As Black Friday and Thanksgiving approach, brands pull out all the stops to ensure their festive campaigns have a strong impact. This is a high-stakes season for retailers and marketers alike, where careful planning and strategic execution can make all the difference. The final days of these campaigns are the last opportunity to capture shopper's attention and drive meaningful conversions. To stand out and maximize this limited window, brands must employ refined strategies to engage, excite, and convert their audience effectively.

In this blog, we’ll explore essential ASO and ASA strategies to optimize the final stretch of your Black Friday and Thanksgiving festive campaigns, from leveraging real-time bid adjustments and targeting high-intent keywords to maximizing mobile engagement and capturing high-value traffic. As mobile shopping increasingly drives holiday sales, let’s look at how brands can make the most of this momentum to capture and convert on-the-go shoppers.

Catching Shoppers On the Go: The Mobile Momentum of Black Friday

As Black Friday draws near, one thing is clear—shoppers are increasingly turning to their phones for holiday deals. With a record 55% of online sales now coming from mobile devices, mobile shopping has become the heartbeat of Black Friday. Consumers aren’t just browsing; they’re making purchases at a moment’s notice, often while multitasking or in between activities.

For brands, this shift signals an urgent need to ensure festive campaigns are as mobile-optimized as they are compelling. A seamless, fast, and visually appealing mobile experience can make the difference between a fleeting glance and a high-value conversion.

Insights into Mobile Shopping Trends and Top Holiday Categories:

• The Rise of Mobile-First Shoppers: Electronics, fashion, and home goods are seeing major growth, with electronics and toys standing out as must-have items.
  
  
• Evening Shopping Surges: Mobile shopping peaks during the evening, as shoppers wind down and dive into deals. Brands can make the most of these peak hours by scheduling ASA bid increases to ensure top placement during these high-traffic windows.
  
  
• Driving Impulse Buys: Mobile users crave convenience and speed. Features like one-click purchases, urgency-driven ads, and fast-loading pages create an effortless shopping journey, sparking quick decisions and capitalizing on that holiday FOMO.

As mobile becomes the primary Black Friday shopping channel, brands that prioritize mobile-friendly ASO and ASA strategies will stand out. With visuals tailored to smaller screens, smooth navigation, and streamlined checkout, brands can maximize their reach and tap into the impulse-driven nature of mobile shoppers.

Real-Time Flexibility and Adaptability

Black Friday and Thanksgiving shopping trends move so fast that a company must be incredibly agile. Campaigns should be designed to pivot at a moment's notice with the aid of real-time performance data so that they respond to consumers' changing behavior and the evolution of competition. Real-time flexibility is indeed key for matching the fast-paced change-evolving landscape of events, even ensuring that budgets are allocated to high-performing campaigns.

To capitalize on these dynamic shifts, brands can implement the following tactics to make their festive campaigns adaptable and responsive to market trends:

• Optimize Budget Allocation: Increase budget on ad sets that work well with the audience and have high engagement. Resource allocation to underperforming campaigns should be reduced for maximum efficiency.
  
  
• Refine Target Audiences: Continuously refine target audiences based on active data to ensure that the ads reach more relevant shoppers, hence maximizing the efficiency of the campaign and engagement.
  
  
• Seasonal Keyword Refinement: Adjust keywords to capture last-minute shoppers searching for specific deals and discounts.

This real-time adaptability is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge and making the most of limited-time opportunities.

Optimize ASO with High-Intent, Seasonal Keywords

Holiday shoppers frequently turn to the App Store to search for Black Friday deals, holiday offers, and special promotions. A strong strategy helps brands appear at the top of these relevant searches, capturing organic traffic from users who are actively seeking out holiday-themed apps and deals. Let’s take a look at some of the strategies that can come in handy when it comes to maximizing your holiday discoverability:

• Seasonal Keyword Integration: Targeting high-intent, seasonal keywords such as “Black Friday sale” or “holiday discounts” in your app’s title, subtitle, and description makes your app more likely to appear in relevant searches. Using data-driven keyword recommendations can help pinpoint terms that resonate with users searching for holiday-specific content. Keyword terms like shopping, travel, news, entertainment, vacation, and flight booking have historically seen an increase of over 20% in search volumes during the holiday season.
  
  
• Localized Keywords for Broader Reach: For brands with a global presence, optimizing keywords for different regions can help capture international audiences. A multilingual keyword approach ensures your app stays relevant across a variety of markets during this season.
  
