App makers: Check out these 7 clever growth hacks for driving downloads over the holidays

The holidays are a great time of year for app developers. More than 50 million iOS and Android devices were activated during Christmas week last year, and nearly 2 billion apps were downloaded.

Wherever you go, people are using their phones like crazy to find shopping inspiration, communicate with friends and family, and take advantage of holiday offers.

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What this presents is a great opportunity, but also some unique challenges: User acquisition costs are rising each year and it’s getting harder to be heard among all the competition. Startups need effective and affordable growth hacks to drive downloads without breaking the holiday budget.

Here are a few clever growth hacks that could help you make the most of the seasonal bump in traffic.

1. Target users like a Santa boss

Customized content drives conversions. App developers know this. People respond well to messages that are relevant and unique to them. A nifty service called Referer.io allows you to target content on your website based on where the user came from. Referer tracks users that arrive at your site, and based on the referral URL, helps create a custom marketing message in seconds. For example, it enables you to offer discounts to users that come from a specific source. The service also tracks how many times pieces of content were viewed and converted, and makes comparisons to help companies gain greater visibility into their users’ behavior.

2. Capture holiday magic with a scroll box

SumoMe makes it easy to integrate a simple popup box that nudges users to download or signup for your app. Email remains one of the most effective tool for grabbing leads and communicating with users, but websites are either too pushy or not pushy enough about asking visitors for their email address. SumoMe’s Scroll Box strikes the right balance by asking users to provide their information at just the right time, like when they finish reaching a blog post or reading about your product. That extra nudge can go a long way to driving extra downloads over the holiday period and optimizing your traffic.

3. Use Product Hunt to Become a favorite holiday treat

Developers have seen some amazing successes using Product Hunt to turn their app into the hot fad of the moment. The site surfaces the best new products and gives product-lovers a chance to discover new things and share opinions. If you have not added your app there, do so now. You will get some great feedback from the app community, as well as generate buzz and attract the attention of interested users. If successful, this excitement will lead to a huge number of downloads.

4. Slip a compelling offer into the stocking

A good strategy for driving downloads is to offer something valuable in your app that encourages users to share and make referrals. Take a look at the Dropbox Referral Program hack to see how they earned amazing success and growth from a simple referral program. Brainstorm ways you can add something similar around the holiday season that incentivizes users to refer and share your app. A little something extra is always appreciated, and you’ll likely find it’s less expensive than buying Google Adwords.

5. Gift wrapping Your App

This holiday season, present your app in its best light — optimize for the App Store. We recommend using a keyword research tool like keyword.io to ensure that the title and description of your app store listing is optimized for searching app store users. Also, take some time to make sure that your app store listing shows the best your app has to offer. The idea here is similar to gift wrapping. You may have an amazing gift, but wrap it in old newspaper and no one will want it. The same applies to apps, so take the time to add a great description, quality images, and generally make it look appealing to potential users.

6. Hark! Create a clear call-to-action

Consumers are inundated with temptation during the holiday season. Cookies, sales, parties, presents — you have to cut through the noise and remove as much friction as possible if you want them to download your app. With all the distractions and competing offers out there, people won’t be willing to jump through hoops. As a simple but necessary step, developers should either link directly to the App Store, or add an email or SMS capture form that sends a direct link to the download. This approach means you collect valuable contact info and rack up downloads at the same time.

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7. Tap into holiday frenzy for that shiny new thing

Tens of millions of people receive new devices and activate them during the holiday season. Most of these are going to be new devices, so it is important to update your app to the latest versions of iOS and Android. You don’t want to lose all those users who got the latest smartphones for Christmas. Staying up-to-date makes it far more likely all those excited new customers will decide to download your app.

Remember, the holidays aren’t just about unwrapping physical gifts under a tree anymore. Devices are changing how people shop, what they get for gifts, and how they share their experiences with loved ones. App developers have great opportunities this time of year to get their names out there and fuel downloads. All of these tips can yield big results, and they are also easy to implement, meaning you have more time to relax and celebrate, and one less thing to check off your holiday list.

Have other holiday growth hacks to share? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

Daniel Forsman is COO and head of product at Sinch, a platform that lets developers add a layer of communication features to their apps and sites in minutes.

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