Health & fitness and food delivery serving gains in 2023

Shocker: Users prefer to order in on weekends

Weekends are made for sleeping in and apparently, ordering in as well. When analyzing food delivery app installs, sessions, and session lengths, Saturdays and Sundays dominate 2023. See below for the weekend-winning details.

Installs up on Saturday

Food delivery app installs are 25% higher on Saturdays than on Mondays. This follows the trend set in 2022, during which Saturday app installs for the vertical were 26% higher on Saturdays than Mondays.

Sessions up on Saturday

Saturday leads the days of the week with the greatest number of sessions, while Monday is the day with the least. For example,  sessions on Saturdays were 13.11% higher in 2021, 11.15% higher in 2022, and in Q1 2023, 13.7% higher than the Monday averages during the same time period. Additionally, Saturday sessions were 16% above the Q1 2023 average.

Session lengths highest on Sunday

Reviewing data from Q1 2021-Q1 2023, Sundays consistently hold the title for the day users spend the most time in their food delivery apps, with the longest session lengths searching for the perfect meal, at 17.47 minutes.

Monday wins for health & fitness app installs

Per Q1 2023 data, Mondays reign superior for the day of the week with the most health & fitness app installs. On average, Monday health & fitness app installs are 16% higher than on Saturdays.

Health & fitness sessions hustle upward

Following a similar path as installs, health & fitness app sessions are on the rebound in 2023. In fact, sessions have perked up, with Q1 2023 seeing a 10% increase in sessions compared to the previous quarter.

Mid-week fitness drives user activity

Interestingly, Wednesdays in 2023 have dethroned Mondays as the day of the week with the largest number of health & fitness sessions. Sessions on Wednesdays in Q1 2023 averaged 13% higher than the quarter’s average number of sessions as users make time to complete their health and wellness goals.

Users spend the most time in health & fitness apps on Tuesdays

Continuing the mid-week trend, session lengths are the longest on Tuesdays, with an average session length of 10.62 minutes.

Health & fitness retention shines on

As we mentioned in our 2023 mobile app retention article, Health & fitness retention rates in 2022 outpaced those in 2021. Their Day 1 retention rates moved to 24%, up from 19%, with their Day 30 retention rate also sliding up from 3% to 7% in 2022.

How to capitalize on these upward app trends

This year, app marketing is anything but normal. With an economic downturn and increased pressure to deliver, app marketers must remain efficient and carry on these upward app trends. (Speaking of trends, don’t forget to get your copy of our Mobile app trends 2023 edition for top insights and expert advice on the latest app benchmarks.)

Here are three tips for growing your app (for all verticals):

1. Strategically diversify advertising channels

Long gone are the days of omnichannel marketing by which marketers take the same approach with every channel. From audience segmentation to the level of tracking granularity needed, app marketers should review the channels and measurement tools they’re using to ensure each channel has its own unique user journey.

We encourage marketers to think outside the box for user acquisition (UA) channels. Consider Connected TV (CTV), influencer marketing, and Spotify ads for your 2023 channels. And to fully measure these channels and your offline efforts, why not try media mix modeling?

CTV

CTV is a fantastic channel for revisiting contextual advertising, particularly in light of recent privacy developments. Check out our ebook on Mastering CTV in 2023 to learn how to add CTV to your marketing mix.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing continues to deliver results when employed tactically. For expert advice on how to measure the ROI of influencer marketing, check out Part 2 of our guide: Scaling your app to 1M users.

Spotify advertising

The digital music player Spotify boasts around 489 million users, so the chances of your target audience using it may be quite high. As discussed in Tuning into success: How to advertise your app on Spotify, the music platform offers marketers a wide range of video and audio ad formats, including custom ad formats.

Read Getting strategic: How to curate a diversified advertising channel mix for a closer look at this topic.

2. Let ChatGPT guide

Like many innovations, artificial intelligence, and particularly its role in powering the chatbot ChatGPT, is a neutral tool. So while some industry figures are calling for a pause on ChatGPT to examine potential legal and ethical issues, the chatbot can still help app marketers gain efficiency in their everyday tasks.

As mentioned in the article, How ChatGPT is changing the mobile app marketing game in 2023, ChatGPT can support marketers in brainstorming everything from consumer behavior to new campaign creatives to blog and social media posts. Additionally, the new ChatGPT plugins are available on a waitlist and can be used to provide up-to-date information and integrations with your third-party tools. While marketers must remember the chatbot is far from perfect, the tool can facilitate powerful new ideas.

3. Streamline campaign management

In her recent article, How to stay on top of your app campaigns in 2023, Adjust’s CPO Katie Madding shares six tips for marketers.

6 tips for campaign management:

1. Utilize smart alerts to monitor campaigns.
2. Revitalize your app store optimization strategy.
3. Partner with a mobile measurement partner for your iOS campaigns.
4. Test cross-promotional campaigns.
5. Unify your marketing data in a central location for maximum efficiency.
6. Stay on top of industry trends with the right newsletters (Wink, subscribe on the left).

Bonus tip: Join the 135,000+ apps that grow their apps with Adjust’s mobile measurement and analytics suite. From Mobile Attribution to iOS Solutions to Fraud Prevention, Adjust is built to help app marketers work faster and smarter. Book your demo now.