Blog Ramadan insights and tips for app market...

Ramadan insights and tips for app marketers in 2023

Micah Motta, Senior Content Writer, Adjust, Mar 06, 2023.

Introduction

Every year, 1.8 billion Muslims celebrate the holy month of Ramadan. From dawn to sundown, those physically able will fast for a period of 30 days and then break the fast together with friends and family in celebration. This blog delves into eye-opening mobile app trends that occurred during Ramadan 2022 to equip mobile marketers and advertisers with the data, tips, and insights needed to maxamize campaign performance and accelerate app growth during Ramadan 2023.

This trends examined below encompass the following:

Verticals: E-commerce, entertainment, fintech, gaming, food and delivery, and travel

Countries: Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

METAP region: Comprising 22 countries—Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE

Part 1

Mobile app installs increase during Ramadan globally and in METAP

According to Adjust data, users celebrating Ramadan increased their shopping, streaming, digital payment, and gaming habits on their smartphones. Note that all daily metrics compare the 30-day Ramadan period in April and May 2022 against the yearly averages.

Global installs increased 7% during Ramadan 2022, and 18% in METAP, compared to the yearly 2022 averages. This tremendous uptick in METAP can largely be attributed to the fact that this region contains a high Muslim population, with more people celebrating Ramadan and downloading relevant apps in their time off than those in other regions.

Installs soar in UAE and Egypt

The UAE saw an incredible surge in app installs during Ramadan, at 47%, with Egypt in second place at 33%, compared to their yearly 2022 averages. Tied for third, both Saudi Arabia and Indonesia showed growth in installs by 22%, with Pakistan at 13%, and Turkey at 5%.

See which verticals’ installs gained the most traction

We’ve collected the top statistics for Ramadan 2022 app installs by METAP, country, and vertical in the table below. However, some are quite significant and warrant an additional callout.

5 fast facts on Ramadan installs, by vertical

METAP entertainment installs were up 37%.
Egypt’s entertainment installs were 118% higher.
Saudi Arabia’s entertainment installs increased by 55%.
Fintech installs in the UAE saw growth of 105%.
Gaming installs in Pakistan enjoyed a 55% increase.

Bonus zoom-in: Food delivery and recipe apps

Not only are Muslims fasting during Ramadan, and therefore, ordering food delivery less often, but they are also cooking more as families gather together for Iftar to break their fasts, which is mirrored by the tremendous growth in recipe app installs during this time.

Tip for food delivery apps: Go after the post-Ramadan crowd!

Tellingly, the week after Ramadan ended, Saudi Arabia saw the biggest increase in installs of food delivery apps, with the greatest number of installs occurring just two days after the end of Ramadan.

Breaking it down by operating system

Given that most iOS mobile devices are concentrated in the U.S. and Europe, Android took the lion’s share of METAP installs at 87%, and was still dominant globally, accounting for 80% operating system installs during Ramadan.

Part 2

Content consumption habits

How much time are users spending in their apps during Ramadan? Are they spending more money in-app, and what are the retention rates for apps during this time as well? Below, we explore user behavior and apps during Ramadan 2022 to answer these questions. We drill down into sessions, session length, time in-app, user retention rate, and revenue event growth.

Apps were used more frequently during Ramadan

During the Ramadan period, global sessions for all apps increased by 3%, with METAP up 7%, proving that overall, consumers are spending more time in apps during this festive season.

In-app sessions for gaming on a global level reached 11% above the 2022 average, with METAP surpassing this to a 17% increase. For an insightful look at app sessions, including verticals health and fitness, video streaming, and shopping, check out Ramadan and mobile users.

Users spent more time in apps during Ramadan

Globally, users spent an average of 6% more time in an app post-install during Ramadan.. For 2023, apps should pursue engagement marketing with tactics such as a Ramadan rewards program, Ramadan-specific messaging, and personalized notifications.

E-commerce and fintech enjoyed the most growth in METAP session lengths, at 3% and 2% above their 2022 averages. Often those celebrating Ramadan buy each other gifts for Eid al-Fitr and spend more time shopping in e-commerce apps. Simultaneously, they utilize fintech apps to manage payments, bank accounts, etc, accounting for the growth in session lengths for these two verticals in METAP.

What was the average time users spent in an app post-install?

