😵 I was running Reddit ads all wrong.

How I increased my ad's CTR from 0.3% to 2% with a few simple changes after a call with someone from Reddit. Two important Tumulus reminders. Also, playing more Compile and loving it.

TL;DR Summary

• 😵 I was running Reddit ads all wrong

• 🩻 Tumulus resubs and address changes

• 🎲 Recently played: Compile

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😵 I was running Reddit ads all wrong

It’s true. I was doing just about everything wrong when running my first Reddit ads, but with a few simple changes they are now a lot more effective.

Here’s what I did.

Impressions, clicks, eCPM, CPC, CTR, what am I doing?

I’m not a social media or marketing expert, and I’d venture to guess that most game designers aren’t either. And yet if you are an indie game designer, the expectation is that you are taking care of those parts of your business. Hiring someone usually just isn’t a viable option.

For Exeunt Press, the Skeleton Code Machine newsletter has been the most effective way of sharing what I have to offer. That’s good because unlike some other forms of social sharing, I actually quite enjoy writing it!

But with my first Kickstarter launching (hopefully) later this year, I want to understand how online advertising works — Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit. So I’ve run a couple tests recently on the platforms to promote both Make Your Own One-Page RPG and ADVENTURE! Make Your Own TTRPG Adventure.

The results were… disappointing.

The click-through rates (CTR) were abysmal at about 0.3% and they certainly weren’t driving sales. It was wasting money and rather discouraging.

Setting up a call with Reddit

After running the Reddit ads for a few days, I received an offer from a Reddit Sales Rep offering a free, 30-minute call to discuss how to optimize my ads. Usually I’d turn things like this down — who wants a sales call? But for some reason, I said yes.

So about a week and a half ago I had a call with David from Reddit. He was extremely kind as we looked at my ad, it’s performance, and how I was doing everything wrong.

He said that even though I should expect a lower CTR on Reddit than Meta (~1-2% vs. 3-4%), that being under 0.5% was pretty bad.

How to improve your ad performance

Here’s what I learned:

1. Keep your target audience small(ish): My audience size was way too big. By only selecting broad interest groups, I had tens of millions in my potential ad audience. Reddit strongly recommends an audience of 5 - 10 million for ads like mine with a specific audience.

2. Target subreddits not general interests: Using the simple ad setup, you are encouraged to select broad Reddit interest groups. Doing this will create an audience that is way too large, showing your ad to people who aren’t interested. Changing my ad to target specific subreddits only and reducing the audience to the recommended size had the biggest impact of all of these changes.

3. Trust our algorithmic overlords: Reddit will show your ad to the people in your target audience, but will also sometimes attempt to explore new audiences. Using these tests and adjusting the algorithm takes time. They recommended allowing it to run at least a few weeks to let it work, with four weeks being the ideal.

4. Include name in the ad: Reddit users seem to prefer to be able to look things up on their own. David recommended that my ad be updated with the website name/logo in the ad or some information the user could look up on their own. Having just a mockup photo of a product isn’t the best way to go.

5. Carousels are the top performers: There are many types of ads you can run, but carousel ads are by far the most successful. These use a sequence of images that the user can flip through if interested. Each one should have it’s own description and highlight a feature of the product.

6. Use 1:1 images: I’ve been confused by all the different aspect ratios required by the different ad platforms. Reddit’s advice was to just use 1:1 (square) images and that’ll get you the best placement in almost all scenarios. This made it a lot easier to set up the revised ad.

7. Use tracking pixels: Reddit recommends using the Reddit Pixel to base metrics on actual conversions at your website versus just tracking clicks at their end. I find tracking pixels to be really confusing, but I was able to set up one for Reddit. If you’ve used these ad platforms a lot, I’m sure you think it’s easy… but for someone new to it — yikes.

8. Use your account manager support: Almost all new ad users get offered a 30-minute support call. I’m glad I set up the call. If you spend about $20/day, you’ll get access to additional, on-going support.

9. Run ads in 12-week cycles: Based on Reddit’s data, ad performance starts slow and gradually increases. It peaks somewhere around 4-8 weeks and then usually drops off again. They recommend doing an “ad refresh” around 9-10 weeks or perhaps planning on a 12-week cycle.

10. Select an attribution period: Showing my ignorance of this field, I had never even heard of multi-touch attribution (MTA). This is an attempt to track if the ads being run are actually causing the desired outcomes. That’s no easy task, so platforms will have you set an attribution period in days — the allowable time between the user seeing the ad and that user making a purchase where you can say the ad caused the purchase. Set it too long and you’ll over-report. Set it too short and you’ll under-report. They said 7 days is a good middle ground, but I bet there is much debate over this.

Note that these tips and learnings apply to my type of ads. If you are advertising vacuum cleaners, motorcycles, or whatever, I’m sure other rules of thumb apply.

Did it make a significant difference?

Yes. That’s the short answer.

My CTR went from 0.3% or less to consistently between 1-2% which is their benchmark for a decently running ad.

I’m still not sure if I have the Reddit Pixel set up correctly (probably not), but it does seem like the ads are working now. Is it a huge success? I’m not sure, but it’s vastly better than it was before.

Why am I sharing this?

Because making games and art is inherently good.¹ And while you never need to sell your games to be a game designer, at some point you might want to try.² If you do, it can be confusing and discouraging to try it for the first time.

My hope is that by sharing what I’ve learned I help those who want to try to sell their games, run their first Kickstarter, or drive traffic to their newsletter.

What do you think? Have you ever run online ads before?

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🩻 Tumulus resubs and address changes

With the release of Tumulus 03. Kick open the door., new subscriptions have been rolling in. That’s really exciting! With all the new subscribers, I wanted to share two important reminders:

1. Your subscription does not auto-renew: While many subscriptions auto-renew each month or year, your Tumulus one does not. This is by design! It makes it easier to give Tumulus as a gift, and it ensures you never get hit with an unexpected charge. I will include a notice in with your fourth and final issue of your subscription with a link to renew. Just order Tumulus again for another year of four, quarterly issues!

2. Address changes are easy: If you move during your subscription, no problem. Just send an email to games@exeunt.press with (1) your current shipping address and (2) your new shipping address. All future issues of TUMULUS will reach you at the correct location. Please send any address updates at least eight (8) weeks before the next issue ships to ensure prompt delivery.

The next issue will published in September — Tumulus 04. Return to the sea.

SUBSCRIBE: Tumulus from Skeleton Code Machine

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🎲 Recently played: Compile

Found the Compile: Aux 1 expansion at my FLGS and was excited to be able to immediately sit down and try a game with the new cards.³ It adds three new protocols: Love, Hate, and Apathy.

I wrote about the minimalist game design of Compile earlier this year, and the game has only grown on me since then. The rules can be easily explained in less than 5 minutes, and yet the choices that arise from the simple rules are really deep. It’s a short game, but it never feels shallow.

PLAY: Compile by Michael Yang

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Check out games.exeunt.press for all the latest games and resources!

- E.P. 💀

1. For my opinion on this see Why are you making a TTRPG? and the end of the first part of Make Your Own One-Page RPG (Part 1: Introduction).

2. You don’t need to sell your games. If you do, you don’t need to advertise. Do your own thing.

3. I also picked up a used copy of the 2007 GMT edition of Reiner Knizia’s Battle Line, originally released in 2000. It’s a reimplementation of Schotten Totten (2000) with ancient warrior art and some component changes. Excited to give it a try, and I’m sure it’ll be featured in a future Skeleton Code Machine post.