How We Topped DomiNations’ D7 ROAS KPI by 4.5x with a Retargeting Campaign
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We partnered with Big Huge Games to retarget lapsed users for DomiNations in the US. DomiNations is a real-time strategy game where players build an empire across the ages of history – from an early settlement to a modern civilization.
Results at a Glance
4.5x
average D7 ROAS at 4.5x the KPI
100%
of weeks cleared the D7 ROAS KPI
95%+
of spend on full-screen video creatives
Campaign Goal
The campaign aimed to re-engage lapsed payers in the US before they fully churned. These users had previously made IAPs (In-App Purchases) but had gone inactive.
Success was measured against a D7 ROAS KPI.
Persona.ly brought a level of reliability and transparency that shaped the partnership from the start. We saw meaningful results quickly, but what stood out was their ability to turn early campaign data into clear strategic guidance – identifying the audiences to prioritize and continuously optimizing toward stronger performance.
The team was proactive, responsive, and transparent throughout the campaign, giving us confidence in both the process and the results.
George Wooden – Director of Growth Marketing at Xsolla (parent company of Big Huge Games)
Programmatic Retargeting Process
From the initial campaign setup, we leveraged our proprietary Live Audiences segmentation engine.
Throughout the campaign, our bidder programmatically tested combinations of audience features to identify the highest-performing segments, enabling more precise bidding at the individual auction level. Our proprietary DSP processes over 4 million ad auctions per second, using real-time audience signals, allowing us to quickly identify the best-performing audiences and set bids based on predicted value relative to the KPI.
From the early stages of the campaign, D7 ROAS reached more than 2x the KPI.
Once sufficient data had been collected, our ML-driven DSP enabled a custom targeting model focused on high-intent users most likely to return and make additional purchases. This combined precise targeting with value-optimized bidding.
The combination of real-time segmentation, custom ML targeting, and value-optimized bidding drove sustained D7 ROAS performance at 4.5x the client’s KPI.
Persona.ly’s Retargeting Products Ecosystem
Live Audiences Segmentation Engine
Persona.ly’s proprietary real-time audience segmentation engine, built directly into our DSP. It connects to advertisers’ first-party data and continuously updates audiences based on in-app behavior, enabling granular audience definitions, precise targeting, and dynamic suppression as users convert.
With flexible rule combinations and at no additional cost to Persona.ly DSP clients, Live Audiences helps maximize re-engagement efficiency while reducing wasted spend.
IMPACT Incrementality Platform
IMPACT – Persona.ly’s incrementality measurement platform, built to measure the true business impact of our retargeting and CTV UA campaigns. IMPACT goes beyond attribution to identify the conversions and revenue that were actually driven by advertising, providing transparent measurement across audiences, campaigns, and segments.
Integrated directly with Persona.ly’s programmatic bidder, IMPACT connects measurement with optimization – helping advertisers understand where incremental value is being generated and use those insights to make smarter budget and audience decisions.
IMPACT brings together the features and tools advertisers need to plan, run, and understand incrementality tests at scale:
- Segment-level performance
- Multiple tests running simultaneously
- Business-impact metrics
- Incremental revenue, iROAS, and other metrics that connect media performance to business outcomes
- Real-time visibility and 24/7 self-serve access
- Full transparency
Campaign Results
Outperforming D7 ROAS KPI
Our programmatic bidder quickly identified the audience segments most likely to return to or reinstall DomiNations and make additional in-app purchases, as well as those less likely to convert.
By continuously optimizing the campaign toward the highest-converting segments, every measured week cleared the D7 ROAS KPI. On average, D7 ROAS reached 4.5x the KPI.
72% of cohorts with a full 30-day read fully recouped campaign spend by D30, with the strongest week recouping 2.3x spend.
Full-screen Video Creatives
More than 95% of campaign spend ran on full-screen video creatives. The format captures active user attention and helped reduce wasted impressions during sessions users were likely to initiate organically.
Early in the campaign, our ML-driven DSP collected enough engagement data to identify the strongest-performing creatives and shift delivery toward them, contributing to the success of the campaign.
About Big Huge Games (an Xsolla subsidiary)
Big Huge Games is a game studio dedicated to “Finding The Fun” through rapid prototyping and a focus on a great user experience.
Big Huge Games is best known for its game DomiNations, launched in 2015. DomiNations is an epic combat strategy game of advancement, exploration, and conquest.
Strong partnerships are built on trust, transparency, and a shared focus on measurable outcomes. This is how we approach every client relationship at Persona.ly, across markets and regions.
With IMPACT, we take that transparency a step further. By measuring incremental impact, we help clients understand not only what their campaigns deliver, but the value Persona.ly is actually adding. For us, transparency means giving clients the data and confidence to make better growth decisions.
Dana Purinson – Head of BD, EMEA & North America at Persona.ly
About Persona.ly
Persona.ly is a data-driven product company specializing in mobile user acquisition and retargeting, powered by proprietary machine learning algorithms and a robust first-party data management platform.
We help leading mobile companies including King, Tencent, Papaya, NextNinja, Tilting Point, Nexon and many others reach and exceed their growth goals by accurately predicting which users are most likely to engage and convert. Our machine learning models are optimized to target high-value users based on predicted LTV, driving strong ROAS and long-term user quality.
Our in-house programmatic DSP is directly integrated with top-tier ad exchanges and OEMs, processing over 4 million ad requests per second globally.
By combining real-time predictive analytics with programmatic scale, we empower our partners to unlock smarter growth, higher LTV, and measurable incremental impact.
With IMPACT, our incrementality measurement platform, advertisers can go beyond attribution to understand the true incremental value generated by Persona.ly media. IMPACT provides transparent measurement across audiences, segments, and campaigns, connecting media exposure with incremental conversions, revenue, and iROAS.
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