Five tactical lessons for real-money gaming marketers on segmentation, lifecycle engagement, and performance measurement
Disclaimer: The opinions represented here are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent those of their current or former employer.
In the fast-paced world of mobile gaming and app marketing, even small strategic tweaks can yield big gains. Recently, Adikteev spoke with Haig Sakouyan, VP of Partner Success at Incline Gaming Marketing, which supports operators worldwide across North America, Europe, Africa, and beyond to launch and scale performance-driven campaigns. We talked to Haig to uncover how he’s applied decades of experience to the real-money gaming space. In our conversation, he broke down what separates sustainable growth strategies from short-term wins: segmentation frameworks that drive profit, offer architectures that convert, and retention tactics that get ahead of churn.
Watch the full interview below, or read on for a selection of key takeaways.
Key Takeaways
- Track early onboarding signals to spot funnel issues. Monitor KYC pass rates, payment failures, and geolocation mismatches within the first 72 hours to catch and fix conversion blockers fast.
- Optimize for deeper performance metrics, not vanity KPIs. Shift focus from CPI and ROAS to metrics like cost per first-time deposit or first purchase to ensure marketing spend drives real value.
- Prioritize quality over quantity in user acquisition. Target high-potential players based on predicted lifetime value rather than simply filling the funnel with low-intent users.
- Test and lead with your strongest offer in creatives. A compelling, well-placed promotion can outperform fancy visuals and lift conversion rates dramatically.
- Use data to anticipate churn and intervene early. Deploy lifecycle marketing and CRM tools to trigger re-engagement efforts before your best players drop off.
Monitor Early Signals to Optimize Your User Onboarding Funnel
Haig says that early metrics like account setup success, verification completion, or first-day engagement often predict long-term performance. By monitoring these signals, you can quickly spot if a drop-off is due to a campaign issue or an onboarding hiccup, like a broken payment step or heavy KYC friction, and act immediately. This proactive approach ensures you’re not wasting ad spend driving users into a leaky funnel.
“The reality is many players convert after day one, so lifecycle strategy is key. We help partners monitor all the key elements of the stack, like KYC pass rates, payment processing, or geolocation, because all of these affect the funnel. We’ve seen plenty of cases where there are conversion issues not tied to the campaign. Looking at these signals is super important, not just what you see in an ad network dashboard.”
Onboarding optimization can have a huge impact on overall performance. For instance, an industry example from leading iGaming operator Novibet overhauled its KYC verification flow with AI-powered tools to reduce friction. The result was a smoother signup process that fought fraud while actually increasing conversion rates for new players. By streamlining identity checks and payment steps early, Novibet ensured more newcomers became depositing customers. The lesson: obsess over your early-user experience and fix bottlenecks fast to maximize long-term payoffs.
Focus on Metrics Beyond CPA or ROAS
For other apps it might be cost per first purchase or subscription. Superficial metrics can mislead. A campaign with great CPI or install volume isn’t a win if those users never generate revenue. By optimizing for a deeper KPI — Haig advocates for Cost Per First-Time Deposit (CPFTD) — you align marketing spend with actual value. This approach is especially important in an era of sketchy attribution data where ROAS is harder to pin down. It forces you to prioritize quality over quantity in user acquisition.
“On our end, the main metric we look at is what we call CPFTD, or cost per first-time deposit. That’s the core metric. On the real money side, ROAS is a little bit tougher... and I think this transcends not just real money. It’s difficult at times to pull the information through, especially with all the issues we have in attribution with iOS.”
Many top app publishers have embraced similar thinking. Product Madness, for example, shifted away from superficial retention metrics toward more personalized user-level strategies. Using customized scoring algorithms and Dynamic Creative Optimization, they targeted individual churned payers rather than generic segments. This highly personalized approach helped Product Madness retain an additional 12% of high-value users by Day 14, significantly boosting incremental revenue. By focusing on personalized retention strategies tied directly to real value rather than generic or vanity metrics, Product Madness effectively aligned marketing spend with measurable ROI.
Ready to put these strategies into action? Adikteev offers the industry’s leading app re-engagement platform, helping top mobile marketers retain users and boost revenue. Learn how Adikteev can amplify your app’s growth.
