November and December are the most competitive months in the media industry, which makes it imperative for app publishers to rethink their App Store marketing strategy and take advantage of the surge in user activities on both the Apple App Store and Google play. This Webinar explains everything you need to know about holiday and seasonal App Store Marketing and where to start!

1. HOLIDAY WEBINAR
2017 / 2018

3. TEST GOALS Understand the impact of holiday & seasonal
creatives within the App Store
Holiday marketing in the App Store vs Google
Play
Suggestions for holiday & seasonal testing
Ways to make an App Store Product Page
relevant for different holidays and seasons
(without simply incorporating traditional
elements)

4. TYPES OF HOLIDAYS
When discussing holiday and seasonal testing, it’s important to
understand the difference between the terms

5. TYPES OF HOLIDAYS
When discussing holiday and seasonal testing, it’s important to
understand the difference between the terms
Single-day holiday

6. SINGLE-DAY
HOLIDAYS
Single-day holidays pose an interesting
challenge for app stores. Despite all the hype
leading up to a major single-day holiday, the
inability to update app store creatives directly
following the holiday leads to poor performance
within the app store.
In the example shown, Apple updated the
heading of the App Store to focus on Valentine’s
Day. It used an algorithm to focus on love apps,
photos apps, and etcetera those that are more
used in conjunction with the theme of the
holiday.

7. SINGLE-DAY HOLIDAYS
Since developers are unable to change app store creatives directly following a holiday,
visitors find stores to be out of date. This can have a significant impact on performance.
For example, the graph below shows the CVR for an App Store Product Page with a
holiday-specific icon. As can be seen, the CVR quickly rose leading up to Halloween and
then dropped back to original levels only a few days after the holiday.

8. TYPES OF HOLIDAYS
Extended holiday

9. EXTENDED
HOLIDAYS
Extended holidays are still usually a single-day
holiday, yet the build up is longer and they often
involve several additional days off. Thanksgiving is
the best example.
One of the biggest factors in week-long holiday
creatives is how often you can update creatives. If
the app has a bi-weekly update schedule,
devoting an app store to Thanksgiving could
prove beneficial.
The turkey on the table is in line with the game
theme but also speaks to Thanksgiving. It’s a subtle
and great way of including a holiday-themed
message in line with app branding without
discouraging users.

10. HOLIDAY SEASONS
Holiday season

11. HOLIDAY SEASONS
Holiday seasons provide the most opportunity within the “holiday” category for app
stores. Christmas is the best example.
● Holiday seasons aren’t confined to a week or even a month. They extend over a
longer period and provide more flexibility for creative design.
Small santa hat
with Christmas
themed colors
Mistletoe around
the jackpot
wheel
Stockings and
presents on the
floor
Slotomania is a
great example of
how to combine
lifestyle imagery
with a holiday
themes.
Santa costume
and candy
canes

12. HOLIDAY SEASONS
Holiday seasons provide the most opportunity within the “holiday” category for app
stores. Christmas is the best example.
● Holiday seasons aren’t confined to a week or even a month. They extend over a
longer period and provide more flexibility for creative design.
For a photo app, having holiday
features is incredibly relevant. It
could be worthwhile to change
the entire App Store Product
Page to highlight this feature as
it’s a major reason users will
download the app during this
time of the year.

13. SEASONALITY
Seasons

14. SEASONALITY
Seasonality within the app stores has proven most successful when it comes to testing.
● In addition to covering multiple months of traffic, seasonality is vague and the end
date isn’t firmly set. Therefore, the chances of users finding the app store creatives
out-of-date is considerably lower.
Harvest Gift focused Summer

15. HOLIDAY AND SEASONALITY
Tips for designing an App Store Product Page for holiday and seasonality:
● Fundamentally changing the messaging without testing the concept can have a
damaging impact on CVR.
Valentine’s Day Winter

16. HOLIDAY AND SEASONALITY
Tips for designing the app store pages for holiday and seasonality:
● Contradictory information within the First Impression Frame decreases CVR by:
increasing Direct Drop, decreasing Direct Install, and causing less Exploration.
Original Small details can be hard to see
but can help boost CVR in icon
Confusion within Feature
Banner & App Store Page
decreases CVR

