It is obvious that the holiday season is a great opportunity to increase the number of app downloads. All research proves this, with the huge amounts of numbers for both top apps and categories. Here are some of these tremendously convincing results:
- According to Flurry, in 2013, app downloads increased by 91% on Christmas day.
- The average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free iOS apps rose to 2 million in December, growing 14 percent from November and up 44 percent from last year.
- According to Statista, in 2012, during the holiday week from December 25 to 31, 604 million apps were downloaded in the US. You can see the results of 2012 for each country in the graphic included below.
All this research offers persuasive data, so here are some useful tips that will help you to increase your organic downloads.
- Start with Smart Budget Management
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not controlling your budget before commencing operations. What you should consider first needs to be the KPIs you want to achieve. This should include both your ad campaigns and other app marketing operations. Research shows that the costs for holiday app marketing has increased, but think about the KPIs you aim to reach and allocate the best amount for your operations.
- Complete Your ASO Tasks
If you still have missing parts in your App Store Optimization checklist, now is the best time to complete them. At the same time, there are some different best practices you can consider for the Christmas period, such as:
- You can reorganize your app screenshots and/or app icon according to the festive season. Below, you can see a good example of changed app icon for Christmas.
- If you have made some updates for Christmas in particular, you should show them in app description or in your app screenshots to grab people’s attention.
- Broad Your Segmentation for Christmas
New devices present new options and opportunities for the app owners, but it is a risk as well if you don’t keep up to date. You should consider not only specific devices, but also all options that your app can handle. Especially after iPhone 6, it was clearly seen that there is a blue ocean you should discover, regardless of the category your app is in. Start broadening your segmentation for other mobile devices to increase the chance of increasing app downloads.
- Use the Power of Smart Push Notifications
You can get benefit from push notifications to remind others of your app’s features over Christmas. You should be aware of the fact that your aim is not only acquiring new users, but also increasing app retention. And this may save your app’s life over Christmas. Remind your users who do not open your app for a while about your app. However, don’t forget to use the best practices to get the results you want.
- Benefit From Ad Campaigns
After completing your ASO tasks, what you should consider is ad campaigns that especially your competitors will benefit from. You can easily acquire users through smart ad campaigns. Here, you need to manage your budget carefully, as I mentioned before.
- Use Social Media Ads
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram provide well segmented ad options to app owners in order to increase their downloads. In the process of Christmas marketing efforts, you can get benefit from these platforms. They help you to segment your audience according to the device they use, the software their device has, their gender, interest, and so on. You can choose the best bid amount for your segmentation to manage your budget in a smart way. Here, you can find the best practices that Facebook provides for app marketers.
- Update Your App For Christmas
It is not too late yet. You have 2 to 3 weeks to be approved by Apple. You can create new visuals, new features, new discounts, and so on for your app to increase your downloads in time for Christmas. While this can make your users happy, it might also get attention of your audience. Use it as a competitive advantage and be quick to finish it. You should also consider mobile sales. Research shows that mobile sales increase during the holiday seasons because people prefer choosing them as gifts.
- Don’t Stop in January
According to data showing the previous year results for January, increasing downloads are continuous in this month. Benefit from the power of your acquired users till Christmas and continue with your planning in January.
