NEW YORK - A Fiksu executive at Mobile Marketer?s Mobile Marketing Summit: Holiday Focus 2013 said smart marketers should roll out updates before the holidays since iOS 7 will automatically update mobile applications.

The ?Fiksu: Tapping the hidden power of app marketing for the holidays and year-round? keynote lunch session gave attendees ideas to prepare their mobile app strategies for the holidays. Additionally, marketers should focus on the post-holiday season to increase loyal app users.

?In iOS 7, which is soon to be released, apps will update automatically,? said Christian Galvin, U.S. director of mobile apps at Fiksu, Boston.

?That?s the good news here for marketers,? he said. ?They now have the opportunity to continuously iterate apps.?

?Users like updated apps. So now as a marketer, you have the opportunity to interact more often and know that they have the most updated version of your app.?

The session was sponsored by Fiksu.

Promote on mobile
According to eMarketer, mobile will generate 16 percent of ecommerce revenue during the upcoming holiday season, meaning that retailers will likely benefit in ramping up their app marketing efforts leading up to the holiday.

Given the growth in smartphone and tablet sales during the holidays, marketers should be focused on building up their app visibility when consumers are browsing and looking for apps to download.

In particular, Facebook will play a bigger role for marketers this holiday season in driving app downloads.

Additionally, marketers are beginning to prepare for the holiday season earlier in the year, roughly 100 days before Christmas Day.

Fiksu claims that apps that update during the holiday season see four times as many users per app and more sessions per user since consumers jump in and out of apps more with shorter user sessions.

Fiksu also claims that one in three mobile app updates take place during the holidays.

According to data from Localytics that was presented, non-updated iOS apps generate 20 sessions per user a month, compared to 25 sessions in an updated app. This represents a 24 percent increase.

Android apps rake in nine user sessions per month with a non-updated app, but this jumps to 20 user sessions a month and signifies a 129 percent increase for updated apps.

Pick your users
The cost to acquire a loyal user, which is when a consumer downloads and opens an app more than three times per month, is higher during the holidays.

There are also two app store bookings that take place during the holidays.

The chart freeze is a visual page where the apps are displayed in their individual categories and shows overall where the app is ranked in the chart.

In 2009, the freeze lasted one week and last year only lasted eight hours. As the app market grows, the investments that marketers should be placing here is likely diminishing since marketers do not get as much attention.

Fiksu claims that 30 ? 40 percent of organic downloads result in loyal users. Therefore, focusing on app store charts does have some value.

However, this also requires substantial investments for marketers when competitors are likely also doing the same.

The other freeze is the iTunes Connect freeze. It is one week long and marketers can no longer submit apps with any updates during the time period.

Therefore, submissions for upgrades should be made the first week in December in time for the holidays.

Marketers should also differentiate their volume versus value app goals.

?I believe that the right strategy is a blend of both, so I think you should be spending with some of the incentivized channels to acquire these low-cost installs, but the goal to increase your visibility in the app store to acquire organic users, so you should be spending with these non-incentivized channels too to acquire loyal users that will stay with you for life hopefully,? Mr. Galvin said.