Black Friday 2021: ASO Strategies Analysis

This post was co-written by our ASO Specialist Marc Ayneto and our ASO Senior Gabi Baella.

Black Friday is here to shake up the eCommerce sector and online shopping one more year. Bringing discounts of over 50% on thousands of products, the online purchases are taking over physical ones at a very fast pace since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.

In PICKASO we have updated last year’s 2020 analysis. Last year we analyzed how the ASO changes for Black Friday affected positioning to define an optimal Seasonal ASO strategy to improve visibility and organic traffic during these days.

In this year’s Black Friday’s 2021 ASO strategies analysis, we will track the organic rankings for the keyword “Black Friday” in Spain, UK, Germany and US. We did this two weeks before and during Black Friday week to see which were the changes and thus know which brands were able to rank in the highest positions.

This year we will add something new, we will use AppRadar to check the share of voice, understood as the % of paid impressions an app gets for a certain keyword. This way we will be able to see, during Black Friday week, which apps are bidding more for the keyword “Black Friday” in their paid campaigns.

Next, we will analyze the Seasonal ASO for the highest ranked apps in the shopping category in Spain. We will see which on-metadata factors they’ve worked on and last, we will highlight the best icons and screenshots for Black Friday 2021.

Analysis of the Organic Search ASO for the keyword “Black Friday” on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store

To analyze the organic ASO we must take into account that the positioning factors for Google Play Store differ from the ones for Apple App Store. For Google Play Store working on the description helps ranking whereas in Apple App Store the only options are the title, subtitle or the hidden keywords field where we can place the keyword and try to rank for it.

Because of the above, as we will see further on, in the Apple App Store brands which work on the keyword “Black Friday” seasonally can easily move up in the ranking over competitors which don’t work on it. But not only against competitors which don’t work on it, this may also happen against apps which are dedicated exclusively to Black Friday deals.

We can see that 2 weeks before Black Friday, the highest positions are taken by those apps whose business model is based on commissioning for driving sales to Amazon or AliExpress and work on the keyword “Black Friday” in all ASO fields of their listing. It’s important to highlight that, even apps which don’t update since 1, 2 or even 5 years, still have relevant ranking positions for the keyword “Black Friday” nowadays. But not only do they rank high 2 weeks before but also on Black Friday week.

Due to this factor, in Google Play Store almost all of the countries analyzed, organically, the positions are taken by apps dedicated exclusively to Black Friday both 2 weeks before and also during Black Friday week. This is due to the positioning factors, hence it’s more complicated for a brand to include the keyword in the relevant fields and give it enough density to be able to outrank these apps. We can also see that historical data is an important factor for the positioning algorithms.

In Spain, the TOP10 apps for the keyword “Black Friday”, share the positions 2 weeks before and during Black Friday week. All of them are “Black Friday” specific apps, none are recognized brands. It’s notable the case of the app: “Extra: Compras Online, Promoçoes e Descontos” which is in Portuguese and has not worked on the localization for the Spanish market but somehow manages to be in the TOP10.

In the USA we can see that Amazon ranks in the TOP 10 in organic search over 100% Black Friday apps. In Germany the same thing happens with OTTO, another eCommerce app which ranks higher than other apps 100% related to Black Friday for organic searches.

In the Apple App Store, we see a similar behavior, where in all countries there are apps which gain positions this week thanks to the implementation of an ASO strategy.

Idealo achieved TOP6 in Spain, TOP10 in the UK and TOP4 in Germany. Chollometro keeps TOP2 both before and during Black Friday week in Spain.

In Germany, OTTO, one of the most important e-commerces in the world, stands out achieving TOP7 for the keyword “Black Friday”.

In the USA we see that the only brand which achieves TOP10 in organic ranking is AliExpress. In the USA market the apps focused on Black Friday are more active, we see this for example in Klarna which was TOP10 2 weeks before and disappears during Black Friday week.

Share of voice analysis for the keyword “Black Friday”

Just as a quick reminder, Share of Voice (SOV) refers to the popularity of an app according to the number of paid impressions achieved for a certain keyword.

