Seasonal moments like Black Friday, Christmas, or summer sales are prime opportunities to drive app growth, but without the right strategy, your messages risk being lost in the noise. That’s where a strong customer relationship management (CRM) approach comes in.
If you’re wondering how to use CRM to increase app engagement during seasonal campaigns, the answer lies in smart user segmentation, personalisation, and automation. With the correct setup, CRM tools allow you to deliver timely, relevant messages that speak directly to where each user is in their journey, boosting retention, conversions and customer satisfaction.
Segmentation leads to personalisation
The first step to personalising your communications is to break down your audience into different segments of people who share the same attributes so that you can speak to these when you communicate with them. For an e-commerce app, segments could include:
- People who have not yet made a purchase
- People who have made a purchase in the last three months
- People who have made a purchase, but not in the last three months
Having defined your segments, it’s much easier to see how you might target messages to each group differently. This is where personalisation comes in.
Segment smart, personalise better
The magic starts with segmentation. By dividing users into distinct groups based on behaviours or characteristics, you can craft relevant messages that feel personal and timely.
Example segments for a shopping app might include:
- New users who haven’t made a purchase
- Active users who’ve purchased recently
- Dormant users who haven’t returned in over 90 days
Once these groups are defined, you can create bespoke messaging strategies for each. CRM for mobile apps lets you automate and track these campaigns with ease.
The benefits of personalisation are well documented. In fact, 52% of customers say they’re likely to switch brands if a company doesn’t tailor communications to their needs.
Personalised interactions aren’t just a nice-to-have they’re essential for building customer loyalty, driving engagement and increasing revenue.
CRM tools to manage segmentation and personalisation
There are numerous CRM tools available to meet different needs and price points, helping you manage segmentation and personalisation. Some of the most popular ones include OneSignal, CleverTap, MoEngage, Braze and Iterable.
Within each of these tools, you can create tags and segments of your audience. This will enable you to identify their common characteristics so that you can target more personalised communications to each segment. The ability to segment your audience is a powerful lever to improving not only the customer journey to purchase but also activation. Here’s what that would look like: Here is an example journey you can set up via your CRM tool, leveraging segmentation and tags, to improve the activation rates of your app users:
- People who have not yet signed up to the app, send a welcome email. The first tag would be for people who have signed up.
- Next, send an email encouraging those who have signed up to take out a subscription, and create tags for people who take out a subscription and people who don’t.
- Next, email those who have taken out a subscription with messaging around the benefits they get from that, and those who haven’t with an offer to encourage them to subscribe.
These tools will also connect to tools in your app’s existing tech stack, so you could connect your CRM tool with your in-app analytics tool, something like Mixpanel, Amplitude or Google Analytics, which will then allow all the in-app actions, or “events,” that are captured in your in-app analytics tool – someone creating an account, or making a purchase, for example, to be transferred over to your CRM tool. This avoids the need to set up tags for events in the CRM tool that are already being captured by the in-app analytics tool. This integration will allow you to have a full view of your users’ behaviour, giving you the power to leverage CRM to encourage further engagement with your product.
The benefits of using CRM strategies in seasonal campaigns
Anchoring your seasonal campaigns in a solid CRM strategy makes sense for all sorts of reasons. It makes your messaging more relevant and consistent, which in turn makes it more effective.
Relevance gets results
One-size-fits-all messaging doesn’t work in the modern world. By segmenting your user base and creating personalised messages that reflect where they are on their user journey with you, you will make your users feel both valued and understood, and more likely to respond positively to you.
Consistency
There are multiple channels open to you to communicate with your app’s users. Using a CRM to manage your communications with them will make it easier to maintain a consistent tone of voice and brand personality, even while targeting different segments of the user base with different messages.
Effectiveness through personalisation
The more relevant your communications, the more effective they are likely to be in nudging consumers along the user journey and encouraging them to convert at each of your in-app conversion points. Forbes found that 81% of customers prefer companies that offer a personalised experience.
Building a CRM strategy for app marketing campaigns
To run successful app marketing campaigns, you want to be hitting users with messaging that makes sense for where they are on the journey with your app, whether they are a seasoned user, or brand new to the app.
Know your users
To build effective CRM journeys, you first need to understand who your users are and how they behave in your app. By combining insights from your in-app analytics tool with your CRM platform, you can use demographic and behavioural data to create user profiles and define key milestones you want them to reach such as:
- Creating an account
- Starting a subscription
- Making a purchase
Once you’ve mapped these journeys, you can craft targeted campaigns that guide users toward each goal.
For example, a shopping app might run a seasonal re-engagement campaign targeting lapsed users those who previously purchased but haven’t returned in the past three months. By analysing their past activity, the app can recommend products they’ve viewed or ones that complement earlier purchases, paired with a limited-time holiday discount to drive conversions.
