Running the Non-mainstream offer at HilltopAds: ROI 173,025%

Last updated on Oct 29, 2023

Launching a successful Non-mainstream game campaign on HilltopAds involves careful planning, creativity, and ongoing optimization. With the right strategy and a commitment to testing and refining your approach, you can tap into the potential of the Non-mainstream game niche and achieve profitable results.

This guide will walk you through the essential steps for a successful Non-mainstream game campaign on the HilltopAds platform.

Key points of the case study

Offer: Non-mainstream game
Offer source: Direct Advertiser
Traffic source: HilltopAds
Ad Format: Popunder mobile
Ad campaign period: 5 - 11 October
GEO: DE
Traffic Channel: Non-mainstream high and medium activity
Spending: $945,811
Conversions: 479
Earnings: $2 582,3
ROI: 173,025%

Settings of the ad campaign at HilltopAds

Before launching an advertising campaign on HilltopAds, you need to register as an advertiser. You can register using this link.

Next, to create an advertising campaign, you need to:

Go to the Manage Campaigns section
Click the Add Campaign button
In the campaign creation section, select the Popunder mobile ad format
In the Traffic Channels section, choose Non-mainstream high and medium activity

Next, it's essential to set up the Postback to track the results of your ad campaign.

For a detailed description of working with Postback and the available placeholders, check out our guide.

In simple terms, for the final URL of the offer, we need to insert parameters to pass conversions and source IDs. The parameter for passing conversions is click_id, and the source ID is zone_id.

As a result, our Final Destination URL should look like this:
https://my_offer.net/?&click_id={{ctoken}}&s1={{zoneid}}

{{ctoken}} - HilltopAds parameter for passing conversions.
{{zoneid}} - HilltopAds parameter for passing source ID.

In general, you can add absolutely any parameter from the available options that is necessary for further campaign analysis. However, remember that it is essential to include the click_id parameter in the final link to pass conversions.

Next, we specified the ad frequency per user - 1 display in 24 hours. And we set the necessary targeting settings:

GEO - DE (Germany)

If needed, you can also set campaign limits or display schedules. The final step before launching the ad is to specify the cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Here, we pay attention to the Traffic Volumes graph in the top right corner, which calculates premium, minimum, and recommended CPM rates.

We initiated the ad campaign with a bid of $1.76, based on the provided recommended CPM price.

So, the key settings of the advertising campaign are as follows:

Ad format - Popunder mobile
Traffic Channels - Non-Mainstream High and Medium Activity
Frequency cappings - 1 display per 24 hours
Geo - DE
CPM rate - $1.76

During the first 3 days of running the ad, we got a total of 148 conversions. We spent $403,7 and earned $742,63.

The ad campaign statistics for the first 3 days at HilltopAds

Optimization

On the fourth day, we set up auto optimization to inactivate non-profitable traffic sources.

Auto Optimization is a tool for automatically adding non-performing traffic sources. Thanks to this feature, the HilltopAds system removes non-profit sources from your advertising campaign and adds them to the BlackList.

We configured auto optimization according to the following rules:

Optimization period is 48 hours
If a specific source ID has more than 2,500 ad impressions
AND
generates less than 1 conversion,

then that source ID (zone) will be automatically added to the BlackList.

After setting up the auto optimization tool over the remaining 4 days, the earnings percentage from the advertising campaign significantly increased.

According to the statistics, we achieved the following:

331 conversions
$542,111 spent
$1 839,67 earned.

The ad campaign statistics for the 7 days at HilltopAds

Final Results and Areas for Improvement

Over the course of the full 7 days of running the advertising campaign using the Non-mainstream game offer, the following metrics were achieved:

Total Costs (Revenue) - $945,811
Total Earnings (Profit) - $2 582,3
ROI (Return on Investment) - 173,025%

ROI is one of the key indicators in digital marketing that allows you to assess the profitability of an advertising campaign. In simple terms, ROI shows you the percentage of advertising investments that you have managed to recover through earnings from the ads.

The formula for calculating ROI is:
ROI = (total earnings - total cost) / total cost * 100%

The higher this value, the more successful an advertising campaign.

As a result of launching the Non-mainstream Game offer in DE for 7 days, we completely recouped the investment in the ad campaign and earned an additional +$1 640 on top.

It's important to remember that any offer can eventually burn out. Therefore, to improve results, it's advisable to use pre-landers that warm up users for conversion on the main offer page.

The successful launch of the Non-mainstream Game offer campaign on HilltopAds was a result of meticulous planning, ethical advertising practices, and ongoing optimization. By selecting the right offer, geo-targeting effectively, and maintaining compliance, we not only achieved our goals but also gained valuable insights into the Non-mainstream Game niche. This case study demonstrates that with a strategic approach and the right partner, Non-mainstream Game offers can yield impressive results on HilltopAds.

Recommendations from the HilltopAds QA-team

Here is the list of the main recommendations from the HilltopAds QA-team that will help you to increase your profit:

Use a bright and easy for understanding pre-landing page;
If you want to add a video, do not use auto play;
Check if there are any promo offers that can be added on your pre-landing page;
If you promote a game that works by CPS (cost-per-sale) or Revshare, set up passing of micro conversions to track, for example, registrations;
Run Non-mainstream game offers only on non-mainstream traffic.