When it comes to the SOV for the keyword “Black Friday” we see that the top rankings are no longer apps dedicated to Black Friday but big brands with big marketing budgets.

In Google Play, Shein leads clearly, especially in Europe. In Spain it achieves a SOV of 43% for the keyword “Black Friday”, 25% for the UK and 35% in Germany. In the USA top rankings are more battled, with Shein also leading with a 16% Share of Voice, followed closely by DHGate with 14%. In the EU, the TOP2, 3 and 4 are shared between SaraMart, Rakuten and Intermarché with SOV percentages starting at 6% (TOP4) all the way up to 20% (TOP2).

In the middle of the charts we see apps like Amazon, DHgate, Banggood or LightInTheBox, very big worldwide eCommerces. Also important to highlight Idealo, TOP3 in the United States.

In the Apple App Store, we see that the first positions are taken by Amazon in all countries (TOP1 and TOP2). In Germany Mein Deal ranks TOP1, which also ranked high in Google Play Store and in the United States.

In the Apple App Store there is more variety both in the rankings and in the apps which achieve a percentage of impressions for the keyword. This way we see that in Spain there are apps within the TOP10 such as Zalando, Fnac or even the game Bubble Shooter.

In the UK, TOP1 is taken by John Lewis & Partners but no other eCommerce apps other than Amazon or MyUS Shopping.

Important to highlight G-Star Raw as a clothing store that achieves TOP5 in the USA and TOP9 in the UK.

Seasonal ASO analysis in 2021 Black Friday for Google Play Store and Apple App Store

For this part of the report we’ve selected some of the apps with more downloads in Spain in the “Shopping” category. We’ve then analyzed which have been the ASO on-metadata factors where the apps applied changes for 2021 Black Friday. To begin with we can foresay that in Google Play Store the apps have made much more changes than in the Apple App Store, probably due to the fact that it’s easier since there’s no need for an app update to make changes in the store listing.

2021 Black Friday seasonal ASO on Google Play Store

Focusing on Google Play store, we see that the element where changes for 2021 Black Friday have been applied most has been the screenshots, with 7 out of the 13 analyzed app who did it. Only 4 out of 13 applied changes on the Feature Graphic and, against all odds, and against the new Google Guidelines which clearly stated that using graphic elements which could deceive users in the app’s icon would not be permitted, 5 out of 13 apps have adapted their icon for Black Friday. These are much more than last year, when only 2 apps made changes in their icon.

This year, apps like Decathlon, Chollometro, Idealo, JD Sports and Shopee ES have made changes in their icon, stating clearly the words “Black Friday” showing their focus on this campaign, which is becoming more popular worldwide year to year. The apps which have made changes on their Feature Graphic have been SHEIN, Decathlon, Idealo and ROMWE, even none of them made changes to their video. Video has been, just like last year, the least used asset to make changes for the campaign. As we mentioned earlier, the 7 apps which have made changes to their screenshots are: SHEIN, AliExpress, Decathlon, FNAC, Idealo, ROMWE and Shopee ES.

Looking into text fields, only Shopee ES opts to include the keyword in its Title, whereas FNAC, Idealo and Stradivarius do this in their Short Description. In the Long Description we find other apps which have opted to include the “Black Friday” keyword such as Zalando and Chollometro, together with FNAC, Stradivarius and Shopee ES. Last but not least, 3 apps opted to communicate the Black Friday campaign in the “News” field, these are: SHEIN, Chollometro and JD Sports.

2021 Black Friday seasonal ASO on Apple App Store

In the case of the Apple App Store, as mentioned before, there are less apps which have made changes, 8 out of 13 as opposed to 11 out of 13 in Google Play Store. However, we cannot overlook the fact that some may update their app on Black Friday at the last minute. It’s fairly clear that the fact that Google Play makes it easier for developers to update the store listings, helps them put in place these strategies more frequently than in the Apple App store.

