ASO — 29 Jan 2024
Breathing Fire Into Apps: ASO Tips & Creative Concepts for Chinese New Year 2024
Anastasiya Starovoytova
Anastasiya Starovoytova 
This year belongs to dragons — and not metaphorically.
The Chinese zodiac designates 2024 as the Year of the Dragon, and with the holiday season approaching in China, ASO managers have an excellent chance to boost their app visibility.
How? We’ve got lots of ASO tips and creative concepts to spark inspiration in you.
This article serves as a valuable resource for Western ASO managers aiming to establish a strong presence in the region. It also provides insights for Chinese apps seeking to share their culture with audiences from other countries.
Additionally, this read can be useful for anyone targeting other Asian regions. Due to their fondness for the Chinese zodiac and Lunar New Year, these markets are also getting into the festive mood.
The dragon will step into the power on Saturday, February 10 — the official date of Chinese New Year 2024.
The day of Chinese New Year varies each year because it is based on the lunar calendar. This calendar is structured around the cycles of the moon phases. As a result, Chinese New Year can occur anytime between January 21 and February 20.
The festivities extend for sixteen days. Seven of them are an official public holiday (from February 10th to February 16th, 2024).
The Chinese app market is a behemoth, boasting more than 970 millions of users and dozens of app stores, each with their own set of rules.
Since Google Play isn’t available in the country, Android apps are spreaded across various platforms, often belonging to different smartphone producers. Xiaomi, Huawei, and Samsung are one of the most vivid examples out there.
Another cool thing about China is the significance of its super apps (such as WeChat) that can also act as app marketplaces. They incorporate mini programs by other developers (which are very similar to regular apps) for the super app users to download them.
So, we’re having a very vast market, a massive audience, super apps alongside many app stores, and a great potential for growth — and competition. It’s only natural that this environment also depends on seasonality and capitalizes on it.
After all, the change of seasons is a fantastic opportunity to get the limelight. Let’s see how they do it in China.
During the Chinese New Year celebrations, the app market witnesses a significant surge in mobile app usage. This is due to the official week-long break enjoyed by many Chinese individuals and businesses. Adjust reports the demand for mobile apps grows each year during Lunar New Year, and the length of app sessions also increases, especially for delivery apps, marketplaces, recipes, deals discovery, and mobile games.
January is the month when Lunar New Year offers are presented to the public. This is the time for in-app events, purchases, and installs to shine bright.
This is, for instance, how WeChat reminds users of the upcoming holiday. Inside the app, users can enjoy sending each other festive stickers depicting holiday greetings and traditional symbols:
When looking for inspiration for Chinese New Year creatives, pay attention to the content of apps like WeChat above. The stickers above can serve as a fascinating reference!
Chinese brands often cooperate with app developers during holidays for additional coverage or special advertising campaigns. As a rule, these collaborations result in in-app advertising or ASO updates. If an app has its own campaign, the course of action is pretty the same. For example, this is how the app 京东 (JD.com) decorated an in-app ad about the non-lunar New Year’s prize drawing with Mango TV:
The announcement is flashy and features many elements — as well as the app’s logo. This is a good example of a creative that can be shown both within and outside the app.
And, of course, ASO is a big part of the Lunar New Year preparations. In the next section of the article, we review ASO tips and concept creatives that can be useful for you.
ASO in China has its own set of nuances due to the unique characteristics of the Chinese mobile app market and cultural preferences.
There are three main things to keep in mind:
And, of course, you shouldn’t forget about validating your ideas. Run A/B tests to ensure your creatives are engaging enough to win users over.
In light of these facts, let’s move forward to see creative trends and tips.
ASO Benchmarks & Mobile Trends Report 2023
Get the latest ASO benchmarks, expert insights and actionable tips for popular app categories. The better you understand the App Store landscape, the better you’ll prepare your app for any holiday — in any country.
If you want to add a festive touch to your app, it’s a good idea to think about discoverability.
One of the most obvious routes here is to update your app’s text assets — its title, subtitle, and descriptions.
Think carefully about what keywords you want to use. If you’re going for Chinese New Year, then you can use the full name of the holiday, call it Lunar New Year, or pick a popular English abbreviation, CNY.
And, of course, you can always turn to the Chinese language: 元旦.
In China, the symbolism of the color red can’t be underestimated.
According to Feng Shui, red stands for fire and attracts positive energy. It is also believed to bring happiness, prosperity, and good fortune — as well as power to ward off evil spirits.
No wonder this color is one of the most popular in the country and is widely used for Chinese New Year decorations. For ASO managers, it’s a sign that red and its shades is a perfect color for icons and screenshots in the region.
You can see that red is often accompanied by yellow — a symbol of Earth, royalty, and heroism. Hues of yellow in the country include both golden and brown shades. Making yellow a second-dominant color in your ASO visuals will be a good move.
