The Tower increases downloads, revenue, and global growth with
Maximize Conversions.

To drive high-value player acquisition, the team at Tech Tree Games, the developer of the idle game The Tower, wanted to convert players on the App Store showing strong intent for specific types of gameplay. Focused on global expansion, they needed to reach the most relevant audiences across new markets. Their small team was looking to drive efficient player growth in a crowded and competitive category, increasing revenue while keeping costs efficient.

Invest in search results campaigns to capture players with
high intent.

To capture demand from different gaming audiences on the App Store, the Tech Tree Games team invested in Apple Ads search results campaigns separated by keyword theme. With brand search campaigns, the team captured the players who were actively searching for their app’s name and brand terms. Category and competitive campaigns engaged a wider range of gamers interested in similar gameplay across strategy, idle, and tower defense apps. Discovery campaigns with Search Match drove keyword expansion, surfacing relevant new search terms as well as gaming trends.

“We have games that are all about math, complex systems, and building things over time. We make very specific games for a very specific audience. But potential players of The Tower may not necessarily know the exact keywords to find our exact game. Plus, there are many similar ones out there,” says Tech Tree Games Chief Operating Officer Evan Losi. “With Apple Ads search results campaigns, we can effectively broaden our reach to bring the right people
to our game.”

“With Maximize Conversions, we were able to discover additional demand on keywords beyond the branded terms that we usually target. We automatically captured traffic from category search terms like idle games without having to manually set bids for each one. Some of these broader keywords can definitely be more expensive to bid on with the manual cost-per-tap bidding,” says Tech Tree Games Senior Growth Marketing Manager Colin Tong.

With Maximize Conversions, their campaign drove twice as many downloads overall and 8 times more downloads from category terms, compared with prior manual-bid campaigns. Tech Tree Games also saw a 25 percent increase in revenue after running Maximize Conversions. “We were able to significantly increase downloads as well as discover search terms at a targeted cost-per-acquisition. Setting a target price per install instead of individual keyword bids with Maximize Conversions made campaign management easier and more efficient,” says Tong.

The team found an additional benefit using Maximize Conversions — uncovering opportunities in new markets. “We know where our existing players are, but we don’t always know where the new ones will come from. Maximize Conversions helped us move into new markets and test things that we weren’t sure would work,” says Losi. “Tech Tree Games has fewer than 10 full-time employees, and we have a top 100 strategy title. Ultimately, we are a small team punching above our weight class, and Apple Ads helps with that.”