As opposed to what happens in Google Play Store, in the Apple App Store the visual asset which has had the most changes this Black Friday has been the icon. It has been changed on 6 of the 13 apps analyzed: SHEIN, AliExpress, Idealo, JD Sports, ROMWE y Shopee ES. We’ve also noticed that more apps have made changes in this element than last year, when only 3 apps did it. Screenshots in the Apple App Store were changed by 5 of the 13 analyzed apps: SHEIN, AliExpress, Idealo, Romwe and Shopee ES while the Video asset was not changed by any of the 13 apps. This year the app of El Corte Inglés has not worked on the seasonal ASO for this Black Friday campaign.

Regarding the text elements we’ve noticed that only Shopee ES has included the keyword “Black Friday” in its App Name, which is the most relevant ASO element. AliExpress did this too but in the Subtitle field while for the Long Description only Shopee ES includes a text which makes reference to Black Friday deals. For the Promo Text and What’s New fields the apps which made some references to the Black Friday campaign were: Zalando, FNAC, Shopee ES, SHEIN, AliExpress and ROMWE.

Analysis of the visual assets (icons and screenshots) that worked best on their seasonal ASO for Black Friday

Black Friday Icon adaptations

Reviewing all the apps which have made changes to their icon for this Black Friday, we would like to highlight 6 in the Apple App Store and 6 in Google Play Store which we consider have been really creative. Of these, the ones which caught our eye the most are AliExpress, Black Friday 2021 and Chic me.

This year we see that less brands have adapted their icon for the Black Friday campaign due to the limitations announced by Google in its new Guidelines. Interestingly enough, there are brands which have adapted their icon for Google Play Store but not in the Apple App Store, such as Chollometro or Decathlon, probably because they couldn’t coordinate the releases of the app with the Black Friday listing updates. However, we’ve seen this happen also the other way round, which would be the case of ROMWE, in this case probably to respect the new Google Guidelines.

Black Friday Screenshot adaptations

The big brands which have worked on the screenshots for Black Friday have done it mostly in the first one, which is the one that has the biggest impact on users. Below you will see different examples of apps that adapted their screenshots for Black Friday this year, first on the App Store:

You can also see some examples of adapted screenshots for Black Friday 2021 on Google Play:

Black Friday Feature Graphic adaptations

Last but not least, the Feature Graphic is an element which improves conversion (what would be the first screenshot or video in the Apple App Store). We can see how big brands that worked on a seasonal ASO in all the available fields, have also done this for the Feature Graphic in Google Play Store.

Conclusions of the seasonal ASO analysis for 2021 Black Friday

Working on a seasonal ASO strategy always helps to improve traffic and store listing’s conversion rate. Such is the case with Black Friday campaign, where there is a clear intention of users to search for discounts and great deals.

But not only is it important to adapt to the keyword in the on-metadata factors, but it’s also important to adapt the visual assets. This is the way to take advantage of the searches related to “Black Friday” and also searches within the Shopping category, thus improving organic traffic.

Even though the on-metadata factors which are to be taken into account in Google Play Store and the Apple App Store are different, the more optimized the listing is (icon, screenshots, video or text), the better conversion rates and results will be achieved. Also, we see how the new Google Guidelines have limited the changes made by brands this year, as we can see in the case of AliExpress and SHEIN, which only adapted their icon in the Apple App Store.

This being said, as we have seen in this analysis, it will be easier to gain positions in the Apple App Store. This happens not only because of the limited amount of keywords there are to rank for, but also because there are less apps 100% dedicated to Black Friday, as opposed to Google Play where there are many of these apps with a high density for the keyword and more time being indexed, making it harder to move up in the organic rankings.

Regarding working on the seasonal ASO, another way to do this in your app would be to create your own brand events or to adapt your listing to your TV or any other relevant paid media campaigns.

Having a seasonal ASO strategy not only will improve your main ASO and marketing KPI’s but will also make a difference for your brand against your competitors.

So you now know what to do, this Christmas work on your seasonal ASO to gain visibility and more organic downloads, they’re free! Or even better, get in touch with us and we’ll do the job for you! 🚀🎄