get statistically significant numbers. If you have lower conversion rates to payment then you will need more users.
This is the time you are preparing for a global launch so you need to be 200% sure.
You will know after 1 week if things are really bad.
Focus on retention before monetization so you can focus on the early stages of the player funnel first. If you have a problem with retention early in the funnel you will lose even more lower down the funnel.
Volume per stage:
If it is for a subscription app (non-game) or ad-driven business, you still need to go through these stages but just adjust to your app.
For a 6 months soft launch:
[💎 @25:35] With soft launch you need to put in the efforts to iron out details before you go global, but also be ready to kill the game if it is stagnating (opportunity cost).
3 stages to a soft launch: technical stage, retention stage, monetization stage.
First thing you do after the game is developed so you can test the game stability and tracking: identify issues, bugs, attribution, SDKs, etc.
[💎 @04:53] For the technical phase where you test the game stability and tracking, acquire users from Tier 4 countries (Philippines, Mexico, anywhere with low CPIs) so you don't need much budget.
Key metrics to look for: crash rate, ANR rate, anything that blocks people from playing the game.
You probably want to go with Facebook, and in this case you want to verify data is tracked correctly on Facebook and attribution tool.
On Android use the Google Play Console to check app vitals and aim at an ANR < 0.5%-1% and crash rate < 1%.
Hockeyapp and Crashlytics let you track these as well.
Then go slowly into the retention stage by adding Tier 2 and Tier 1. Netherlands, Denmark, etc.
[💎 @09:10] In the retention stage, you want to measure: tutorial completion rate, D1/7/28. Also start analyzing the first time user experience: check each step of the onboarding flow that might cause anybody to drop off and start A/B testing what works better.
This is also the time to start testing creatives, then to add the iOS built and compare results with Google Play.
[💎 @10:23] Matej starts soft launches on the Google Play Store because he doesn't want to wait 2 days for Apple to review the game.
[💎 @11:55] Different game genres call for different benchmarks but a classic is 40/20/10: 40% D1, 20% D7, 10% D30. If you can get 60% D1 in hypercasual it's great.
The retention stage and the monetization stage can be worked on simultaneouslyif you have a big enough team.
Measure: conversion rate to paying user, ARPU, ARPDAU, LTV, ROAS.
The goal here is to achieve an LTV > CPI or a specific ROAS DX target.
You should be always be in constant discussion with the product team and the analytics team.
Volume of users to reach at this stage is often defined by the analytics team and allows to know how many paying user (e.g. 500/month) you need to get statistically significant numbers. If you have lower conversion rates to payment then you will need more users.
This is the time you are preparing for a global launch so you need to be 200% sure.
You will know after 1 week if things are really bad.
Focus on retention before monetization so you can focus on the early stages of the player funnel first. If you have a problem with retention early in the funnel you will lose even more lower down the funnel.
Volume per stage:
If it is for a subscription app (non-game) or ad-driven business, you still need to go through these stages but just adjust to your app.
For a 6 months soft launch:
[💎 @25:35] With soft launch you need to put in the efforts to iron out details before you go global, but also be ready to kill the game if it is stagnating (opportunity cost).