  
• Holiday-Themed Visuals and Descriptions: Updating app icons, screenshots, and descriptions with seasonal visuals and language captures the festive spirit and effectively communicates your holiday offers to potential users. Many apps have leveraged Custom Store Listings and Custom Product Pages to drive higher conversions using creative elements to enhance their app visibility with season-specific, event-specific, and theme-specific elements. 

Refining ASO elements focusing on holiday relevancy allows brands to attract high-intent users, increasing app visibility and download rates through strategic keyword optimization.

Use ASA to Target Ready-to-Buy Shoppers

Apple Search Ads (ASA) provide a unique opportunity to engage users looking for products or apps like yours. By investing in this, brands can reach potential users at the exact moment they’re searching for holiday deals, maximizing the chances of conversion. Newton offers tools that help brands optimize these ads efficiently, enabling real-time bid adjustments and focused budget allocation for high-performing keywords.

ASA Tactics for Efficient Holiday Reach:

• Real-Time Bid Optimization: Automated bid adjustments ensure that budgets are focused on keywords with the highest potential for conversions, keeping your ad visible to the right audiences during peak times. This allows brands to capture the interest of shoppers actively looking for holiday offers.
  
  
• Targeted Holiday Keywords: Bidding on holiday-specific keywords, like “Black Friday app deals” or “holiday shopping discounts,” can help your app appear prominently when users search for seasonal offers. Keyword intelligence tools can assist in identifying the most valuable terms to target during this high-traffic period.
  
  
• Competitor Positioning Insights: Knowing how competitors perform on similar keywords lets you make informed bid adjustments to maintain visibility. Analyzing competitor trends and performance data can help you stay competitive in a crowded market, securing top placement for your ads. Based on the app’s brand positioning, it’s an opportunity for challenger apps to compete on competitor brand keywords and drive higher visibility at costs comparatively lower than before due to higher impressions. Impressions for the top 10 brands in categories like travel, communication, finance, shopping, and gaming increased by over 10% during this period, which is an opportunity for top apps as well as competitors. 

A well-tuned ASA strategy is essential for reaching ready-to-buy users who are browsing for deals, and with platforms like Newton providing analytics and optimization, brands can maximize their ASA effectiveness during the holiday rush.

Creating Urgency in Your Campaign Messaging

Incorporating urgency into festive campaign messaging is essential, especially during time-sensitive holiday shopping events like Black Friday. For ASA campaigns, ads with messaging like “Final Hours of Sale” or “Last Chance for Black Friday Deals” can effectively capture attention and encourage immediate action. By integrating these urgency-driven keywords into ad copy and descriptions, brands can drive higher conversions.

Consider adding countdown timers in such creatives or app descriptions to visually convey urgency. Including phrases about limited stock or exclusive deals in both cases, keywords can enhance the sense of scarcity, leveraging psychological drivers like FOMO (fear of missing out) to motivate quick decisions. When strategically placed, urgency messaging within the App Store and search ads can maximize user engagement during peak shopping windows.

Optimizing for Mobile Shopping Experiences

As mobile devices now dominate holiday shopping, mobile optimization is vital for app marketers focused on Black Friday and Thanksgiving campaigns. With most shoppers browsing and purchasing on mobile, having mobile-friendly ASO visuals and ASA creatives ensures a smooth user experience that aligns with consumer behavior.

To reduce friction and increase conversions, optimize ad visuals and copy for mobile formats, such as vertical scrolling and quick load times. Clear, easy-to-click buttons and mobile-optimized screenshots and descriptions on App Store listings help improve readability and engagement. Mobile-responsive designs also decrease cart abandonment rates, ensuring users enjoy a streamlined shopping experience.

By optimizing for mobile with concise ad copy, snappy visuals, and user-friendly navigation, brands can effectively capture on-the-go holiday shoppers, turning mobile impressions into high-impact engagements.

Finish Strong: Make Every Moment of Your Festive Campaign Count

The final days of Black Friday and Thanksgiving campaigns are a unique opportunity to capture high-intent users and make a lasting impact. By focusing on ASO for targeted visibility, ASA with real-time bid optimization, urgency-driven messaging, and a seamless mobile experience, brands can stand out and drive conversions in a competitive landscape. Every detail counts, especially during high-stakes shopping periods, and having the right strategy in place will make a significant difference.

As holiday shopping peaks, a well-executed festive campaign will help your brand cut through the noise and connect meaningfully with shoppers. With tools like Newton, which provides dynamic bid adjustments, insightful analytics, and strategic keyword recommendations, brands are equipped to optimize performance and deliver a successful holiday campaign.

If you're looking to scale your iOS app to increase visibility and reach this Black Friday, connect with us to optimize your app for maximum growth and engagement this sales season.