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Not knowing more about Evony's business model, I think this is likely an example of optimizing for the wrong metric - in this case clicks versus conversions. T

by dpifke 17y ago

Not knowing more about Evony's business model, I think this is likely an example of optimizing for the wrong metric - in this case clicks versus conversions. The creator of the last ad is probably thrilled that it's "performing" better than the earlier ads, although I'll bet the actual return on investment is the same or worse. On the other hand, if the site is ad-supported in addition to the freemium model mentioned in the article, this is a way to drive up the number of unique visitors in their traffic stats.

vaksel 17y ago
for all we know the clicks are translating into sales. I mean why else would they slowly optimize it for more boobs? I imagine it worked something like this: "check out this civilization like game" = 20 clicks, 1 signup "BOOOOOOOBS!" = 500 clicks, 2 signups It may not be targeted advertising, but if it gets them twice as many signups, you can't say it doesn't work.
- quizbiz 17y ago
  Dealing with 500 clicks can be a lot more expensive than 20, especially at that conversion rate. Bandwidth, support, contact, etc.
  - vaksel 17y ago
    500 clicks for a landing page costs pennies
- onreact-com 17y ago
  I'd really like to perform a split A/B test on some of these ads or similar ones to prove one of these theories. I'd rather support the sex gains attention but doesn't sell off topic products assumption at least on the Web. Btw. I did a similar thing in real life already. A post on "Apple porn" didn't get many click thrues on Apple ads. Something like 0,x %.
swombat 17y ago
I clicked on some of the earlier ads, out of curiosity, and I was presented with a zero-information sign-up page. Eventually I googled around to find some screenshots of the game, to get some idea of what it was like. I suspect that the curiosity about what the game is, and the fact that most people won't bother to poke around, might make quite a few people enter their details into the game, so it's probably not all that ineffective.
Periodic 17y ago
However, with the number of random flash games on the net, I wouldn't be surprised if making yourself stand out and get more clicks might be worth it even with a lower conversion rate. If you are still reaching your target audience, and a new add opens up an entirely new audience, you don't really care what the conversion rate on the new audience is because you weren't reaching those people to begin with. Interestingly, going so far in the extreme will probably get them more press than otherwise. I wouldn't have known the name of this game if it weren't for this article.

by dpifke 17y ago

vaksel 17y ago

for all we know the clicks are translating into sales. I mean why else would they slowly optimize it for more boobs? I imagine it worked something like this: "check out this civilization like game" = 20 clicks, 1 signup "BOOOOOOOBS!" = 500 clicks, 2 signups It may not be targeted advertising, but if it gets them twice as many signups, you can't say it doesn't work.

quizbiz 17y ago
Dealing with 500 clicks can be a lot more expensive than 20, especially at that conversion rate. Bandwidth, support, contact, etc.
- vaksel 17y ago
  500 clicks for a landing page costs pennies
onreact-com 17y ago
I'd really like to perform a split A/B test on some of these ads or similar ones to prove one of these theories. I'd rather support the sex gains attention but doesn't sell off topic products assumption at least on the Web. Btw. I did a similar thing in real life already. A post on "Apple porn" didn't get many click thrues on Apple ads. Something like 0,x %.

swombat 17y ago

I clicked on some of the earlier ads, out of curiosity, and I was presented with a zero-information sign-up page. Eventually I googled around to find some screenshots of the game, to get some idea of what it was like. I suspect that the curiosity about what the game is, and the fact that most people won't bother to poke around, might make quite a few people enter their details into the game, so it's probably not all that ineffective.

Periodic 17y ago

However, with the number of random flash games on the net, I wouldn't be surprised if making yourself stand out and get more clicks might be worth it even with a lower conversion rate. If you are still reaching your target audience, and a new add opens up an entirely new audience, you don't really care what the conversion rate on the new audience is because you weren't reaching those people to begin with. Interestingly, going so far in the extreme will probably get them more press than otherwise. I wouldn't have known the name of this game if it weren't for this article.