Q&A with Björn

Björn Videkull is Director of User Acquisition at PikPok, a leading publisher of fun and compelling games. After getting his start in user acquisition on the agency side, Björn moved to the publisher side, working at app advertisers including Playtika and Yousician. Fast forward a few years of consulting for various companies, Björn now leads performance marketing at Flexion Mobile.

In your own words, tell us about the app(s) that you manage?

I manage user acquisition for the leading equestrian game on the market, Rival Stars Horse Racing, Into the Dead 2: Zombie Survival and other titles at PikPok. Both games are successful in their respective genres but have very different KPIs and LTV curves, requiring different strategies for UA. My day-to-day is always different depending on which title I’m focusing on.

How did you get started in mobile marketing?

I first dabbled in user acquisition in 2013 when Apple’s iAD (no event tracking!) was still the main channel for performance marketing. At the time, I worked at a Japan-based mobile gaming company, managing growth for KITERETSU and their Zookeeper match-3 game.

After my time there, I joined a leading digital marketing agency—Septeni—to manage Facebook ads for various apps. Fun fact: I also had a brief stint at Playtika when they opened their Tokyo office. Later in 2016, I returned to Europe to join Yousician.

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What do you like most about mobile marketing?

I enjoy digging into the data and making sense of what is working and what doesn’t. It never gets boring—as app marketers, we are always (at least we should be, haha!) thinking about the ‘why’ and coming up with new creative ideas to drive results.

What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?

Have an analytical mindset, plus a sense for detail and strategic planning. When you first start in UA, most are responsible for optimizing campaigns and reporting on results. So it’s important to be thorough as mistakes can be costly—but mistakes are inevitable, learn from them!

As you progress in your career, strategic planning becomes a valuable tool. Previous experience managing campaigns will help shape what UA tactics you employ to achieve high-performing ad campaigns. However, never be complacent and always challenge your thought process.

What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged app users?

Know your audience and understand what makes them tick. At PikPok, we learned some users are more interested in the racing aspect of a game, and others are more into the breeding aspect. By discovering this learning, we devised different targeting and creative strategies for each user group.

In the past year, what is one tip you can share which made the biggest performance difference for your UA strategy?

Focus on creative and messaging strategies more than granular targeting. This will be increasingly important in the post-iOS 14.5 world. For example, some users respond better to ads speaking to certain game features because they already understand the game type. In comparison, other players will need to see advertisements that explain the product in general terms to convert.

What advice can you offer marketers to successfully re-engage mobile app users?

First, understand why users churn then define a re-engagement method to get them back into your app. Reach out to users with email or use Google Play’s uninstall survey to know why they churned. Was it due to lack of interest, money, or technical issues? After having a solid grasp of why players churn, it will be easier to devise a re-engagement strategy.

One strategy I have seen a lot of success from is to send offers to high long-term value (LTV) users to get them to re-subscribe in subscription-based apps.

What’s your top tip when it comes to mobile ad creative?

Start by testing ideas that show the various characteristics of the app and iterate on the winners. But remember, always keep testing new and innovative concepts!

What advice can you offer to help marketers combat mobile ad fraud?

Understand the different types of ad fraud (click stuffing, SDK-spoofing) and have an anti-fraud solution blocking the fraudulent installs before you pay for them. Combat fraud by implementing an anti-fraud solution that automatically blocks suspicious installs from being attributed.

It’s essential to analyze the data yourself. Take a closer look at suspiciously quick conversion numbers from a particular source or extremely low retention rates.

What are your top 3 go-to resources for keeping up with the mobile ad tech industry?

I keep up with MobileDevMemo, Quantmar, and various Slack groups (like the Mobile Heroes Slack Community)!


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