The festival of Christmas is fast approaching and so the New Year is. The year 2021 has been great for mobile application development and app-based startups have earned a considerable amount of money.
The number of mobile applications has grown significantly this year but, not all app makers are able to churn out money.
In fact, only a handful of app makers are able to make money. This festive season, we thought to gift you tips on user acquisition on your new app.
New Year, new app promotion
The New Year is a great time to encourage customers to try something new. Whether your business has a new product coming out in 2022, or you just want to promote a staple product, you can do both with this promotion.
Just use the tagline, “New Year, New [Name of Product or Service]. For instance, a hair salon could say, “New Year, New Look” and offer a discount on a new cut and color. A coffee shop could introduce customers to a new blend that's coming out with a “New Year, New Coffee” promotion. The promotion should explain the new blend and offer a deal on a customer's first purchase.
If your business offers services, you might consider offering a new bundle of services. For instance, a spa might add manicures or pedicures to its main offerings. The promotion could read, “New Year, New Service” and explain what customers get out of the new package.
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Post-New Year promotion
Keep the holiday spending rolling by offering a sale or discount well into the New Year. Often, sales taper off after Christmas, but that doesn't mean you have to go with the flow. To keep things simple, you can just offer customers a standard 10 percent off one item in your store. Send the promotion out via text, and promote it on your social channels.
If you have a little extra time, take a cue from Rifle Paper Company. Rather than the traditional holiday gift guide, the company waited until after holidays and created a New Year Gift Guide that offered items to get organized in 2022. The company promoted the guide with this email and discount below. Consider creating a similar guide for customers on your website, Instagram or Facebook.
Develop content around New Year's resolutions
If your app is likely to appeal to people who set goals for themselves regarding self-improvement or increased productivity, make sure your marketing speaks to these audiences. For example, you can post on social media or your blog about the benefits of using your app ahead of the New Year. Detail how your app can help people meet their goals and fulfill their New Year's resolutions.
For example, if you're trying to drive new users for a workout app, showcase features such as milestones that users can reach as they progress, including miles walked, calories burned, or others. These and other apps can also use personalized push notifications for existing users, which could invite them to come back and set some specific goals to reach based on their resolutions.
The more you advertise your app's unique advantages, the more people will come to you over competitors that don't resonate as much this time of year.
Inspiring quotes contest
People often consider the New Year a time to refresh, restart, and get motivated. In fact, 45% of Americans make resolutions to kick off the New Year. Tell customers that you're holding a contest in which you'd like them to share their favorite quotes, ones that inspire them the most.
Host a contest on social media that asks customers to share that quote, whether it be in-store, on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Get fans involved by asking them to vote (Like or heart) their favorite quotes, and use that as a measure for choosing winners. It's a fun way to get your social audience engaged. Here's an example of a quote posted on Instagram:
Carefully manage your marketing budget
When it comes to your marketing and advertising budget, take a couple of key factors into consideration.
First, keep in mind, many competitors are likely to launch paid advertising campaigns to drive brand awareness and engagement. Additionally, if you plan on implementing a social media strategy, make sure you know precisely which target market to reach and set goals that you can actually attain.
While your competitors might be upping the ante when it comes to paid ads, social media, and other efforts, understand that you don't have to increase your budget on the same tactics. The better tactic is to spend wisely. For instance, in your social media campaigns, make sure you're advertising on the platforms your users spend the most time on, and gain a deep understanding of your audience.
Regarding your target audience, you should also determine all of the potential platforms they use to help maximize your reach and exposure.
Also, set SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely, as these will help you determine how best to use your budget. Goals can also help identify which metrics to monitor as you measure success. From there, you can make adjustments to your budget based on what's yielding positive ROI versus what's losing money.
If you want to make sure your marketing dollars don't go to waste at any point, App Samurai can help you effectively advertise and monetize your apps to significantly boost ROI and ROAS.