Define campaign goals
Your campaign goals are defined by the user journey and the in-app events you want different segments of your user base to complete, like creating an account or making a purchase, along with the KPIs associated with those events. Once you understand what the points of conversion are that you want to move towards, you can create the messaging for that. It’s important, also, to understand what your conversion rates are at those points, so that you can look at the levers you can pull to increase them, based on your CRM strategy.
For each conversion point, you need to ask yourself, have they done it, yes or no? The same for the next one. Then use different types of messages to target those who have converted, and those who haven’t at each point. For example, has a user converted to a paid subscription yet? If the answer is yes, the aim is to use your messaging strategy to keep them engaged and retained with your content. It could look like:
“Did you know your subscription gives you access to curated playlists? Explore it now and enjoy a richer experience!”
If the answer is no, the aim should be to convert them to a subscription, either with soft-sell messages highlighting the benefits of a paid subscription, or a harder sell, perhaps including a discount off the subscription fee. Here’s a great example of that from Spotify:
Craft personalised messages
The messaging you create for each segment, and for each stage of the user journey, should be personalised to where the user is on that journey and what action you want them to take next. This personalisation should be consistent across all channels, whether it’s email, in-app messaging, push notifications or SMS, to create a cohesive user experience.
The example below shows how Temu’s, personalised in-app messaging can be so effective. Temu tailors its in-app messages based on individual user behaviour, such as browsing or purchase history, using real-time data to surface relevant offers and reminders. This type of message doesn’t just catch attention, it drives conversions by delivering timely, contextual value that feels directly relevant to the user.
Automate messaging
Create automated messages that are triggered when the user completes an in-app event, such as a thank you push notification when a user makes their first purchase, perhaps accompanied by a time-limited offer of a discount on their next purchase. It’s another opportunity to engage with the user for a real reason, to thank them for their custom, and at the same time nudge them towards the next conversion point, the second purchase.
Remember seasonality
Your goals and the messages that support them should always align with the time of year and the seasonal behaviours of your users. For major shopping periods like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Christmas, that could mean limited-time promotions, flash sales, or value-led discounts to encourage quick action. While the structure of your messaging may remain consistent with campaigns throughout the year, the tone, design, and urgency should be adapted to reflect the season in question, as shown in the example below.
But seasonality isn’t just about short-term gains. It’s also an opportunity to build long-term engagement by tapping into heightened user intent. As outlined in our seasonal retention strategies, creating tailored experiences for seasonal users like exclusive onboarding offers for holiday shoppers or “treat yourself” messaging post-Christmas can help convert first-time users into long-term loyalists.
Consider incorporating countdown timers, festive visuals, or even gamified experiences into your seasonal CRM strategy to make it feel timely and exciting. Most importantly, match your seasonal offers to each user segment’s behaviour and preferences for example, rewarding loyal customers with early access, while nudging first-timers with low-friction incentives to convert.
Mobile CRM strategies for different user segments
By putting your CRM strategy front and centre of your messaging, you’ll be able to target all your app’s users with more relevant, engaging messages that encourage them to take the actions you’re aiming for. Here’s how that might look across different user types:
- Users who haven’t made a purchase yet:
For users who’ve downloaded your app but haven’t purchased, your primary goal is to guide them toward their first transaction. You might send a push notification or email offering 10% off for Christmas or a special Black Friday deal. Alternatively, a softer message, like a reminder that returns are free, can help reduce any hesitation and build trust. - Occasional or infrequent purchasers:
If a user has made one or two purchases but isn’t active consistently, your messaging should focus on re-engagement. A good tactic is to highlight products that complement a previous order, for instance, suggesting a belt to pair with jeans they’ve already bought. This kind of recommendation-driven personalisation helps maintain interest and drive repeat purchases. - Loyal and frequent customers:
For your most engaged users, those who purchase regularly, the goal is to retain and reward. Messaging might include exclusive perks like free delivery, early access to seasonal sales, or gamified rewards such as a “Spin the Wheel” promotion where they’re guaranteed a prize. These gestures reinforce loyalty and deepen the user relationship.
What’s next?
To boost app engagement during seasonal campaigns, your CRM strategy needs to do more than deliver offers it should deliver relevance. By segmenting users, personalising messages, and automating journeys based on real behaviour, you can turn seasonal spikes into long-term growth.
Whether it’s re-engaging lapsed users or rewarding loyal ones, CRM gives you the tools to meet users where they are and guide them toward conversion at exactly the right moment.
Ready to power up your seasonal CRM strategy? Get in touch with our team to learn how we can help drive meaningful results for your app.