Every year, Valentine’s Day puts dating apps in the spotlight, but the real opportunity isn’t the day itself, but the longer shift in behavior around it.
At this time, people aren’t just browsing anymore: they’re making decisions. And because of this, they’re more likely to download, complete onboarding, and try premium features, especially if they believe it will help them get results faster. However, simultaneously, competition rises, creative gets too noisy, and it’s easy to spend a lot while earning very little.
A simple Valentine’s framework for dating UA
If you want one way to fail-proof your plan, you can use this:
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Promise: your ad tells users what kind of outcome they can expect (within realistic expectations)
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Proof: the first in-app experience confirms that promise immediately (fast setup, clear next step)
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Progress: users feel momentum on the first day already (first like/message/match loop)
Most Valentine’s campaigns fail because while they nail the Promise (by using a pretty seasonal ad), they miss the Proof and Progress (due to slow onboarding, unclear next action, or weak early success).
The one thing that changes in February: users want momentum
Valentine’s isn’t like Christmas; it’s not about longer sessions or cozy time-killing, but about urgency with emotions attached. And that creates a completely different acquisition dynamic.
Users tend to be:
More decisive
Less patient with friction
More open to paying for an advantage
So the success question then becomes: how quickly can a new user get to their first meaningful action?
That’s why activation speed matters most here, and Günay Azer, founder of Gamelight, frames it like this:
Valentine’s isn’t just a volume moment, it’s a quality moment. If you can get users to a first real action quickly, like a completed profile, a first message or a first match, you'll feel the impact long after the holiday week ends.
Creative: stop advertising the holiday and advertise the outcome
A lot of Valentine’s creative looks the same: hearts, roses, and loving-themed aesthetics. While that’s fine for awareness, it can also pull in low-intent clicks. A better approach is to keep the season tone light and make the message more specific. The outcome should be the first thing on your mind, not the decoration.
As Carla Vassalo, Team Lead UA at Addict Mobile, explains:
Valentine’s Day creatives work best when they feel real. Humor helps de-dramatize dating, emotional angles create connection, and UGC formats allow users to relate to people who are actually living the same experiences. Storytime-style content is particularly effective during this period.
What tends to work (and why)
“Meet someone who wants the same thing”
Because it signals intent and reduces the “random swiping” expectation.
“Start fresh this week”
Because it fits both new users and reactivated users without forcing romance clichés.
“Get your first chat faster”
Because it frames value in a way that users can feel almost immediately.
A quick don’t
If your creative implies instant success, but your product requires a long setup or heavy paywalls, Valentine’s traffic will punish you. This is the season where mismatch becomes more expensive.
Make Valentine’s about quality events, not cheap installs
If you focus only on CPI during Valentine’s, you’ll often attract the wrong users, especially when competition increases.
This is also why it’s usually better not to over-tighten targeting during this period. As Carla Vassalo notes:
During competitive moments like Valentine’s Day, trying to over-control audiences often backfires. Today’s platforms rely heavily on AI-driven algorithms, and adding too many constraints limits their ability to find the right users. Keeping targeting broad helps manage rising costs more efficiently. That said, separating campaigns by gender still makes sense, as conversion behaviors are not the same.
Instead, you should pick one primary goal and two supporting signals, keeping it simple. For example, this could look like:
Primary goal: first meaningful action (first message sent, first match or first conversation started)
Supporting signal 1: profile completion
Supporting signal 2: early return
This keeps the team focused and makes creative iteration faster, because you know what good performance looks like beyond installs.
The Valentine’s calendar: how to time UA without burning budget
Treat it like a short season with pacing, not a one-day sprint.
Phase 1: Warm up (first week of February)
This is your learning window. Test:
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2-3 messaging angles
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2-3 different audiences
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1-2 landing or onboarding routes, if possible
Your goal here is to identify which combinations drive activation signals, not just clicks.
Carla Vassalo highlights why starting early matters:
We usually recommend being present around Valentine’s Day, but it’s a period where costs naturally increase. The key is anticipation. Algorithms need time to adapt to budget changes, and brands that prepare early benefit from more stable performance when competition peaks.
Phase 2: Peak week (Feb 8-Feb 14)
Scale what proved quality and keep iteration tight:
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Refresh creatives often
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Cut anything that loses activation quality
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Avoid last-minute big changes, unless you have data
Phase 3: Follow-through (Feb 15-21)
This is where many teams drop off too fast. Keep budget for:
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Reactivated users who need a little push to finish onboarding
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New users who installed near the peak, but haven’t found momentum yet
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Late adopters who decide to stay after the holiday hype
If you turn everything off on February 15, you often lose the most valuable portion of the cohort.
Retargeting + premium: turn intent into momentum
Valentine’s creates a natural reactivation moment, so win-back can be one of the most efficient strategies, but only if the message is focused. Instead of basic “Come back for Valentine’s!”, give users one clear next step: finish their profile, see new people nearby, or send their first message with the help of prompts.
This is also when simple premium hooks can work well, because users are more willing to pay for anything that helps them move faster. Keep offers clean and immediate: one clear value proposition, minimal choice overload, and a direct impact on the next action (whether that’s through visibility, boosts, better discovery or conversation prompts). The best promos in February shouldn’t feel like sales, but as a shortcut to progress.
The biggest Valentine’s mistake: ending the story on Feb 14
Users don’t stop looking for matches after Valentine’s; they just shift out of the hype cycle. The main idea here is to transition from “seasonal moment” to “everyday habit” without it feeling abrupt. A soft shift usually works well:
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Valentine’s → “fresh start”
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“Date night” → “New connections”
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Romance tone → Broader intent tone (friendship, serious dating, new in town)
Carla Vassalo also calls out a common planning trap:
A common mistake is treating Valentine’s Day as a two-day spike. The emotional context doesn’t disappear on February 14. Brands that think longer term, plan retargeting after the event, and focus on user quality rather than pure install volume usually see stronger retention over time.
If you keep the same core promise - that is, helping users get to meaningful interactions faster - you’ll retain more of the users you bring in.
Final checklist for Valentine’s dating UA
Valentine’s is one of the few moments in the year where dating intent rises fast, which is exactly why it can get expensive. The teams that win aren’t the ones with the loudest seasonal creative, but the ones who keep promise, proof and progress aligned, optimize for activation instead of installs, and plan well past February 14.
Before you scale, make sure you can answer “yes” to these:
Does the ad promise match the first in-app experience?
Can new users reach a meaningful action within the first session?
Are you tracking at least one activation event (and not just installs)?
Do you have a plan for Feb 15-21?
Is your win-back message giving users one clear next step?
If all of those boxes are ticked, Valentine’s stops being a short term spike. Instead, it becomes a reliable way to bring in high-intent users and strengthen your February standard, with cohorts that keep moving long after the holiday is over.