It’s the New Year, and we shouldn’t forget to leverage trends in visual optimization. For instance, keep in mind that Pantone named the shade ‘Peach Fuzz’ as the main color for 2024. This can be applied in ASO visuals.
Another idea you can use for developing creatives is to use different bright colors to create contrast. It looks especially good on screenshots:
Mind that red is still present on these visuals due to its festive significance. Other colors serve to highlight the details in red, their tones are usually warm.
So, which colors to choose? It’s always up to you, but it will be a nice touch if you pick official shades of the year — the ones that come with the animalistic spirit of the Chinese calendar.
The annual change in the Chinese zodiac animal is due to the zodiac’s 12-year cycle, assigning each year a distinct animal sign. This rotation, rooted in Chinese traditions and the legend of the Great Race, involves the association of specific colors with each animal. You can use these colors for your app’s product page.
2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon, and the following colors are considered to be lucky:
Think about implementing them into your Chinese New Year 2024 creatives.
Incorporating the Chinese zodiac and divine beasts into your icons, and screenshots can be an engaging way to connect with your audience. If you choose this route, make sure the zodiac sign/animal takes center stage:
Zodiac animals are often depicted in a company of a lion, shi (獅), a majestic creature whose dance is one of the most famous Lunar New Year performances.
Due to bigger sizes, screenshots and video preview thumbnails offer more room for creativity. You can come up with a design featuring multiple characters or even recreate the Lunar New Year magic by depicting a traditional parade.
Since we started talking about Zodiac signs, it’s high time to mention the hero of the Chinese New Year 2024— the mighty Dragon.
In Chinese culture, the dragon (known as long, 龍) is a symbol of power, strength, immortality, and good fortune. It is associated with imperial authority, and historically, only the emperor was allowed to use dragon motifs in clothing and architecture. Nowadays, he’s one of the most popular characters of Chinese mythology. Many businesses — apps included — use dragons on their logos (and, therefore, icons).
Chinese dragons are typically depicted as serpentine creatures with long bodies, whiskers, four legs, and antler-like horns. They often lack wings. In contrast, Western dragons are frequently portrayed with wings and a more lizard-like appearance.
ASO managers should pay attention to the symbolism differences between Eastern and Western dragons. While Western dragons are often depicted as fierce, fire-breathing creatures, Eastern Chinese dragons are benevolent. They are considered bringers of rain, symbolizing the vital element of water, and guardians of the nation.
A smiling and happy character adds warmth to your app’s visuals. This can make potential users feel more inclined to explore and engage with your app, especially during a time associated with family gatherings.
Cuteness and wishes of happiness is also a safe bet. Don’t be afraid to be sentimental!
Chinese New Year is rich in symbolism and festive elements. These symbols are deeply rooted in Chinese culture, representing wishes for good fortune, prosperity, and happiness. Using them for ASO purposes will help you find a common ground with your audience.
For instance, red envelopes containing money, known as “Hongbao”, are given as gifts during Chinese New Year. They are a popular theme for mobile app icons and screenshots.
Traditional red lanterns are an essential part of Chinese New Year decorations. They are often adorned with intricate designs and symbols representing good luck. The celebration of the New Year concludes on the 15th day of the first month in the lunar calendar. On this day, known as Yuanxiao Festival or Lantern Festival, hundreds of thousands of lanterns ascend into the sky.
Fireworks and firecrackers are set off to drive away evil spirits and welcome the New Year with a bang.
You can dress your characters into traditional Chinese clothing (hanfu, changshan and qipao) during the festivities. The color red is often incorporated into these garments, symbolizing good luck and joy.
If your app’s category allows it, you can also try out depicting traditional armor, weapon, and even mighty heroes of the past:
Other well-known symbols of Chinese New year include delicate paper cutting, tangerines, oranges, rice cakes and the flowers known as the Four Gentlemen: plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. All of them can be easily incorporated into your visuals.
Forget about minimalism for a second. It’s time to try out something new.
Traditional aesthetics in many East Asian cultures often involve intricate details, patterns, and symbolism. This cultural appreciation for ornate designs may influence preferences towards visuals that are rich in detail rather than minimalistic. For this reason, it may be worth opting for screenshots featuring many elements.
Also, Chinese texts take less space than English ones — bear this in mind when working on your captions.
Consider positioning a split screenshot as the second image in the sequence. The initial screenshot holds paramount importance in conversion rates, as a significant portion of app installs occurs after users view the first image.
Enhance this impression by incorporating social proof and a compelling CTA to describe the app.
As we prepare to welcome the Year of the Dragon, integrating these ASO tips and creative concepts into their strategies will undoubtedly breathe new life into your apps. What’s more, it can also give you inspiration to try out something new for other markets.
After all, if the sky could dream, it would dream of dragons. So why not to give your visuals a new look — the one that will bring you luck and prosperity in the upcoming Lunar New Year 2024?
And remember: you can always turn to SplitMetrics Agency for help.
