Translating Mother’s Day and Memorial Day data into marketing gains

When exploring the mobile app trends around Mother’s Day last year, we unveiled substantial lifts in the installs of comic apps as well as marketplace and classified apps. Interestingly, we also discovered that app installs and sessions spike later in the month of May in the United States, around the time of Memorial Day. In preparation for Mother’s Day 2024, we took a deep dive into Adjust data to identify which trends held up compared to 2022, and which verticals took the limelight in May 2023.

Over May 2023, we saw a similar trend toward pampering as last Mother’s Day, with:

• Coloring app installs up 47% on the month’s daily average.
• Music apps up 27%.
• Drink app installs rising to 36% above average.

A new (and notable) trend in 2023 was karaoke app installs peaking the day before Mother’s Day, surging 71% above May 2023's daily average. Karaoke installs remained high at 68% over the average on Mother’s Day itself (May 14).

Of course, it’s not uncommon to see app installs increase over the weekend compared to weekdays. That’s why it’s perhaps more significant that the growth of karaoke app installs holds strong when compared to other Sundays in the month of May–Karaoke app installs on Mother’s Day were 42% higher than the Sunday average in May 2023.

The vertical in which we saw nearly consistent growth across subverticals was gaming. On Mother’s Day, installs of all game apps lifted above the daily average by 29%. And the subvertical that raced to the top? The clue is in the name–racing game installs accelerated 50% above May 2023’s average and an impressive 12% above the month’s Sunday average on Mother’s Day. Other subverticals of note were arcade,  hyper casual, and action games, which increased 45%, 41%, and 40%, respectively.

When looking at the sessions over May 2023, restaurant booking apps took the lead, with sessions increasing to 57% above the month’s daily average on Mother’s Day. Given the installs and sessions for restaurant booking apps both peak sharply on the same day, a robust retention strategy in the following days is paramount for app marketers in this vertical. This could be an opportune time to launch a campaign promoting early booking of Father’s Day eats the following month.

It’s also interesting to note that while there was no significant uplift in session length for video editors and photo editors, there was a much larger volume of sessions on Mother’s Day. Video editor app sessions saw a 42% increase over the month’s daily average, while photo editor apps received a 15% boost over average. For apps with both photo and video editing capabilities, this points to an opportunity to place video editing front and center on Mother’s Day.

You might be wondering, “What about that end-of-May boost around Memorial Day?” We found a similar amplification of app installs and sessions over Memorial Day weekend in 2023.

App verticals with installs that peaked on Memorial Day 2023:

• Deal discovery apps (+15% above May’s daily average).
• Coloring apps (+67% above May’s daily average).
• Role play games (+28% above May’s daily average).

App verticals with a session length boost over Memorial Day weekend 2023:

• Exercise class apps (+87% above May’s daily average on Memorial Day and +82% the day before Memorial Day).
• Travel discovery apps (+13% above May’s daily average on Memorial Day).
• Shopping apps (+12% above May’s daily average the day before Memorial Day).

So, what can marketers do to turn these insights into actions? Here are three ideas to get you started.

1. Time your campaigns with peak interest: Start your marketing campaigns a few days earlier than Mother’s Day, creating urgency with limited-time offers to capitalize on this surge in interest.
2. Segment and personalize offers: Connect peak installs and sessions to different segments in your audience for more personalized targeting.
3. Cross-promote for greater engagement: With the observed increase in app sessions, develop cross-promotion strategies within apps in the higher-performing verticals. If you don’t have apps across various verticals, this approach could even include mutually beneficial collaborations with other app developers using co-marketing campaigns.

By implementing these strategies, businesses can more effectively harness the surge in user interest and activity around Mother's Day, leading to increased user engagement and revenue. Ready to drill down on your own app’s May analytics? Request a demo to see how Adjust’s next-gen solutions can take your marketing analysis to the next level.