Neo Radar #11
We’re back with another fresh round of insights—from UGC-powered game ecosystems to paywall experiments and growth strategy gems. Let’s dive in.
In this 📡 Neo Radar edition:
🎮 The State of UGC Games in 2025 by Naavik
💸 Ugly Paywalls & Conversion Testing by RevenueCat
🔁 Subscription Churn Benchmarks & Levers by Elena’s Growth Scoop
🧪 7 A/B Tests That Feel Illegal (but Work) by Marketing Ideas
🔮 +3 handpicked Linkedin posts
🎮 The State of UGC Games in 2025 by Naavik 🔗 LINK
A comprehensive look at how User-Generated Content is reshaping the gaming landscape. From Roblox and Fortnite Creative to new breakout platforms, this report maps the current UGC economy and where it’s headed.
Why you should care: UGC is becoming a serious growth engine, offering new monetization models and expanding creative ecosystems for players and studios alike.
💸 Ugly Paywalls & Conversion Testing by RevenueCat 🔗 LINK
This piece dives into a counterintuitive truth of mobile monetization: some of the highest-converting paywalls are also the ugliest. Think bold fonts, jarring layouts, and less-than-perfect visuals, and yet they outperform sleek, on-brand designs with nice background images or videos.
Why?
Because these “ugly” paywalls are clear, direct, simple and frictionless. They highlight value immediately, guide users with bold CTAs, and reduce decision fatigue. The article breaks down multiple experiments and suggests which elements to test (copy, layout, pricing tiers, urgency triggers) to unlock better conversion without over-engineering your UI.
Why you should care:
If you’re optimizing monetization funnels, this is a reminder that clarity beats cleverness, and conversion doesn’t always care about design awards. Ugly might just be your new A/B test winner.
🔁 Subscription Churn Benchmarks & Levers by Elena’s Growth Scoop 🔗 LINK
In this breakdown, Elena Verna tackles one of the most misunderstood metrics in subscription businesses: churn. She not only shares industry benchmarks for what “healthy churn” looks like across freemium, paid, and B2C subscription models—but also goes further by outlining where to focus your efforts depending on your churn problem.
She breaks churn into 3 types of problems:
Activation problem → users never experience value
Adoption problem → users drop off too quickly
Retention problem → value isn’t sustained long enough
Each type has different levers, from onboarding flows, habit loops, feature adoption, to pricing, and the key is diagnosing the right one.
🧪 7 A/B Tests That Feel Illegal (but Work) by Marketing Ideas 🔗 LINK
This roundup explores a series of A/B tests that go against conventional wisdom but surprisingly, deliver strong results. From adding friction to increasing urgency with overly direct language, these tests challenge the idea that a seamless user experience always equals better performance. Just like “ugly paywalls”, it’s a reminder that sometimes, doing what feels “wrong” can unlock unexpected wins.
Why you should care:
If your usual optimizations are stalling, this post is packed with creative (and slightly chaotic) ideas that might just give your conversion strategy a new edge.
🔮 +3 handpicked Linkedin posts
Richard Kos shares how to use OpenAI’s new image generation tools to streamline ASO A/B testing, and how to refresh App Store assets in just a few clicks, making creative iteration faster, cheaper, and more scalable.
Sven Juergens breaks down how to properly calculate Lifetime Value (LTV) and shares a handy template for quick LTV estimations. Super useful for marketers and analysts looking to better understand user value and make smarter performance decisions.
Elena Vedmedenko shares her must-have tools for every ASO specialist. From keyword research to competitive intelligence, she offers an extensive list of services that help streamline workflows and boost results across the entire ASO process.
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