Mobile Games Playbook Episode 66: Mastering Mobile Growth Marketing - Testing, Pilot Testing, and Cross-Industry Skills with Saikala Sultanova
Nov 27, 2025
Saikala Sultanova, a growth marketing and user acquisition expert with 14 years at top studios like Ubisoft, shares invaluable insights. She emphasizes the power of structured testing in user acquisition campaigns, stressing the importance of hypotheses and clean data. Saikala also highlights the significance of qualitative feedback and offers practical advice on A/B versus multivariate testing. Additionally, she discusses how skills from gaming can enhance marketing in non-gaming fields like health and fintech, urging professionals to stay curious and adaptable.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Start Pilots With One Clear Hypothesis
- Start pilot tests with a clear hypothesis and focused question to answer one thing at a time.
- Collect clean data early, reach statistical significance, and share results across teams for joint decisions.
Small Qualitative Tests Prevent Big Mistakes
- Saikala ran qualitative interviews before a costly US TV campaign and discovered the voiceover annoyed viewers.
- She reworked the creative after fewer than ten interviews and only then launched the campaign.
Make Test Plans Explicit And Repeatable
- Build test plans with clear objectives, audience segments, creative variants, and defined metrics like CPI, retention, and ROAS.
- Run due diligence on data gaps, attribution logic, and projections before launch.