Implement an app store optimization strategy
Regardless of the time of year, app store optimization (ASO) will always be critical. You can't experience mobile growth without it. Through good ASO, you can make sure your app appears at the top of results for users in app stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
If your app ranks at the top of your niche, you'll be able to more effectively gain the trust of prospective users. You'll also be able to increase loyalty among existing users.
ASO is particularly crucial during Q4 up through January of the next year. Remember, many potential and existing users are likely to receive new mobile devices as gifts during the holidays. If you want to be sure these people find you first when visiting the app store, well-implemented ASO is essential.
To optimize your app store pages, revamp your descriptions and give plenty of details about your app's features. You should also update screenshots with the latest version of your app. In addition, invite existing users to leave reviews on your app store, which could further improve both your app's ranking and overall reputation among audiences.
Make sure your app is up-to-date and universally compatible
Ahead of the holidays, you also must make sure your app is updated and that users on the latest devices can install it.
Take the time to test your app and request user feedback to identify any bugs or usability issues that could hinder the user experience. If you address and fix these early enough, they won't become a bigger problem when new users first open your app.
It's equally important to keep the app consistently compatible with the latest mobile devices on the market. For example, in 2021, some of the most anticipated devices people are likely to gift include the Vivo X70 Pro, Apple iPhone 13, Google Pixel Fold, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, and Xiaomi 12. Keeping your app compatible with all or any of these devices will help expand your reach this holiday season.
Not only should your apps be compatible with these devices, but they should also utilize their unique functionalities. For example, many devices such as iPhones and Androids have improved augmented reality (AR) capabilities that many app developers can incorporate into the user experience.
Depending on your app, you could enable users to view virtual products or information in the physical world through their smartphones or tablets.
With a fully updated, compatible, and generally innovative app, you'll appeal to new and existing users and maintain a competitive edge.
Want to attract users' attention when they first use their new devices during or after the holidays? App Samurai can help with on-device media inventory (OEM) capabilities that allow for app placements in premium manufacturer devices, such as Xiaomi, Samsung, and Oppo.
Entice users with discounts and freebies
Another great way to attract new users and boost loyalty for current users is to offer giveaways and promo codes. During a highly competitive holiday season, you'll be able to use these to stay ahead of competitors and keep your brand top-of-mind among audiences.
You could offer promo codes exclusive to first-time users, for instance. You can also advertise promo codes and discounts on social media profiles.
Additionally, ahead of a holiday sale, you can keep audiences on the edge of their seats in anticipation with reminders on various platforms. You could even incorporate a countdown clock in your app and on your website, along with push notifications to users that create a sense of urgency. As those discounts or sales approach their end, you can then remind people to come back before they expire.
Anticipate traffic surges
App owners should expect to see a high number of app downloads along with increased user activity leading up to the New Year. You could spend weeks or even months developing the best holiday campaigns to promote your app, but they won't truly succeed unless you're prepared to handle the influx of new users and activity surges.
In addition to ensuring your apps are capable of handling increased traffic, consider your other platforms. Websites, customer service portals, chatbots, and other elements of your brand should have the ability to handle traffic surges.
Take advantage of mobile commerce
During the holidays and ahead of them, people are eager to spend more as they patronize a large number of businesses, whether for gifts or their own benefit. Even if you aren't offering a shopping app specifically, you can monetize your app in certain ways to increase revenue from users.
For instance, you could offer a freemium productivity app with limited features available to new users. If users want access to more features that could more effectively monitor and boost their productivity, you could require them to pay for a premium version.
If you offer certain in-app items for sales, such as currency or other rewards, you could offer discounts on these items and bundles.
For some help with monetizing your app to maximize revenue, consider turning to App Samurai for a reliable custom app monetization solution.
We can connect you with ad networks that feature diversified inventories and direct reward apps. Real-time reporting also enables you to easily control data and optimize monetization performance.
Give your app the chance for the New Year
If your app is likely to attract people looking to fulfill their resolutions for the coming year, you must give your app a fighting chance during the holiday season with well-optimized marketing campaigns. By taking the right steps to promote your app and appeal to both new and existing users, you'll experience success on a long-term basis.
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