As the holiday season is in full swing, apps have a prime opportunity to capitalise on one of the most lucrative and festive times of the year. With shoppers in the spirit of gifting, celebrating, and indulging, the season presents a golden moment to capture user’s attention and drive engagement. By leveraging tailored user acquisition strategies and seasonal creative campaigns that resonate with holiday audiences, you can not only increase app installs but also boost your app’s visibility.
In this blog, we’ll explore how to craft standout campaigns that cut through the festive buzz, ensuring your app remains top of mind during the busiest shopping season.
Upgrade your Seasonal User Acquisition Campaigns with Relevant Creatives
If you want to stay competitive and maximise your app’s success, adapting your creatives is essential for improving user acquisition campaigns.
Holidays provide a unique opportunity to tap into the festive spirit and capture the attention of potential users who are actively seeking seasonal content. There are a few ways you can use holiday creatives to enhance your user acquisition campaigns:
Seasonal creatives: By incorporating holiday-themed elements, such as festive visuals, colours, and seasonal designs you help to create an emotional connection with your potential users and make your app feel timely and appealing. Aligning your creatives with the holiday season also demonstrates that your app is up-to-date and in tune with current trends, making it more appealing and shareable on social media platforms.
Themed Messaging: Adapt your messaging to reflect the festive mood. Use cheerful, season-specific language that resonates with your audience, such as “Get in the Holiday Spirit”. And if have any special features or updates that are relevant to the holiday season, emphasise them in your campaigns.
Creating value for users: Can your app deliver value during the holidays and fit into the seasonal lifestyle? Showcase it! Whether it’s helping users plan for the holidays, track their shopping lists, or discover new seasonal activities, show how your app adds value during this time of year.
Limited-time offers: These can include anything from exclusive promotions to seasonal discounts. When designing your campaigns, remember to create a sense of urgency to drive better conversions. You can achieve it by using clear messaging like “Holiday Sale”, or “Limited time offer” to encourage immediate engagement.
To optimise the impact of your marketing strategy, it’s crucial to feature your seasonal products and promotions in your visuals prominently. In the context of retail apps, effectively highlighting your seasonal discounts and special offers can serve as an ideal means to introduce new users to your offerings, all while capturing the essence of the current season.
To illustrate, let’s use an example.
The Mixbook app ran effective seasonal Facebook ads, incorporating a 50% discount during the holiday season. By adapting the ad creative to a seasonal message, it not only capitalised on the Christmas shopping frenzy but also aligned the Mixbook’s brand with holiday photo books . This example shows that your campaign creatives do not need a huge investment in conception and design. A straightforward reference to your relevant and seasonal deals will indicate that your app has something new and value-driven to offer to a new audience and existing users.
Increase your Budgets for your Seasonal Campaigns
Allocating your budget strategically for your seasonal user acquisition campaigns is imperative to finding success not just in the app world but in any industry. As the holiday season will attract a lot of competition, your marketing strategy must have money to back it up. This may be your most lucrative period, so making sure that you’ve allocated enough budget to capture the attention of potential users is crucial. In the case of budget constraints, it’s often more effective to focus on one or two paid user acquisition channels that align with your specific goals and target audience, rather than spreading your budget thin across multiple channels.
For example, travel apps see quite a large amount of usage during the summer months as well as in December. For travel apps, the period following Christmas holds high promise, as many individuals are eager to plan their adventures for the upcoming year. On the other hand, shopping apps need to be proactive in the first half of November and December, increasing their budgets to ensure they capture a share of the lucrative Christmas and Black Friday spending spike. Successful budget allocation during these critical times can make all the difference in your marketing success so make sure to plan your budget in advance to take full advantage of these seasonal peaks.
Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC) to Drive Engagement
A great way to spend your budget is by utilising Apple Search Ads. These ads allow you to promote your Incorporating User-Generated Content into your user acquisition strategy can significantly boost your campaign’s effectiveness. UGC provides authentic, relatable content that can attract new users and build trust. Here are specific ways to leverage UGC in your holiday user acquisition campaigns:
- Showcase user testimonials: Feature genuine user reviews and testimonials in your app store listings and marketing materials. For example, a productivity app could highlight how users successfully managed their holiday tasks using the app.
- Run UGC contests: Launch holiday-themed contests that encourage users to create and share content related to your app. A recipe app could run a “Best Holiday Dish” contest, where users share photos of meals created using the app’s recipes.
- Create a holiday hashtag campaign: Develop a unique, branded hashtag for users to share their experiences with your app during the holiday season. This can increase visibility and encourage organic sharing.
- Feature user success stories: Share detailed case studies or success stories of users who have benefited from your app during previous holiday seasons. This can inspire potential users and demonstrate real-world value.
- Integrate UGC in Ads: Use authentic user-created content in your paid advertising campaigns. Ads featuring real user experiences often perform better than professionally produced content.
Using UGC in your user acquisition campaigns can not only drive more users but also build stronger connections, showcasing real experiences and enhancing your brand’s credibility. Some other benefits include:
Broader reach: When users share their content, it exposes the app to their networks, potentially reaching new audiences.
Increased trust: Potential users are more likely to trust content from peers rather than brand-created content.
Cost-effectiveness: UGC can significantly reduce content creation costs for marketing campaigns and they appear more authentic, blending with organic posts on social media platforms.
Higher engagement: UGC typically generates higher engagement rates on social media platforms.
Use Apple Search Ads to Accelerate your Seasonal User Acquisition Strategy
Apple Search Ads are one of the most essential acquisition channels for any app If you’re not on it you’re missing out on a significant opportunity to reach your target audience These ads allow you to promote your app at the top of relevant App Store search results, making it easier for users to discover and download your app. There are a few things you need to watch out for to maximise the impact of your ASA campaigns.
- Keyword research – Identifying relevant keywords to suit the season can make all the difference between an effective strategy and an ineffective one. You can use third-party ASA & ASO tools to discover new keywords and get insights into keyword popularity in your industry.
- Seasonal Custom Product Pages – Changing your Custom Product Page (CPP) to suit the season is a perfect way to get your users into the holiday spirit. These pages are designed to provide a tailored and optimised user experience for potential users who click on your ad.
Though Apple Search Ads can be a low-cost channel generally, you’re likely to see increased competition and therefore increased costs over the seasonal periods. This will apply across all channels, so make sure you take this into account when planning and investing in those creatives to drive higher conversion.
Maximising Lifetime Value of Seasonal Installers
Maximising the lifetime value of seasonal app installers is crucial for retail apps, particularly during the festive period when user acquisition campaigns often spikes. These new users are typically driven by discounts and special offers, making them highly receptive to targeted marketing efforts. By segmenting these users based on their motivations and behaviours, brands can tailor their CRM and retargeting strategies to keep them engaged. For example, personalised follow-ups featuring exclusive promotions or early access to sales can reinforce loyalty and encourage repeat purchases, transforming one-time seasonal installers into long-term, high-value customers.
How do you Improve User Acquisition Campaigns?
As we approach the holiday season, app marketers must gear up to capitalise on the unique opportunities this festive period offers. The surge in consumer activity and holiday spirit creates the perfect environment to amplify user acquisition campaigns and boost brand visibility. To stand out amidst the seasonal hustle, leveraging creative, targeted acquisition strategies is essential.
Incorporating a festive touch into your app’s creative assets isn’t just a smart marketing tactic; it’s a proven way to attract new users and keep existing ones engaged. Budget allocation also plays a critical role, especially for industries like travel and shopping apps that see heightened activity during this time. Additionally, platforms like Apple Search Ads provide a valuable opportunity to reach high-intent audiences and maximise campaign performance during the holidays.
By implementing these strategies, you can deliver a memorable holiday experience that captures attention, drives growth, and ensures your app thrives in this competitive season.
