{"id":18268,"date":"2026-09-24T09:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T09:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/persona.ly\/blog\/?p=18268"},"modified":"2026-09-24T13:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T13:13:57","slug":"how-we-reached-4-5x-d7-roas-kpi-retargeting-lapsed-payers-for-dominations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/persona.ly\/blog\/2026\/09\/how-we-reached-4-5x-d7-roas-kpi-retargeting-lapsed-payers-for-dominations\/","title":{"rendered":"How We Topped DomiNations\u2019 D7 ROAS KPI by 4.5x with a Retargeting Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Download the PDF version of the case study<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We partnered with Big Huge Games<\/strong> to retarget lapsed users for DomiNations<\/em> in the US. DomiNations<\/em> is a real-time strategy game where players build an empire across the ages of history – from an early settlement to a modern civilization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Results at a Glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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4.5x<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

average D7 ROAS at 4.5x the KPI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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100%<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

of weeks cleared the D7 ROAS KPI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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95%+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

of spend on full-screen video creatives<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Campaign Goal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Success was measured against a D7 ROAS KPI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"George<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The team was proactive, responsive, and transparent throughout the campaign, giving us confidence in both the process and the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Wooden – Director of Growth Marketing at Xsolla (parent company of Big Huge Games)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Programmatic Retargeting Process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the initial campaign setup, we leveraged our proprietary Live Audiences<\/em> segmentation engine<\/strong>.

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From the early stages of the campaign, D7 ROAS reached more than 2x the KPI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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\u2019s KPI.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Persona.ly\u2019s Retargeting Products Ecosystem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Live Audiences <\/em>Segmentation Engine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Persona.ly\u2019s proprietary real-time audience segmentation engine, built directly into our DSP. It connects to advertisers\u2019 first-party data and continuously updates audiences based on in-app behavior, enabling granular audience definitions, precise targeting, and dynamic suppression as users convert.
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\"programmatic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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With flexible rule combinations and at no additional cost to Persona.ly DSP clients, Live Audiences<\/em> helps maximize re-engagement efficiency while reducing wasted spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IMPACT<\/em> Incrementality Platform<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

IMPACT<\/em> – Persona.ly\u2019s incrementality measurement platform, built to measure the true business impact of our retargeting and CTV UA campaigns. IMPACT<\/em> goes beyond attribution to identify the conversions and revenue that were actually driven by advertising, providing transparent measurement across audiences, campaigns, and segments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrated directly with Persona.ly\u2019s programmatic bidder, IMPACT<\/em> connects measurement with optimization – helping advertisers understand where incremental value is being generated and use those insights to make smarter budget and audience decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IMPACT<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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IMPACT<\/em> brings together the features and tools advertisers need to plan, run, and understand incrementality tests at scale:
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