Mom's the word: Tips and tricks for the Mother’s Day marketing motherload

Last year, we identified a noticeable uplift in e-commerce app installs, sessions, and in-app revenue (IAR) in the month of May. With this in mind, this year we took a magnifying glass to our data across app verticals to pinpoint which subverticals should launch seasonal campaigns around Mother’s Day in North America. Our findings just might surprise you. Let’s dig in!

Installs of travel discovery apps were 49% above May’s daily average on Mother’s Day, and delivery app installs were 33% above average, indicating last-minute shopping for gifts.

This trend is also reflected in the installs of marketplace & classifieds apps, which were an astonishing 81% above the month’s daily average on the Thursday before Mother’s Day, 180% up on the Friday before Mother’s Day, and 48% higher than average the day before Mother’s Day.

However, more than gifts, a recent study found that 58% of moms simply want free time on Mother’s Day. This switch from super mom to self-care was reflected in our findings. While the kids were occupied with educational gaming apps, mothers focused on sleep over their special weekend. Installs of sleep apps increased 35% from May 7th (the day before Mother’s Day) to May 9th (the day following).

Moms also took advantage of free time on Mother’s Day to find health apps that worked for them. Health and fitness app installs were 17% above the month’s average on May 8th.

Mothers also enjoyed the time to relax and engage in their favorite hobbies. Compared to May’s daily average, Mother’s Day saw a:

• 16% rise in video streaming app installs
• 17% increase in content curation app installs
• 25% lift in video editor app installs
• 58% elevation in comic app installs

In fact, these verticals saw heightened installs the day before Mother’s Day as well at 9%, 17%, 12%, and 42% above average respectively.

It comes as no surprise that moms want a day off from cooking on their big day. Similar to install trends, sessions of restaurant booking apps were 51% above the month’s daily average on Mother’s Day, 67% above average the day prior, and 38% above average on the Friday preceding Mother’s Day (May 6th). Food delivery apps, however, were only 14% above the month’s daily average installs and 12% above in sessions.

Ready to launch your Mother’s Day campaign? Here are a few suggestions for mobile marketers.

1. Consider launching an influencer marketing campaign in the week prior to Mother’s Day, where influential mothers can share your app with their followers.
2. Offer exclusive deals or promotions for Mother's Day to encourage installs and increase brand awareness.
3. If your app falls into one of these subverticals, target partners and adult children, not just the mothers. Promote your app as a gift of relaxation on Mother’s Day.

There’s certainly plenty of opportunity to market your app to both mothers looking for a day of rest and relaxation, and families who are spoiling the moms in their life with gifts and a meal out. Learn how to measure your campaign’s performance with Adjust’s cutting-edge mobile attribution and analytics suite.