Mobile app usage springs up for Easter: Installs and sessions

Easter Sunday is just around the corner, and this represents a lucrative opportunity for marketers. After nearly two years of restrictions, consumers are keen to re-experience their pre-pandemic Easter traditions and celebrate with friends and family in person.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 80% of Americans will celebrate the holiday, and 51% of consumers are planning in-person events. As part of making this holiday memorable, consumers dole out an increased amount of money on food and gifts, with Easter spending set to reach $20.8 billion this year.

For app marketers, Easter can be leveraged to connect with audiences in the spring. To help mobile marketers get the best results with their marketing efforts ahead of the holiday, we've taken a look at global and regional trends around the Easter period and cited year-over-year growth for key verticals.

Last year during Easter, when most people had virtual plans and low-key celebrations at home, global installs of gaming apps were 20% higher than April's average. Mobile games also saw significant growth on Easter Sunday over the last three years globally as well as in EMEA and North America — the regions where the holiday is most widely celebrated.

An essential part of the Easter holiday is to make loved ones feel special with gifts, including clothes, chocolate eggs, and flowers. People around the globe are turning to mobile e-commerce apps to make purchases during this period. During Easter 2021, global installs of shopping apps were 9% higher than April's average. Looking at year-over-year growth, global installs of shopping apps were up 16% in 2020, compared to 2019, and climbed another 36% in 2021.

Easter is all about time with family and hunting for hidden treasures and food, most famously chocolate eggs, roast lamb, and ham. During Easter 2021, many opted to prepare their Easter feast at home as installs of recipe apps jumped 15% compared to the monthly average. On the other hand, others chose to kick back, relax and get delicious meals delivered straight to their door as global installs also saw a slight 1.5% boost compared to April's average.

Thanks to easy-to-use apps, food delivery has emerged as a major vertical during the holidays. Global sessions of food delivery apps grew a whopping 104% in 2020 and jumped another 52% during Easter 2021. On a regional level, session growth in North America was the most noteworthy, increasing 141% in 2020 and 50% in 2021. Similarly, sessions of food delivery apps in EMEA jumped by 31% in 2020 and 75% in 2021.

The upcoming Easter weekend is an excellent time for mobile marketers to get creative and use this season to hook users with offers, free giveaways, or discounts on certain items. You can launch last-minute promotions to maximize engagement, drive sales, and let users know what’s on offer through personalized push notifications. Shopping apps can send notifications with recommended gifts and other items based on the user's interests and order history.

It's also important to remember that while Easter is often associated with eggs, chocolate, and the Easter Bunny, it's still a religious holiday. So, make sure you know your audience to get the messaging right. You can A/B test your messaging by building different segments within your audience and see what works best. Different demographics will respond better to specific, personalized campaigns.

To understand how your users behave during Easter, measurement is key. Whether you're trying to determine which times of day offer the highest engagement or which channels provide users with the best ROI and LTV, Adjust can help you make sense of the user journey. Check out our latest analytics solution, Datascape, to get all your data in one place.