Segment and Target High-Value Players
All users are not created equal, so segment them by value and focus on attracting and nurturing high-quality players, even if it means fewer total users. Haig advises that tailoring strategies to user segments yields stronger results than a one-size-fits-all push for volume. Chasing raw install numbers or active user counts can fill the funnel, but if those users don’t stick around or spend, you end up with a shallow revenue pool. By contrast, investing in campaigns and CRM initiatives aimed at the “right players” boosts ROI and can dramatically lift average revenue per user.
“Segmenting by user value and their lifetime is important. That usually yields strong results. Recently, by targeting the right people we saw a big jump in revenue. You might have seen actives slightly dip, but the quality and the average amount of revenue skyrocketed… You want to fill the top of the funnel with players. But the reality is a lot of people will play if you incentivize them, and sometimes you won’t get more than activity out of that. The goal is to really get the right players… focusing on the right players is important”
Successful game marketers devote special love to their high-value cohorts. An industry example from Zynga, for instance, has a long-running VIP program in Zynga Poker that offers big spenders exclusive perks like bonus chips and invite-only tournaments. By segmenting and deeply engaging these VIP users via personal support lines, in-game status, and unique rewards, Zynga keeps its whales happy and spending. The broader lesson is universal: identify your most valuable customer segment and tailor your marketing and product experience to delight and retain those users.
Make the Offer the Star of Your Creative
Creative design and clever concepts are important, but in many cases, users respond most to the value proposition you’re advertising. A compelling offer, like “50% off your first month,” “100 free spins on sign-up,” or “Extra lives for returning players” can significantly improve click-through and conversion rates. Ensuring your team tests different offers (and not just different graphics) can yield surprisingly large wins in campaign performance.
“The key we find is the offer that often drives the results more than the visuals. We ran some tests and sometimes the same creative, with a revamped or retooled welcome offer, can make a world of difference. It’s actually shocking how much the performance changes… a lot of the success is going to be driven by the offer.”
For operators with mature UA and CRM engines, the challenge isn’t testing whether a 100% deposit match beats 50 free spins, but understanding which economic levers drive sustainable player behavior across cohorts, geos, and channels, and how to operationalize that insight across dozens of campaigns. Leading teams are designing offer logic systems tied to predictive models that determine which combination of bonus type, timing, and messaging maximizes long-term value per segment. That means unifying user-level LTV forecasts, channel-level CAC ceilings, and fraud risk thresholds into a flexible bonus delivery engine.
Anticipate Churn and Re-engage Players Proactively
User churn is the bane of every app marketer, especially when it’s your high-rollers or core users on the line. But taking a proactive approach, one where you intervene just as a user’s engagement wanes, can extend lifecycles and boost revenue. Haig recites some tried and true wisdom: It’s far more cost-effective to re-engage an existing user than to acquire a new one. With today’s tools, marketers can automate these save tactics at scale.
“The best lifecycle programs anticipate churn before it happens. That means using low-balance or ‘risk of churn’ segments to trigger preemptive offers. That’s key for VIPs. Personalization matters… you’re not going to give a VIP the same offer as you’d give your casual or non-depositor. For core players, timely, can’t-miss messages work well.”
A proactive re‑engagement strategy, when executed with precision, can transform retention and revenue performance. Pixonic, the studio behind War Robots, worked with Adikteev to target lapsed players using interactive carousel creatives featuring in-app items and weekend bonuses. Rather than generic blasts or fixed offers, the campaign dynamically surfaced context-relevant incentives only to users most likely to convert based on predictive modeling of purchase behavior. By measuring both view‑through attribution and click‑through attribution, Pixonic’s retargeting campaign delivered a staggering 7× uplift in ROAS, showing that well-timed, personalized content can reignite user value long after initial churn.
Drive Sustainable Growth
Haig’s insights illustrate success comes from balancing data-driven precision with creative and customer-centric thinking. Senior marketers who apply these principles can expect not only improved performance in the next quarter, but a stronger, more loyal user base in the long run. To keep up with Haig’s work, follow him on LinkedIn or check out Incline Gaming.
If you’re looking to elevate your marketing strategy and keep players coming back for more, consider partnering with experts who specialize in app engagement. Adikteev’s app retargeting platform empowers you to do just that, whether it’s reactivating dormant users or driving incremental revenue from your most valuable cohorts. Get in touch with Adikteev to discover how we can help you achieve your marketing goals, or explore our resources for more insights. Let’s turn these actionable lessons into real-world results for your business.