MobilityWare grows its iOS user base with AppsFlyer and InMobi Advertising

Overview

• MobilityWare restructured its user acquisition strategy by dividing creative and UA functions with the goal of achieving better iOS campaign performance, post-ATT
• The team partnered with AppsFlyer and InMobi Advertising, leveraging InMobi Advertising’s SKAN expertise and AppsFlyer’s Single Source of Truth (SSOT) solution to optimize campaigns across iOS ad inventory while navigating privacy-compliant attribution challenges
• A US-based test was conducted using two of MobilityWare’s titles as trial apps, focusing on scaling installs, improving retention, and driving ROAS through a mix of SKAN and probabilistic attribution signals
• The strategy resulted in a 38% increase in US-based iOS user growth and a 13.5% reduction in eCPI, leading MobilityWare to expand the partnership with AppsFlyer and InMobi Advertising to additional titles and regions

Background

Headquartered in Orange County, California, MobilityWare has been a pioneer in mobile gaming since the birth of iOS and Android, having released multiple titles on day one of each app store’s debut. Its games have reached hundreds of millions of downloads, including the top solitaire app globally across mobile operating systems, making MobilityWare a dominant force in the card and puzzle casual gaming categories.

Challenge

Having experienced phenomenal growth prior to the introduction of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) protocol, the MobilityWare team was looking to extend that trajectory into the post-ATT advertising landscape. To do this successfully, the team knew they needed to reassess legacy UA strategies and fine-tune their channel mix to achieve optimal campaign performance.

Led by Director of User Acquisition Chris Kim, the MobilityWare UA team sought to accelerate the transformation of their predominantly in-app ad-monetized growth strategies to better align with a privacy-first future. The first step in this journey was to align internal teams around the overall emerging priorities by making user acquisition and creative distinct practice areas. This division allowed both teams to focus their efforts and excel in their specialized areas, contributing to the success of campaigns and overarching strategy.

With this new operating model in place, MobilityWare’s main objective was to implement the ideal mix of media partners that would maximize incremental lift in retention and ROAS across their full portfolio of apps, with a particular focus on the United States market.

Solution

To put this plan into action, the MobilityWare team re-evaluated and fine-tuned its widely varied channel mix. They prioritized media sources that were capable of successfully pivoting away from reliance on user-level identifiers and towards partners capable of navigating Apple’s SKAdNetwork (SKAN). MobilityWare decided to include InMobi Advertising in this evaluation, due to its recognized expertise in SKAN, dedicated bidder designed to optimize performance for iOS app campaigns, and deep integration with AppsFlyer, their Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP).

Together, the teams launched a US-based test using MobilityWare’s flagship solitaire game and a newly launched Monopoly-branded title as trial apps. Through the test, the team aimed to rapidly scale installs and drive D1/D7 retention and ROAS, by leveraging a mix of SKAN and attribution signals from AppsFlyer to power optimization across all available iOS inventory and ad sizes.

To help achieve this goal, the teams leveraged AppsFlyer’s Single Source of Truth (SSOT) solution, which unifies and deduplicates iOS attribution data across disparate sources to deliver the clearest picture of campaign results.

As an ad monetized business, predicting the full value of users during the first 48 hours post-install has proven challenging with SKAN 3 and earlier versions. InMobi Advertising and AppsFlyer have helped us overcome these obstacles and uncover meaningful insights that balance SKAN and probabilistic attribution data.

Chris Kim, Director of User Acquisition, MobilityWare

In addition, InMobi Advertising’s automated tools for creative optimization were trained on MobilityWare’s official App Store listings to produce additional messaging variants for testing that aligned seamlessly with their App Store experience, rendering all creative treatments at double the standard pixel density to deliver the richest ad experience.

Results

Insights from AppsFlyer’s SSOT revealed a 13.5% drop in eCPI, indicating cost-effective, efficient user acquisition. In addition, InMobi Advertising was able to boost US-based iOS user growth for MobilityWare by 38% quarter-over-quarter while meeting or exceeding D1 and D7 retention goals. Creative optimizations also improved click-through rates by 21%.

This strategy proved successful and bolstered MobilityWare’s vision of leveraging both SKAN and probabilistic attribution. As a result, the team opted to expand the partnership to additional regions and titles and deploy AppsFlyer SSOT across their full roster of media partners.

It’s important to assess SKAN alongside probabilistic signals from your measurement provider. Both InMobi Advertising and AppsFlyer have been great partners in helping us understand the nuances of adapting app growth strategies for a privacy-first world, and we look forward to working together to discover and leverage the additional granularity of insights SKAN 4 and beyond will unlock.

Chris Kim, Director of User Acquisition, MobilityWare

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