17. HOLIDAY AND SEASONALITY
Tips for designing an App Store Product Page
for holiday and seasonality:
● Contradictory information within the
First Impression Frame decreases CVR
by: increasing Direct Drop, decreasing
Direct Install, and causing less
Exploration.
● Seasonality increases Exploration.
The presence of the
Halloween theme
(cauldron, Halloween
messaging, scary
bird) will help boost
user interest and
exploration

18. HOLIDAY AND SEASONALITY
Tips for designing an App Store Product Page
for holiday and seasonality:
● Contradictory information within the
First Impression Frame decreases CVR
by: increasing Direct Drop, decreasing
Direct Install, and causing less
Exploration.
● Seasonality increases Exploration.
● Has the app changed or is the
branding different? If the app has not
changed but just the creatives, often
Exploration will increase but Explore &
Drop will increase too. This is because
users realize they aren’t getting
anything holiday focused.
In Disney Emoji Blitz -
Halloween, Disney
updated the app to
include Halloween-
themed emojis. Not
only is the theme
noticeable in the icon
but also within the
video and other
creatives as well. This
lets users know the
game is updated and
relevant.

19. HOLIDAY AND SEASONALITY
Tips for designing an App Store Product Page for holiday and
seasonality:
● Contradictory information within the First Impression Frame
decreases CVR by: increasing Direct Drop, decreasing Direct
Install, and causing less Exploration.
● Seasonality increases Exploration.
● Has the app changed or is the branding different? If the app
has not changed but just the creatives, often Exploration will
increase but Explore & Drop will increase too. This is because
users realize they aren’t getting anything holiday focused.
● Localization: Not all holidays are global and sometimes users
will be automatically redirected to a specific store. Keep this
in mind and understand your market.

20. iOS VS GOOGLE PLAY
Icons for iOS are
larger and a more
prominent feature in
the app store page.
Smaller changes have
a larger impact here
Testing should be
done to determine if
users want seasonal
testing. Screenshots
are the most impactful
element for this.
The Google Play
Feature Banner is the
most prominent and
impactful element of
the page, in general
and for holiday
Due to the small size of
the icon, holiday testing
has little impact unless
clearly defined creatives
are present
Icons for iOS are larger
and more prominent in
the App Store Product
Page. Small changes
have a large impact here
Testing should be
done to determine if
users want seasonal
messaging.
Screenshots are the
most impactful
element for this
The Google Play
Feature Banner is the
most prominent and
impactful element of
the Product Page, in
general and for holidays

21. iOS 11
The new iOS 11 App Store Product Page holds major
opportunities for holiday and seasonal marketing if
leveraged correctly.

22. iOS 11
The new iOS 11 App Store Product Page holds major
opportunities for holiday and seasonal marketing if
leveraged correctly.
Sticky
Header
Product
Page
Header
Gallery
Evaluation
Panel

23. iOS 11
The new iOS 11 App
Store Product Page has
major opportunities for
holiday and seasonal
marketing if
leveraged correctly.
Now that Developers can
respond to Reviews, you might
want to consider
recommending new holiday
features within the App. This
could be a great way to help
point out new seasonal items.
Promotional Text is a new and
key marketing asset for
holidays as this content can be
updated regularly without
submitting a new app version.
Hence, this is the perfect place
to incorporate a Halloween
special or call out new features
for Thanksgiving as it can be
constantly updated and
up-to-date.
The Description is still a
main feature within ASO
discovery. Including
anything holiday related
unless maybe for a generic
seasonal addition or
Christmas shout out will
have little impact on CVR.
The “What’s New” section
can be useful and
impactful, especially for
returning users looking to
re-download an app, as
this section will appear
above the fold. Tailored
“What’s New” content
works well, so calling
attention to new seasonal
elements or holiday
features can be a useful
way to boost CVR.
Description
Developer
Ratings &
Reviews
What’s
New

24. Read our iOS 11 Guide Book