What are playable ads?
Playable ads allow users to try a sample of your app before installing and ultimately gaining access to the entire experience. This requires you to create a significantly scaled-down version of your app’s essential features so that users can “try before they buy.” Playable ads are commonly associated with marketing for mobile games, whereby users can try out the gameplay, get hooked and decide to install. However, other verticals are also finding innovative ways to benefit from highly engaging playable ads. For example, Australian fintech company Lendi used playable ads on Facebook for its brand awareness campaigns. By developing a playable refinance calculator, the company increased incremental leads by 30% and achieved a 66% decrease in cost per lead. A snippet of the app’s user experience can be enough to encourage users to install, especially when rewarded with in-app purchases and similar rewards to be redeemed in your app. These snippets of gameplay usually take no longer than one minute to complete. Once the preview is over, your ad should display a call to action (CTA) so that the user can click to install.
What are the advangates of playable ads?
The opportunity to try your app before installing makes playable ads an effective way to engage users. Moreover, the users who decide to install your app will have a clear view of what to expect, consequently decreasing churn and uninstall rates. With the chance to experience gameplay highlights before committing to downloading, user retention is also more likely to increase due to playable ads. By attracting users who are likely to be retained for longer, you will increase your audience’s lifetime value (LTV) — resulting in better value for every ad dollar spent. A Facebook case study shows that playable ads helped mobile games company Me2Zen increase return on ad spend (ROAS) by 50%, generate x3 as many in-app purchases and decrease their cost per install (CPI) by 9%.
Gain access to valuable data insights
Playable ad developers can also offer advertisers data that you can use to identify behavioral trends and other insights that can help optimize your campaigns. For example, you can learn the type of user that will engage with your ads and which CTA works best for driving conversions.
