Doodles vs Plain Promo Popups: A Study of Smartico Brands, 2023–2026
21.8 billion popup views on Smartico, 2023–2026. At brands that added doodles, the median doodle got 2.4× the response of the same brand’s plain promo popups.
Why we looked at this
Popups are the most direct message a casino has: they appear while the player is on the site. They are also easy to close. In March 2026 Smartico released doodles: a promotion delivered as a short game inside the popup. The offer (free spins, a bonus, points) becomes the prize. The player plays, wins and claims it, and the claim goes back to the campaign that gives the reward.
The question is simple: when the same brand shows its offers as a game instead of a plain popup, do more players act on them?
The two formats compared in this study: a plain promo popup (left) and the same offer as the prize of a doodle (right). Demo designs.
Three years of popups on Smartico
Popup volume rose steadily as new brands joined and existing brands used popups in more of their player journeys. Doodles were released to all brands in March 2026 (dashed line). By August 2026 they are still a small part of this volume, because most brands have not tried them yet. That makes the brands that did a useful early sample.
Result 1: same brand, same months
At 8 of 9 brands, players acted on doodles more often than on the brand’s plain promo popups in the same months. The median brand saw 2.4× the response; the geometric mean is 2.2×. One brand (A) saw the opposite: its doodles got fewer actions than its plain popups.
Result 2: before and after the first doodle
Before its first doodle, each brand’s plain promo popups set the baseline (100). After the first doodle, the same brands’ plain popups stayed close to that baseline (median 95), while their doodles reached a median of 220. So the gain is not a general change in the brand’s audience or season: it appears on the doodles.
| Brand | First doodle | Doodle vs plain, same months | Doodle vs plain before | Plain after vs before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand A | Jul 2026 | 0.6× | 0.7× | 1.3× |
| Brand B | Jun 2026 | 1.5× | 1.0× | 0.7× |
| Brand C | Apr 2026 | 2.1× | — | — |
| Brand D | Mar 2026 | 2.3× | 2.2× | 1.0× |
| Brand E | Apr 2026 | 2.4× | — | — |
| Brand F | Aug 2026 | 2.6× | 2.6× | 1.0× |
| Brand G | Aug 2026 | 3.0× | 1.5× | 0.5× |
| Brand H | Jun 2026 | 3.4× | 8.1× | 2.3× |
| Brand I | Jun 2026 | 4.2× | 3.5× | 0.8× |
— = not enough plain popup history before the first doodle (fewer than 3 months or 10,000 views).
What this means
- The format matters, not only the offer. The same brands, offering similar prizes to the same players in the same months, got more actions when the offer was the prize of a game.
- It is not automatic. One of nine brands did better with plain popups. Design, timing and the size of the prize still decide the result.
- Doodles add response; they don’t take it. The brands’ plain popups kept their response, so doodles work as an extra format, not a replacement.
- Use them at moments that matter: daily rewards, bringing back inactive players, a weekend promotion or a big event day.
FAQ
Do gamified popups get more response than plain promo popups?
Yes, in our data. At brands that added doodles, the median doodle got a player action on 74% of views, against 31% for the same brands' plain promo popups in the same months. Per brand, that is a median of 2.4×.
What is a doodle?
A doodle is a promotion delivered as a short game inside a popup. The offer, such as free spins, a bonus or points, becomes the prize: the player plays, wins and claims it, and the claim goes back to the campaign that gives the reward. Doodles are made in Vibe Studio.
Do doodles take clicks away from other popups?
We see no sign of it. The brands' plain popups kept their response after doodles arrived (median change 0.95×), so doodles work as an extra format, not a replacement.
When should you use a gamified popup?
At moments that matter: daily rewards, bringing back inactive players, a weekend promotion or a big event day. It is not automatic: design, timing and the size of the prize still decide the result.
Data and method
- Source. Smartico’s event warehouse: popup views and clicks, October 2023 to August 2026. Bot traffic and Smartico’s own demo and test accounts are excluded. Popup volumes in Figure 1 cover all Smartico setups; one setup keeps its events outside this warehouse, and its volume is estimated from its share of total traffic.
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- Doodle. A popup whose design contains the doodle prize link.
- Plain promo popup. Any other popup that got at least one click on an action link in the period. Popups whose only buttons are “Close” or “OK” (news, notices) are left out. This rule drops plain popups that nobody clicked, so it slightly favours plain popups.
- Action. A view followed by a click on any link except “Close” or a generic “OK”. For a doodle, this is the prize claim at the end of the game (over 99% of doodle actions). For a plain popup, it is the offer button.
- Brands in the comparison. We took 9 brands that use doodles, to see the change they bring. Each one has at least 1,000 doodle views, a prize link we can measure, and plain promo popups to compare with. The first doodle month is the first month with at least 100 doodle views.
- Two comparisons. (1) Same brand, same months: doodles against plain promo popups from the first doodle month on. Both formats reach the same players in the same season, so this is our main measure. (2) Before and after: doodles against the brand’s plain promo popups in the six months before its first doodle. Here we kept only brands with at least three months and 10,000 plain promo popup views in that window (7 brands).
- Observational, not an A/B test. Brands chose where and when to show doodles, and may have used them at good moments, such as reward days for active players.
- A short history. Most brands started doodles between March and August 2026, so the “after” period is one to six months.
- A click, not a deposit. The action is a prize claim or an offer click. We did not measure deposits or revenue after it; that is the next step.
- Two kinds of action. A doodle action is a prize claim after a win, and the game is designed to lead there. A plain popup action is an offer click. Both are the step the brand wants the player to take next.
We will update this study as more brands use doodles and the “after” period gets longer.
How to cite
Smartico (2026). Doodles vs plain promo popups: a study of Smartico brands, 2023–2026. https://www.smartico.ai/resources/labs/doodles-vs-promo-popups
Data: Smartico event warehouse, October 2023 – August 2026. For questions about the data or the method, contact us.
Doodles are made in Vibe Studio: pick one of more than 40 ready games and make it yours in one message. Book a demo to see them on your brand.
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