With the Holy Month of Ramadan set to start in the second week of April, recent data by AppsFlyer and customer engagement platform, Braze, indicates the coming weeks will present an unparalleled opportunity for digital marketing in the Middle East. This follows major shifts in consumer behaviour and engagement in the weeks leading up to, and during Ramadan.
The research – based on the analysis of 15 million app installs over the same period last year – showed that organic install activity in shopping apps starts picking up a month before Ramadan, growing 40% in the two weeks leading up to Ramadan, and an additional 30% in the first week of Ramadan. This increase in activity is also accompanied by a steady rise in in-app spend on mobile. However, marketers in 2020 failed to capitalise on this increase. Instead, the majority of their activities and marketing spend was focused in the first two weeks of Ramadan, and then again just before Eid, where there was a 60% increase in non-organic installs.
This aligns with data from Braze, which suggests users acquired during Ramadan are of a higher quality. By analyzing data across 15 Middle Eastern countries from April 23 - May 23, 2020, Braze found that 30 day retention was 24% higher for users who joined during Ramadan 2020 compared to pre-Ramadan 2020. The 6-week range retention was 43% higher for users who joined during Ramadan compared to before.
“While brands should continue using Ramadan as an opportunity to acquire users, many are missing a key window of opportunity by not capitalising on the spike in mobile activity leading up to the Holy Month, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE where this trend is more pronounced,” said Paul Wright, Managing Director, UK, FR, ME, and Turkey, AppsFlyer. “Not only are they missing out on potential installs and revenue, but starting early also gives marketers the ability to retarget users that they acquire before the holidays, during the holidays.”
“Users who are activated during Ramadan tend to be more engaged and are retained for longer, making it a great time to drive improved efficiencies from your marketing activities,” said Warrick Godfrey, VP, Industry Solutions, Braze. “In order to drive sustainable growth, marketers also need to create more personalised experiences that keep customers engaged long after the Holy Month ends.”
As marketers look to increase activity in the lead up to Ramadan, AppsFlyer recently shared insights on the best media sources for Middle Eastern marketers to partner with in their latest Performance Index. Analysing 580 media sources, 29 billion installs and more than 16,000 apps, Google leads Facebook as the media source most likely to drive loyal users at scale and deliver users who monetise best with ads. SHAREit took the top spot as the fastest-growing media source in the Middle East, followed by Digital Turbine and Bigo.
