The following is an exclusive guest contributed post from Vadim Rogovskiy, Clickky‘s CEO and founder.
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year for marketing. With the holiday season excitement in the air, people are more eager to spend their money. During Christmas time, mobile marketers tend to double their efforts, trying to explore additional opportunities to reach their clients. More specifically, according to Amazon and Target reports, nearly 60% of their customers were from mobile. And the number is about to increase this year – as with the rise of mobile traffic data we are waiting for mobile purchases to finally beat desktop.
Yet, when it comes to app marketing, there is another side of the coin. With the rise of quantity of ad campaigns, the competition increases and ultimately skyrockets the price for the install. Also, the obvious marketing opportunities of the holiday season campaigns are not the same for different categories. The platform matters as well.
According to Clickky’s ad campaign data, last year Lifestyle, Shopping, and Productivity apps on Android have seen an increase of CPI during the holiday season. Moreover, in January, the Shopping category demonstrated an even greater growth spurt. Finance and eBusiness app owners were much more active in September, and the CPI for those categories was higher.
As for iOS, the data patterns are slightly different: all categories (except Games, Lifestyle, and News & Magazines) have seen an increase in mobile traffic during the holiday season.
The overall comparison by category shows that the most significant cost per install increase was demonstrated by Shopping and Productivity apps. These categories are affected by the seasonal behavior of their customers the most. At the same time, the CPI in Finance, Games, and News & Magazines has shown a major drop down, while the quantity of ad campaigns decreased. Customers’ seasonal behavior doesn’t play such a huge role for these categories, as marketers are less inclined to boost their ad campaigns during the holiday season.
So, with all this data in mind, how to get the maximum from holiday season excitement? There are several simple tips to follow:
Base your approach on your app’s specifics
When adjusting your Christmas campaign approach, take into account the specifics of the industry and the app category. Don’t aimlessly implement strategies and discounts from other industries. What is good for retail might be a disaster for finance. Be sure to customize every idea to your unique situation.
Explore offline opportunities
With the growth of CPI and high competition in e-commerce, it might be a good idea to think again about integrated marketing, and try to explore offline advertising opportunities to reach customers. This might help increase the awareness of your product, as well as broaden your audience, if needed.
Create behavior-based campaigns
Personalization becomes extremely important on Christmas, so it would be wise to tailor ad campaigns to your users’ seasonal behavior. No one buys gifts for themselves during Christmas. While you might know everything about your customers, and have been delivering personalized campaigns throughout the year, you know next to nothing about their friends and family. The only way is to accumulate and analyse year-by-year data, checking what exactly your users are interested in most during the specific time of the year.
Don’t underestimate the power of search
Search results are playing a huge role in marketing success during the holiday season. People are busy, stressed, and short of time and resources. Filters, preferences, and reviews matter. They should be as clear and easy to find, as possible. Don’t forget about showing relevant information and clear calls-to-action.
Be ready for the next year
And the last, but not least: holiday season offers numerous opportunities, and while it might be late to explore everything this year, it is wise to double the efforts for 2017. It is never too early to start preparing for the next year.
So, as there are only few days left before Christmas, it is time to check all the efforts, make some last-minute adjustments to your ad campaigns, and prepare for January, which could be even more productive than December. And don’t forget to gather the data on your user’s behavior this year.
Happy Holidays!
