Case Study: Axlebolt x Adjust

Axlebolt aimed to optimize the allocation and management of its advertising budget, using a data-driven approach to gain traction, expand its user base, and stay competitive in the mobile gaming market. However, they faced challenges regarding the timeliness and accuracy of data. While Axlebolt relied on real-time data analytics to strategize and fine-tune their advertising campaigns, delays in receiving raw data from certain advertising partners hindered their ability to make quick, informed decisions.

To monitor and tailor their campaigns, Axlebolt employs a complex approach that involves more than 60 metrics in their business intelligence (BI) system. These metrics play a crucial role in assessing campaign performance through Axlebolt's user acquisition (UA) dashboards, helping them evaluate the effectiveness of their advertising spend.

However, managing and interpreting such a vast amount of data, especially to maintain a focus on cohorted return on ad spend (ROAS), added another layer of complexity to their strategy. This is why Axlebolt sought the support of a mobile attribution partner like Adjust.

Adjust's SpendWorks ad spend solution provided Axlebolt with a comprehensive platform to consolidate all their advertising spend data from various sources. This unified system offered the level of detail Axlebolt needed to optimize campaign performance and improve their ROAS.

Initially, Axlebolt collected some partner spend data through Adjust but faced challenges with partners who were not integrated with Adjust. As they expanded and partnered with more networks, they encountered the time-consuming and costly task of manually obtaining spend data, which had different formats and required extensive extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes.

At first, Axlebolt used SpendWorks to track only partners that required direct interaction. However, as they aimed to ensure consistency between the data received in their BI system and the data obtained from Adjust, they expanded its use. This decision was partly driven by delayed data delivery from some partners, which Axlebolt hoped to address through SpendWorks to minimize discrepancies in data transfer timing.

With the help of Adjust, Axlebolt achieved the following:

• Optimized their advertising budget using data-driven insights, resulting in a 34% higher return on investment (ROI) by focusing on the most profitable channels.
• Gained insights into the most engaging channels, achieving a 9% increase in user retention and enabling the tailoring of strategies to maintain player interest.
• Identified channels where users are 2.5x more likely to make in-game purchases, leading to significantly higher conversion rates for both new and returning customers.
• Obtained detailed performance insights, enabling Axlebolt to allocate advertising funds more effectively, resulting in improved user acquisition, increased engagement, and higher revenue.