Strategies to Keep Your Game on the Leaderboard

Mobile gaming advertisers face new challenges in Q1 as the holiday season ends. Shifts in player behavior, changes in ad costs, and evolving engagement trends require marketers to adapt. While CPIs often fluctuate post-holiday, typically dropping before re-stabilizing, this period presents opportunities to refine user acquisition (UA) strategies, re-engage lapsed players, and refresh creative approaches. To sustain growth, advertisers should focus on engagement mechanics, creative optimization, and cross-promotion to maintain player interest and drive long-term retention.

Strengthen Engagement Mechanics to Drive Retention

A strong onboarding experience lays the foundation for player retention. Simplifying tutorials, making early progression intuitive, and ensuring that rewards are meaningful can encourage new players to stay engaged. For example, incorporating interactive tutorials that adapt based on player actions can improve understanding and enhance long-term retention.

Live operations (Live Ops) and seasonal events create excitement and give players a reason to return. Features like battle passes in competitive games, time-sensitive in-app tournaments, exclusive in-game rewards, and social competitions help keep gameplay fresh while providing strong incentives for player retention. Developers can use in-game leaderboards and cooperative challenges to encourage continued participation and community engagement.

Analyzing player behavior and preferences is essential for refining retention strategies. Platforms like GameRefinery provide insights into effective engagement mechanics, such as how top-performing games structure their Live Ops or what types of rewards best drive repeat play. For example, games that introduce personalized offers based on play style often see stronger retention metrics. Leveraging these insights helps tailor events and rewards to better align with user expectations, ultimately driving long-term engagement.

Combat Ad Fatigue with Creative Refresh Strategies

Repetitive ads can lead to disengagement, making creative refresh an essential post-holiday strategy. Instead of relying on holiday-themed content, advertisers should introduce fresh gameplay narratives and interactive formats like playables. For instance, some mobile games have successfully used character-driven storytelling in their ads to improve click-through rates and player retention. Using A/B testing platforms or AI-powered creative testing tools can further refine which ad formats resonate best with different audiences.

Optimize UA and Player Engagement with Proven Methods

Cross-promotion within a publisher’s portfolio is an effective way to retain users and improve lifetime value. Publishers can encourage continued engagement and prevent churn by promoting other games in their portfolio to existing players. This approach works particularly well when games share similar themes or mechanics, making it easier for users to transition between them. Highlighting in-game rewards, exclusive content, or limited-time offers in a sister title can further entice players to explore new experiences within the publisher’s ecosystem. Additionally, integrating in-game banners or native placements ensures seamless promotion without disrupting gameplay.

App-to-web (ATW) strategies provide another avenue for cost-efficient user acquisition and re-engagement. By directing users to a web experience before driving them back to the app, advertisers can lower CPIs while improving conversion rates. For example, a major game publisher successfully used ATW to offer exclusive web-based content, enticing players to return to the app for further rewards. This strategy is particularly effective for high-intent audiences who may be more likely to engage when presented with additional incentives. Implementing personalized landing pages and leveraging first-party data can further enhance ATW success by aligning messaging with user interests.

Advertisers should focus on hyper-targeted messaging to maximize the impact of re-engagement campaigns. GameRefinery data can help developers analyze how successful games segment their audiences for personalized push notifications or in-app rewards. For instance, breaking down player cohorts based on engagement patterns allows for tailored incentives—such as offering exclusive skins or power-ups to players who log in after a period of inactivity.

Turn Q1 Challenges into Growth

Q1 presents an opportunity for advertisers willing to experiment and optimize. Retaining high-value players, refreshing ad creatives, and leveraging alternative UA strategies can sustain growth while improving efficiency. By dynamically adjusting bids based on predicted user value, machine learning enables advertisers to make smarter decisions and optimize spend more efficiently.  

Want to improve retention and optimize UA spend this quarter? Learn how Liftoff can help you maximize engagement and drive sustainable growth.