• UPDATE: Released on Google Play Store
  • Early Access Open Beta: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atetkaolabs.shopclick
• Goal: Apply my data science skill set on the mobile applications marketing field.
• There are four major parts to this project:
  • 1.) (DONE) Development of a mobile game (tracked on GitHub)
  • 2.) (DONE) Launch
  • 3.) (IN PROGRESS) Inorganic user acquisition
  • 4.) (TODO) Marketing report

• Game Design
• Game Development
• Android Developer Fee
• Monetization
  • Advertisements
  • In-App Purchases
• Marketing Analytics Hooks
• Testing
• Media Kit
• Required Legal Stuff for Google Play Store
• Launch on Google Play Store
• Obtaining Users
  • Word-of-Mouth
  • Organic Growth
  • Inorganic Growth
• Customer Service
• Mobile App Marketing Primer
• Marketing Dashboard
• Acknowledgements

• The purpose of my project is not making a AAA game; this is a means to the end for the marketing analytics part.
• Regardless, my game must be compelling enough that a user would:
  • 1.) Play for more than a few minutes
  • 2.) Reach a conversion goal, e.g. watch an advertisement
• To bypass lengthy design and planning, I am replicating a genre that would be managable for me to solely develop: A 2D, menu-driven, clicker/incremental game.

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• Engine: Unity 2019.2.0f1 (C#).
  • NOTE: I recently upgraded to 2019.2.8f1 and some menu items were slightly different.
• Version Control: GitHub @ https://github.com/atet/mobile_app_marketing/tree/master/Shop%20Click
• Assets: CC0 licensed assets from Open Game Art (https://opengameart.org/)
• Platform: Android

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• There is a one-time $25 USD fee you need to pay to publish apps on the Google Play Store.
• Sign up/log in here: https://developer.android.com

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• My conversion goal is that a user get all the way to watching at least one advertisement.
• I am using Google AdMob to deliver rewarded video-based advertisements in exchange for in-game premium currency.

• I plan to set up this framework in my app, but it is more of an academic exercise than a monetization goal.

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• Stay tuned: Data from Google Play Console Statistics dashboard and Google AdMob Console may suffice instead of hard-coded hooks to report KPIs.
• There are a few KPI's that I am keeping track of:
  • Android device ID, this is unique to each device
  • Session length/count
  • Session time until conversion

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• Specific implementations were privately tested on several Android devices.

• Builds in which a user could make it to endgame (level 80) will be tested by a small group of experienced mobile gaming players.

• An open beta test is currently being run on Google Play Store Early Access.

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• Google Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atetkaolabs.shopclick

• Website: http://labs.athitkao.com

• Graphics:

  Icon

  

  Feature Graphic

  

  • Thanks for the concept art Mondul Kao!

  Screenshots

  

• NOTE: Graphics, descriptions of your application, email contact for customer service, etc. are required by Google Play to submit your application for their store.

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• In order to collect any user data from an app on the Google Play Store, you must provide a link to your user agreement that exists online.
• It is your responsibility to protect any user information you collect for marketing analytics, etc.

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• Even if you watch a current walkthrough video on Youtube, etc. many details can change between Unity and Google Play overnight.
• These are the big differences that I experienced:
  • You must build your *.apk OR *.aab as ARM64-only, select Scripting Backend as IL2CPP and the Target Architecture as only ARM64
  • You must increment the Bundle Version Code everytime you upload a build to Google Play for processing, even if Google detected an error with your build during the uploading process
  • You build cannot be in development mode or have any Debug.Log commands (that are uncommented)
  • Your first submission may take a few days to clear Google Play's checks

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• My mobile application is currently in beta phase (though, it is fully playable), so currently it's asking friends and family to test it.

• Incorporated in Google Play Console is the ability to run Google Ads campaigns (promoted postings in Google Play Store, etc.).
• There are other avenues to obtain inorganic growth outside of Google:
  • Social media campaigns (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
  • Printed flyers
  • Door-to-door advertising

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• If customer issues come up, you need to handle them appropriately before too many bad reviews sink your app.
• I will be handling issues on a case-by-case basis and personally responding to user reviews.

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• Every project will have different goals. These goals will define what marketing analytics are important to track as key performance indicators (KPIs).
• An example of a critical KPI that would guide high-level strategic decisions is user retention. This is an indicator of an app's success and is represented by n% user retention after m days.

• The following are popular terms in the mobile application marketing space:

• Marketing and analytics are serious business; there are people that work on just these aspects of a mobile app full-time.
• From my experience in biotech analytics, be prepared for projects ranging from "We need to know xyz by today" to multi-year sagas.
• This article provides an excellent overview of experimental design in analytics projects: https://campus.datacamp.com/courses/experimental-design-in-r/introduction-to-experimental-design?ex=1

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• Google Play Console includes all tools needed for what I would've wanted to make as a dashboard. No need for me to reinvent the wheel.
• I am changing goal #4 to be a marketing report data product instead of a stand-alone dashboard.

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• Mondul Kao: I wouldn't have started on this journey into the gaming industry without him.
• The Gaming Industry: Everyone from Big Huge Games and GDC that was encouraging and welcoming.
• GameDev.tv: Thanks Ben, Rick, and Yann for making high-quality educational content on Udemy.
• Countless Others: From open game assets to helping with bugs, many thanks to the online community.

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