Lonely, Curious, Impulsive: How Valentine’s Traffic Really Converts

Valentine’s Day traffic seems like the perfect time for high conversions. Logically, it should boost all Social app campaigns, and some eCommerce staff – but is it really that simple? 

We did a small research: took a look at PropellerAds Valentine’s campaigns and asked experts to see what truly works, and what only looks good in theory.

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Does It Convert?

Or are users not really that lonely, curious, and impulsive on Valentine’s Day after all? To learn more, we checked the stats for the last two Valentine’s Days: 2024 and 2025.

As you see, there were no traffic spikes around Valentine’s days: the number of impressions is more or less stable. However, it’s not a pitfall – here is what Rafaella Tsiali, Account Strategist at PropellerAds, says:

• User behavior is more predictable. Based on our data, Valentine’s Day doesn’t seem to generate a more impulsive traffic pattern compared to regular days. Instead, user behavior remains largely consistent, Valentine’s purchases are more planned and anticipated rather than driven by last-minute urgency like Black Friday, for example.

• CPA levels remain stable. It seems CPA remains quite stable during Valentine’s Day, with no meaningful increase or decrease compared to regular periods. This suggests that competitive pressure does not rise significantly during Valentine’s, unlike other peak commercial events where auction intensity and costs typically escalate.

What’s more, some advertisers do notice increases in their own campaigns. For example, Poll, our partner and an active participant of our Telegram Chat, shared:

Plot twist: this year, February 14 falls on a Saturday, which means extra traffic volumes. And it goes beyond typical Valentine’s Day offers. And that’s actually a big plus for many verticals, like iGaming, where competition is usually high. You’re less likely to face overheated auctions like during major sales seasons, making Valentine’s a perfectly comfortable time to test and scale.

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Which Verticals and GEOs to Run?

When we looked at results from previous Februaries, the same GEOs kept performing well, while the top-performing verticals changed from year to year. And, surprisingly, the top-performing verticals weren’t Social apps at all. 

Here are the GEO and vertical leaders:

	February 2024	February 2025
Verticals	iGaming, E-commerce, Social and Relationship	iGaming, eCommerce, Finance
GEOs	ID, US, BR, TH, VN	ID, US, IN, PH, TH

But, that’s always a matter of testing. For example, Poll confirms that eCommerce performs well, but it comes with a catch:

A small case study he shared with us features a Giveaway offer for the US, with a 77.78% ROI.

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Any Advice?

Sure! Here are three tips from Rafaella:

1. Prepare specific promos for Valentine’s Day rather than generic promos – for example, ‘Top Valentine’s Gifts Under €X.’

Source: Affbank.com. Translation: 12 delicious and easy recipes to declare your love on Valentine’s Day.

2. Keep proven traffic sources intact, but update creatives, headlines, and visuals with Valentine’s ones to stay relevant without disrupting performance.

For example, here is your normal standard creative:

And this is its glow-up for Saint Valentine’s:

3. Push offers in the days leading up to and immediately after Valentine’s (late shoppers, self-gifting), where competition could be lower.

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To Sum Up

There’s no single winning formula for Valentine’s Day. Network-wide trends remain stable, but individual campaigns can still outperform expectations depending on vertical, GEO, and creative strategy.

Anyway, it’s definitely worth testing, not skipping.