• by Ben Frederick  @mp_benfred, April 15, 2016

Finance is a fast-growing sector under the mobile umbrella—the term covers everything from banking apps to budgeting apps. According to mobile user acquisition company Liftoff, peak engagement for financial apps happens in the summer, almost exactly the opposite of when marketers are spending money on finance apps.

Traditionally, marketers spend on financial apps in the winter as people gear up for tax season and spend more money on holidays, among other things. However, Liftoff found that money is top of mind for consumers in the summer, when they’re considering big-ticket purchases and finding good deals on school supplies.

July was the month that had the highest volume of purchases, with 23.2% of purchases within the time frame analyzed (4.6 billion impressions and 1.9 million post-install events from June 2015 to February 2016).

Consumers are also more likely to buy a financial service app between June and October rather than the months leading up to tax season. App users were more likely to install in the months leading up to tax season, specifically January and February.

This means that marketers can acquire users more cost-effectively at different times of the year than the obvious (and therefore more expensive) ones.

The study also found a difference in activity between men and women. Men were more likely to transact within the apps, while women were more likely to download and install. However, men were cheaper to acquire than women.

Regardless of gender, those that do download finance apps have a high intent to use them. According to the report, 75% of users who register within the apps do so within ten minutes of installing the app, while 90% of registrations occur within six and a half hours of installing the app.