Eager to gain first mover advantage, InnoGames wanted to be one of the original publishers to test Google Play Instant by uploading an instant app. The company wanted to determine if this technology could help create new conversion funnels and increase the discoverability of its games.
About InnoGames
Founded in 2007
Provider and online games developer
Headquarters in Hamburg, Germany
About The Knights of Unity
Founded in 2015
Professional Unity Development
Headquarters in Wrocław, Poland
Goals
Create and publish an Google Play Instant app
Establish new conversion funnels additional to Play Store listings
Improve user acquisition
Approach
Created playable demo of Forge of Empires game for Play Store
Results
16% increase in interaction rate with store listing
3X higher conversion rate than average store listing
With over a decade in the industry, InnoGames is a leading developer and provider of mobile and online games for a global audience. Based in Germany, the company’s portfolio encompasses seven live games including the popular titles Forge of Empires, Elvenar and Tribal Wars.
Google Play Instant (GPI) opens up new revenue streams for developers by allowing users to try games without downloading and installing them. Running an instant app experience improves discoverability which drives more installations and active users. Keen to open up a new conversion funnel, InnoGames enlisted the help of Polish games studio and Unity products specialist The Knights of Unity, which had also begun focussing its attention on this new area for market growth. Together they built an Instant app for the Forge of Empires game, which is playable by clicking on the “Try Now” button on its Play Store listing.
Google Play Instant allows users to launch an Android game or app with no installation required. This means that users can interact with the app without needing to wait for it to download, prior to deciding whether to get the full version. This increased engagement, in turn, helps to gain more installs.
Another highly beneficial aspect of GPI is that it’s not confined to the Play Store. Anywhere you can share a link, you place the app, including on Google Search and social networks. This makes it possible to establish entirely new conversion funnels outside of the Play Store.
InnoGames wanted to capitalise on the new technology by being a first mover in GPI development after identifying its creative potential, with the ultimate goal of increasing conversion-rates for the store listing as well as ingame-metrics.
“Utilising the GPI platform, InnoGames found that users who engaged with the instant app were much more likely to install the full game, with the instant app to full app conversion rate around 3 times higher than that of the average store listing”
The Knights of Unity helped InnoGames create a playable demo version of Forge of Empires, using the concept of the desktop landing page as the starting point for the Instant app. They also helped to adjust various graphical assets for a mobile-friendly user experience, while optimising user flow and loading times, aligning the technical requirements of the instant app with the full app.
Utilising the GPI platform, InnoGames found that users who engaged with the instant app were much more likely to install the full game, with the instant app to full app conversion rate around 3 times higher than that of the average store listing. The “Try Now” button had also significantly increased the interaction rate with InnoGames’ store listing by 16% — enhancing upper funnel metrics.
Encouraged by the results and in prep for the eventual integration of instant apps with Google Universal App Campaign creatives, InnoGames is now planning to create instant apps in the Play Store for all its live games. It is also considering producing instant apps for its games that are still in development, providing a sneak preview to build exposure during the pre-registration period, prior to their commercial launch. InnoGames intends the instant game experience to be a key element of its user acquisition strategy moving forward.
“We believe that instant apps are a crucial part of our App Store Optimisation activities and think it will be an essential tool for User Acquisition on Android in the future, especially when talking about Universal App Campaigns.”
— Fabian Weiske, Marketing Manager, InnoGames
