Twitter users may have noticed this month that more and more people are posting gray, green and yellow squares in a grid format on their feeds. On other platforms, modalities, art and even cross-stitch inspired by these matrices have been popping up all over the Internet. The source is the latest pandemic craze: an online game called Wordle.

What is Wordle?

Near the end of 2021, Wordle was released and quickly became popular, eventually being acquired by the New York Times. This simple word game appealed to puzzle enthusiasts and social media users alike. Similar brain-stimulating games are popular across all age groups, but Wordle outperformed many of them, and its popularity was due in part to its simple gameplay, its appeal to a wide audience, and the ease of sharing and comparing scores on social media. 

Wordle challenges players to guess a five-letter word each day, with only six attempts to get the correct answer. The only hint appears after entering a guess, causing each letter to turn a different color, indicating where they are or could be in the word. Green indicates that the letter is in the correct position. Yellow indicates that the letter is in the word, but in the wrong position, and gray indicates that the letter is not in the word at all. The game can only be played once per day, and the answers - usually common words in English - are the same for everyone. Players have six chances to solve the puzzle. After that, they can share their game as a colorful grid without letters, which doesn't spoil the answers for anyone else.

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Get to know the Wordle game and its successful story

The limitation prompted one fan to upload a YouTube video to calculate Wordle's best launch option. the only statistics Wordle provides fans are the total number of games played, their win rate, how many words they've guessed in the game so far, and how many times they've won in a row. Fans take pride in keeping their winning streak alive and often share their results online.

What did Wordle do?

During Wordle's first few months, fans used to manually post their scores on Twitter using colorful emojis. Creator Josh Wardle told The New York Times that he decided to create an "automated way for players to brag about their success in a drama-free way. "By sharing their results, fans form a decentralized community around the game. Players can see how they performed against others in the day's discourse, and see how the performance of the entire community creates friendly competition, pushing fans to strive for better scores on their next attempt.

What makes Wordle game different and so popular?

Because all users are trying to guess the same word, everyone is sharing a common experience and struggle. "The fact that we're all trying to solve the same puzzle brings us together," Chambers told Insider. "There's a sense of community in both in terms of 'how hard people are finding it this time. And 'How am I doing in terms of finding the word compared to other people?" 

The game was released in late 2021, and Wordle was a viral success the following year. The Covid-19 surge in popularity also helped the word puzzle game explode, as many users were stuck at home and lacked social interaction. Wordle's success was ultimately the result of simple game design, ease of access, and a community on social media that rallied around the game.

Promote your word game on app markets now

If you are a developer, I guess your goal is to have high revenue word games played by millions of users. However, achieving it is not an easy task.

There's a lot that goes into getting your word game on the charts. Obviously, creating top-notch games that people want to play is the first step, but don't forget the power of marketing.

If you learn how to market a word game, you will be able to gain a lot of subscribers. As you know, a large and loyal user base equals more revenue and success for your game.

Get started from personality - How do word game audience like?

As with any marketing campaign, the first step is to clearly understand who you want to target. This means determining the age, location, behavior and preferences of your target audience.

When you know who your audience is, what they want, and what they like, it becomes easier to develop an advertising strategy. Consider that not all mobile game players are the same - there is diversity in this group. However, most gamers will fall into one of these three categories: casual gamers, mid-core gamers, and hardcore gamers.

Most gamers who play text-based games fall into the casual gamer category. This group is characterized by playing to pass the time, i.e., while commuting or waiting at the doctor's office. Casual gamers like games that are easy to learn and hard to master. Word games are a good example - the rules are usually simple, but the games are becoming increasingly challenging.

Word game user retention statistics

Day 1 user retention is critical for any developer. If about a third of your users don't return after a day of play, that's bad news for your game.

Some game studios even decide to stop their games if the user retention rate is not high enough on day 1.

However, if the user retention rate after the first day compares well with other games in your genre - it means your game has potential and you should keep trying!

For most genres, a first day retention rate of more than 35% is considered good. If it's below 30%, it means the game needs some improvement.

Drive app visibility from preparing your keywords and focus on ASO

The core of ASO is keyword optimization, occupying good keywords that cover the user's search needs in the app store and thus have a constant flow of traffic.

Not many visitors will spend a long time on the app store page to inform themselves about the offered products. Therefore, the usability and relevance of an application is mainly judged by its title, application icon and screenshots alone.

Only a few characters are provided for you to describe your game. Therefore, the words included in the title need to be super relevant and very impactful.

The title of your app is not only crucial for indexing your app in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, but it is also the first source of information for potential users. Since the app description is not displayed on the first screen of any store, the app name should already give visitors an idea of what your game is about.

To learn more about app name optimization, you can check "ASO Creation Strategy: How to Create a Perfect Name?" of our previous articles.

Another point to consider is that the App Store provides a keyword field where you can enter keywords related to your game. Now to use it strategically, you can't duplicate keywords you've already entered in the title field. Instead, target new keywords to get maximum results.

To learn more about keyword field optimization, you can check "What to Focus on When Optimizing Keyword Field to Maximize Apple Store Searching Traffic?" of our previous articles.

When it comes to the Play Store, Google will analyze your entire app page to find the keywords you should rank for. But the top keywords found in the title are considered to be the most important.

To learn more about Google Play ASO, you can check "What About Google Play Store ASO And Its Keyword Optimization" of our previous articles.

Maximize traffic with a promotion plan - make paid ads and ASO work together

The connection between paid user acquisition and organic user acquisition is vital to maximizing mobile growth. It doesn't matter if you're working for a mobile game or an app; there is one common thread that flows through most successful apps and mobile games, those who grow faster than all others: They connect between paid and organic installs, and they use it to create compounding growth.

A mobile growth team that'll understand the connection between paid and organic will realize one of the most impactful levers to drive organic install growth. Instead of viewing organic installs as "falling from the sky" without a real way to control and influence them, they take a scientific approach to organic installs. This scientific approach allows them to take advantage of one of the most popular growth loops in mobile -- the App Store/Google Play discovery growth loop.

When preparing for the word game ad creatives, you can follow by these:

Showing failed games

One of the most effective creative strategies to promote a text game app is to showcase failed gameplay. This is a great way to get your audience to take a peek at your app and pique their interest. Show users certain problematic situations and options on how to fix them. For example, showing gameplay between a novice and a veteran may encourage the viewer to try the game to prove his/her skills in a seemingly simple game.

Promote as a casual game

Playing word games can help users relax and unwind, and this value should be emphasized to attract users. To further support this, consider using calming backgrounds in your ads, such as landscapes, night skies and falling leaves, to highlight and reinforce the relaxation factor.

Highlight the benefits to the brain

Highlighting the benefits of word games for the brain, such as improved thinking skills and improved memory, is a great way to encourage viewers to download your app. Word games are mentally stimulating and can improve an individual's intellectual skills - and they're fun, too. Using scientific claims such as "sharpen your brain for 30 minutes a day" can also be an incentive for users to try the game.