Constantly learning — from colleagues, from the data and even from competitors — is vital in the shifting sands of user acquisition (UA). That people are open to talking about this new and evolving discipline is super helpful for newbie Eunhee Kim.
Where do you come from and how did you end up in Holland?
I am originally from Seoul in Korea, but I lived in the US for 8 years for school. To be honest, I just came here to have a fun experience visiting a European country where I didn’t have a problem speaking only in English. Slowly I started to like Holland more and more. I decided to find a proper job so that I could stay in the country longer. And I found Spil.
How would you describe your job?
It is an analytic and strategic treasure hunt. I analyze data to discover where, when and how I can bring more quality users to our games.
What is a typical day at the office for you?
First thing in the morning, I get a coffee and catch up on emails. Once the UA dashboard is updated, I check daily data to see if I need to optimize any campaign further. From time to time, I’ll have a conference call with our current network partners to discuss our performance, or with new partners to evaluate what they can offer and see if they can help us achieve our strategic goals.
What’s the most interesting or unexpected aspect of your job?
There are a lot of networking opportunities in conferences and I get meaningful insights from other UA managers at different gaming companies. Most are surprisingly open in discussing how they optimise campaign performance and in sharing their knowledge. This is super helpful for a UA newbie like me.
Tell us something that people at Spil Games wouldn’t generally know about your job
There are many different channels for acquiring quality users. At Spil, we divide these into two categories: Publisher Management and Media Buying. I am on the Publisher Management side where we drive traffic from ad networks and demand-side platforms. I interact with many network partners and platforms, discussing campaign optimization. The Media Buying team acquires users from social media like Facebook.
What element of your job contributes most to Spil’s strategy?
I’m helping to achieve revenue goals for the three mobile games we’re focusing on right now. My role is to drive install volumes while keeping cost per install low.
What’s the most important thing that anyone considering a job in UA for mobile games should know?
You must have a willingness to learn. UA is a relatively new field and the network environment and market are always changing. You need to be flexible, embracing new ideas, formulating new plans and acting quickly to keep your campaigns working at the highest possible level.