Spotlight On: Scopely’s Director of User Acquisition

This is an exclusive Q&A with Eric Ma, Scopely’s Director of User Acquisition. Eric is scheduled to be a panelist at #Postback15. 

Q: What ad types have you seen be particularly effective at delivering a high ROI?

Similar to peers, I’d say video ads, both incentivized and non-incentivized views, have delivered particularly strong ROI. Other ad types have exhibited very strong results at smaller scale. Since we publish mobile games, I’m particularly bullish on cloud-based or HTML5 interactive playable ads, which let people get a feel for our game experience right from the ad unit immediately. I’d also say one area of real strength has been mobile web – if the publishers and placements make sense, we’ve seen great ROI and have every expectation that the space will continue to grow at a rapid pace.

Q: How can you increase your organic growth in a meaningful way?

Truly natural organic growth is a complicated mix of product quality, user experience and natural virality, as well as a healthy dose of luck. If you’re working with very little marketing budget, I’d suggest doubling your vigilance in removing bugs and improve app performance, which is less glamorous but delivers real experience improvements that are essential to your users talking you up to their friends.

Personally, I’d say most of us at this conference are in the business of trying to add fuel to the fire, and use paid marketing dollars to accelerate organic growth. That requires a close eye to the quality of media purchased. I have been impressed by a number of social influencer campaigns – if you truly believe your product is viral and social, seeding your growth with highly strategic influencer campaigns can have huge returns.

Q: What gets you excited about the future of user acquisition or mobile marketing in general?

I’m continually energized by how fast the mobile acquisition landscape changes. Every breakthrough application or any new way people spend time on their mobile devices presents new marketing opportunities (as well as difficult challenges). There’s no shortage of platitudes about how much time people spend on their phones, but it’s very much a reality to anyone in mobile marketing. What all of us are focused on today is strikingly different than six months ago, and even more different from six months before that. We’re also moving away from one-size-fits-all marketing solutions, and different developers are finding very unique strategies make more sense for them, whether it’s focusing more on social media, TV, re-engagement, video content, influencer marketing, or other tactics.

Q:What are you most looking forward to at #Postback15?

Sharing and receiving our best learnings with our industry peers. Plus who doesn’t love Seattle?

Register for #Postback15

This year’s Postback event will be held July 23 & 24 in Seattle, WA. Featuring a lead keynote address from Malcolm Gladwell, nine panel sessions with discussion from 30+ industry experts, and training for TUNE products, Postback is a can’t miss event for all serious marketers. The event also includes an outdoor happy hour, private boat cruise around Lake Union, and a concert with a secret artist, giving you plenty of opportunities to connect with other industry professionals. To register or learn more, visit the Postback website.

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