The holiday sale season presents a great opportunity for e-commerce apps. It’s when customer attention is highest, competition is fierce, and user behavior becomes more goal-oriented than at any other time of year.
During this period, installs and purchases increase quickly, but true value isn’t always realized. High-value users engage with purpose and return confidently. During the busiest shopping season, acquiring these users provides a significant competitive edge.
Why High-Value Users Think Differently
Holiday shoppers aren’t casually browsing. They’re focused on gifts, deals, upgrades, and essentials. They act quickly, and they abandon when the experience feels inconsistent.
This is also where many brands fall into a seasonal trap: the fast-paced, crucial nature of holiday shopping can expose gaps in the customer experience. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
According to Rishan Weerakoon, Strategy Growth Director at Yodel Mobile
“Something we see time and time again is e-commerce clients treating major sale periods as a pure land grab and relaxing all focus on user quality. Brands throw aggressive discounts at broad audiences and end up flooding the app with ‘bargain hunters’ who never come back at full price. The short-term revenue looks great, but the LTV of those cohorts often looks a lot worse once you get a few weeks out.”
The seasonal scale is valuable only when users continue to stay after the discounts end.
Where High-Value Users Come From
The holiday season attracts a wide mix of shoppers, but high-value users tend to focus on channels where their intent is strongest. They often come from touchpoints where users already have a specific need or goal in mind.
Rishan shares what consistently delivers value:
“We’ve seen that the most consistently high-value users tend to come from high-intent, search-led traffic. Google App Campaigns built on strong feed data and intent signals, plus branded category search, generate users who already know what they want – and they convert with higher order values and better repeat behavior.”
Creatives That Move People
During holiday sale season, every feed is full of gift guides, last-minute offers, and limited-time discounts. With so much noise, clarity is necessary to make people stop and pay attention.
Rishan highlights the creative trends winning right now:
“We’re seeing the strongest results from short-form, vertical creatives that combine a clear outcome, real product context, and proof that other people love it – ratings, UGC, quick testimonials. The winning formats move quickly from hook → product in use → concrete benefit. Urgency and social proof help, but they work best when tied to a specific use case, not just a generic ‘Holiday Sale’ message.”
Custom Product Pages: Where Interest Turns Into Intent
During the holidays, shoppers go from discovering products to making purchases much faster than usual. Custom Product Pages (CPPs) can help keep your ad message and App Store experience consistent.
Rishan explains:
“CPPs let you keep the story consistent from ad to App Store – specific offers, product categories or audiences. When your seasonal ad creative highlights a discount or theme and the App Store experience mirrors it, we typically see a lift in CVRs. CPPs also give you cleaner data on which messages and audiences actually drive the highest value.”
Real-Time Decisions Define Seasonal Success
In a shopping session, the behavior of customers grows around gifting, pre-holiday special offers, and New Year resolutions. That's why high-value users reveal themselves early through their engagement and spending patterns.
Rishan outlines the indicators that matter most:
“We look at early revenue and engagement signals by user cohort. First order value, number of items per basket, and whether users come back organically after the sale period. Metrics like D7/D30 revenue, repeat purchases, payback time, and even refund behavior tell you very quickly who’s a deal hunter and who’s genuinely valuable.”
How Rewarded UA Fits Into the Holiday Sale Season
Many apps overlook one of the most effective ways to acquire high-value users during the holiday sale season: rewarded user acquisition. Before going deeper into rewarded UA, it helps to understand the mechanics behind rewarded journeys and how platforms like Gamelight fit into them.
Gamelight is a rewarded UA platform that connects apps with users by encouraging meaningful in-app activity rather than focusing solely on installs. Through its loyalty app, users discover new apps, take on tasks and challenges, and move through a structured, motivating experience that guides their progress.
​This setup naturally supports better retention, strengthens user loyalty, and contributes to more consistent ROAS and overall campaign performance.
How E-commerce Apps Can Use Rewarded UA
Rewarded UA becomes especially valuable during the holiday sale season, when users are active but easily distracted.
It works by guiding users through meaningful in-app actions and giving them rewards for their progress. This structure turns seasonal shopper attention into steady, guided engagement from the very beginning.
Inside the Gamelight platform, an e-commerce user might see a journey like:
Each completed step gives rewards to the user and unlocks the next step. What looks like chaotic shopping becomes a clear journey where the path to purchase feels intuitive and motivating.
By reducing friction and deepening engagement, this method turns one-time shoppers into repeat customers, lifting retention and ROAS.
Gamelight takes care of the entire process: from task design and motivation mechanics to reward distribution and cost coverage. All partners need to provide a tracking link, just as they would with any traditional UA channel.
Singular has ranked Gamelight as one of the best ROAS sources for non-gaming apps, and AppsFlyer has recognized us as the #1 rewarded UA channel globally.
Günay Azer, founder of Gamelight, explains why this matters:
“During seasonal peaks, users move quickly and decisions are made in seconds. When you guide that journey with simple, rewarding steps, people stay engaged instead of dropping off. Every completed action builds momentum, and that momentum drives higher ROAS, stronger retention, and long-term customer loyalty for e-commerce.”
The Bigger Picture
High-value users don’t appear by chance. They show up when the experience is aligned, the messaging feels honest, and the user journey reflects what people expect in a high-pressure shopping season.
E-commerce brands that win are the ones that treat seasonal peaks as the beginning of a long-term relationship, not just a sprint for installs.
Rishan frames this perfectly:
“Treat major sale periods as the start of a relationship, not a one-off spike. Win high-intent users into your app, then design onboarding, post-purchase and January campaigns so they see reasons to come back at full price. The brands that win long term protect user quality and LTV.”
Conclusion
Seasonal sales create urgency, but lasting growth comes from experiences that feel clear, intentional, and genuinely valuable. When brands prioritize user quality and seamless journeys, high-value users don’t just convert, but they return long after the holiday comes down.
Gamelight is the largest Rewarded UA marketing platform that helps apps acquire motivated users, strengthen retention, and grow sustainably through meaningful engagement. To explore partnership opportunities, reach out at partners@gamelight.io.