Looking at the time spent in-app per day per user in Q2 of 2022, when Ramadan occurred, we see that globally, users across all verticals spent an average of 8.8 minutes in-app on Day 0, or the day of install. This increased to 21.2 minutes on Day 1.

No shocker here. Following typical trends for time in-app among verticals, gaming apps and entertainment apps saw the longest in-app sessions during Ramadan 2022. The day after install, users spent an average of 50.4 minutes in gaming apps and 34.4 minutes in entertainment apps.

How were retention rates during Ramadan?

Studying retention rates for Q2 2022, we discovered that all apps globally had a Day 1 retention rate of 25. When looking at verticals during this time, gaming had the highest Day 1 retention rate at 29%, followed by fintech at 21% and then entertainment and e-commerce apps both tied at 19%. For tips on user retention and influencer marketing, check out Part 2 of our guide: Scaling your app to 1 million users.

Let’s talk money

Globally, during Q2 2022, entertainment and gaming saw the most growth at 13% and 6%, respectively.

E-commerce and entertainment celebrate a boost in revenue events

Zooming in on our selected countries, we observed that entertainment and e-commerce apps saw an incredible increase in revenue events during Q2 2022. Indonesia saw an in-app revenue spike of 44%, Egypt 39%, and Saudi Arabi 21%, compared to the yearly average. Indonesia also led the way in e-commerce in-app revenue growth at 33%, followed by the UAE at 27%.

During Ramadan, it’s indicated that, overall, consumers are buying more in-app and signing up for more entertainment app subscriptions.

Part 3

User acquisition tips for elevated Ramadan success

We’ve collected some real-life user acquisition examples from some of our clients. Check them out for inspiration for your Ramadan campaign.

Optimize your creatives

Ensure your marketing team can obtain creative-level insights. In doing so, you can update your campaigns with messaging and images that will resonate best with your target audience, and therefore, perform best.

Inspo: Mamboo Games

Dubai-based mobile gaming publisher Mamboo Games decided to track business specific-metrics, including cost per install by creative.

Using Adjust’s analysis solution Datascape to view all of its campaigns across multiple channels in one place and drill down to creative-level data, Mamboo Games was able to quickly optimize for greater campaign success.

As a result, its game Worm Out, doubled its month-over-month installs. Read the Case study: Mamboo Games now.

Focus on the touchpoints that matter most

Is your marketing strategy based on important touchpoints in the user journey? If not, take some time to determine what they are and review your resources to make sure you have a mobile measurement platform (MMP) by which you can track them.

Inspo: Jazeera Paints

The leading paint manufacturer in Saudi Arabia, Jazeera Paints, built its e-commerce app as an “all-in-one” paint service application. Striving for greater comprehension of app usage, the company set up the following custom events to track in Adjust:

User visits a specific brand
A service is requested by the user
User selects or purchases paint color

These were key touchpoints in the user journey for the brand. By monitoring and adjusting campaigns based on the metrics above, as well as looking at source, platform, and campaign data, Jazeera Paints enjoyed a 136% increase in orders, an 86% jump in transactions in-app, and a 28% increase in ROAS. For all the details, see the Case Study: Jazeera Paints.

Centralize your marketing data

Not only can pouring over data from multiple sources and platforms be time-consuming, but it’s also error-prone. When you invest in a tool like Datascape that provides accurate marketing data from all your sources in one place, you’ll discover you win back time, make fewer mistakes, and work with greater agility.

Inspo: NESCAFÉ3in1

NESCAFÉ3in1 launched its rewards app NE’APP for the Turkish market with the goal of furthering customer loyalty. The instant coffee drink is beloved across all demographics in Turkey, and as such, the brand knew it would run multiple campaigns and creatives across different channels and platforms in pursuit of various niche target audiences.

Utilizing Adjust, NESCAFÉ3in1 was able to unify its marketing data, create custom audiences, and publish interest-based creatives for each target audience. As a result, NE’APP’s user base grew tremendously to over 1.5 million downloads. Get all the details in the Case Study: Nescafé 3in1 NE’APP.

Conclusion

Partner with mobile analytics platform Adjust

For tracking Ramadan campaigns to your everyday campaigns, your marketing team’s success depends on many factors. Fortunately, from accurate attribution to ad performance, in-depth reporting, and beyond, Adjust’s measurement and analytics suite is built exclusively to bring actionable insights to app marketers, encompassing all the above and more. To learn how Adjust can help you drive better results, schedule your demo.