HOW TO GET FINANCE TO OPEN THE UA WARCHEST!

Steve Fowler
Nov 13, 2024By Steve Fowler

In my years of doing UA, I’ve found that gaining upper management’s trust for ad spend is pretty much a direct correlation to how “user-friendly” (read: simple) your reporting is. You start tossing around jargon and complex charts, and management’s support for your budget nosedives faster than a missed quarterly target.


A brilliant UA wizard, David Mauslof (FoxNext days, shout-out!), once used a method that worked wonders. His secret? Make reports so clear that even the folks who think ROI is a new streaming service can follow along.


Now, every finance and C-suite bigwig has the same line on UA budgets: “Prove that you can drive profitable installs, and we’ll open the purse.” Sounds dreamy, but we all know the reality – proving ROI for free-to-play games is like watching grass grow; it takes time. So instead, you’re banking on convincing everyone that the ROI curve will eventually pay off.


Enter the magic tool: INDEX TO TARGET. Yep, a single number that’s as easy to read as a stop sign. Think of it as:


100 = We’re golden!

Less than 100 = Houston, we have a problem.

Greater than 100 = We’re making it rain!

And while we used to focus on, say, a 12-month payback window, trends have shifted. Today, a 6- or 9-month window is common, with quarterly adjustments to match performance data in real-time. This means your UA team gets challenged to keep up, but hey, it’s all in the game.


Two years ago, this was revolutionary. Now? It’s the baseline.