overcoming the ios 14 impacts on customer experience
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HOW TO OVERCOME THE iOS 14 IMPACTS ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
HOW TO OVERCOME THE iOS14 IMPACTS TO CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE2
Earlier this year, Apple announced new data and privacy changes that will have substantive business implications for any organization that advertises or operates on mobile. With these changes, Apple’s identifier for advertisers (IDFA – a physical device ID that powers much of today’s mobile advertising) essentially becomes an opt-in feature.
Although the updates were originally set to launch with iOS 14 in September 2020, they were pushed back to 2021. Brands need to take action now to avoid significant business impact in the new year:
1. Providing value in exchange for customer data and handling that data responsibly will give brands an edge in winning and keeping consumer trust.
2. Brands must update their data activation strategy to account for changes to the ad-tracking landscape.
3. Finding new measurement and reporting strategies will be essential to evaluating return on marketing investment once users must opt-in to IDFA.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The user experience changes introduced in iOS 14 reflect evolving consumer attitudes about privacy and data use. Recognizing that consumers want more control, Apple is giving them the ability to opt-in to both ad tracking and sharing their identities when they first open websites and apps in iOS. Those decisions will give users much more control over how their data is collected and used. Against this backdrop, brands must move toward providing more value to consumers who are less inclined to share their data. Prioritizing responsible data usage and transparency will provide a competitive edge.
Now that Apple’s identifier for advertisers (IDFA) will be opt-in for every app, brands will no longer be able to rely on this tool to determine if individual consumers clicked on an advertisement in an app. Brands will need to find alternative methods to gather precise information on which channels are working.
These sweeping changes to user privacy and data use will ultimately impact business functions that manage return on marketing investment – from marketing organizations to finance and even procurement.
WHAT’S CHANGING AS PART OF iOS 14
Fortunately, with the changes delayed until early next year, marketers have more time to prepare. [1] They need to take action. Marketing partners like Facebook are also proactively taking steps to help their partners prepare for the changes while reducing unnecessary disruption, ensuring consumer needs continue to be met.
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THE IMPERATIVES FOR ADVERTISING WITHOUT IDFADIFFERENTIATE YOUR BRAND WITH RESPONSIBLE DATA HANDLING AND A VALUE EXCHANGE
For marketers, data handling is a competitive differentiator. Brands that maintain transparency and strict data governance and share initiatives around managing customer data with key stakeholders build more trust with the brands and companies they’re engaging with. This will become even more important as the data landscape evolves. Increasing a brand’s first-party data and entering into strategic data alliances are two key strategies.
One way to increase a brand’s first-party data is by incentivizing customers to share their data through “value exchange” strategies. Many consumers are reluctant to opt-in to sharing their data because of permission fatigue: They share their data, only to find it is used in ways that make them uncomfortable. In Accenture Interactive’s 2019 See People Not Patterns survey of 8,000 consumers, 51% percent said invasive ads were on the rise and 71% said a brand had communicated in a way that was too personal. But at the same time, 93% of consumers agree that it’s important that every interaction they have with a brand is excellent. [2] To deliver excellent experiences, brands need to be relevant and understand their consumers – something that’s difficult to do without enough data.
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Accenture’s 2019 Pulse survey results showed that of the 8,000 consumers surveyed…
1of consumers think invasive ads are on the rise [2]
of consumers say a brand has communicated in a way that was too personal [2]
of consumers agree that it’s important that every interaction they have with a brand is excellent [2]
51%
71%
93%
HOW TO OVERCOME THE iOS14 IMPACTS TO CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
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Lean into your value exchange strategy – Reduce permission fatigue and build consumer confidence with strategic opt-in messaging and incentives for customers to share their data with your brand.
Make data governance a top priority – Ensure the data collected and stored has proper user consent and can be appropriately leveraged for media execution purposes.
Loyalty, rewards and subscriptions – Identify ways to collect customer-level information while being transparent and offering value. Loyalty and subscription programs are going to be increasingly important, but they will not be adopted unless the customers can recognize the value exchange.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR DATA HANDLING AND VALUE EXCHANGE:
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Brands will need to find ways to build and retain consumer trust and confidence as consumers demand increased transparency, privacy and control [3] over how their data is used. They will also need to take into account a shift in customer expectations related to data and privacy and update their strategies on how data is collected, managed and activated.
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REIMAGINE YOUR DATA STRATEGY
With the ad-tracking landscape in the midst of unprecedented transformation, marketers should rethink both their ad-targeting and data strategies. Marketers need to reach the right customers, at the right time, with the right message to achieve conversions and ultimately measure ROAS (return on ad spend). The iOS 14 updates, combined with preceding privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, ITP, APPI, LGPD, etc.) and the forthcoming cookie-less future, [4] have a compounding impact on marketers. The decline of third-party cookies, which are used for audience-based ad tracking, is looming, and companies must prepare for a cookie-less future.
On top of this, brands will have to adapt to the App Tracking Transparency framework arriving with iOS 14. Under this framework, users will need to grant permission for:
• Their user/device data to be leveraged for ad targeting
• Ad tracking by third-party analytics software development kits (also known as SDKs), the mobile equivalent of cookies
• Sharing data with data brokers
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Companies that want to understand how their ads are performing and target consumers effectively must rethink their ad-tracking and first-party data acquisition strategies. Many current methods will be harder to use as consumers transition to iOS 14. For instance, a brand will not be able to send push notifications to specific consumer segments unless those consumers have opted into receiving them.
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The table below tactically highlights how app-based segments (such as targeting “fitness enthusiasts” based on apps downloaded) for targeting could be at risk.
PRE-iOS14 AD TARGETING POST-iOS 14 AD TARGETING
Behavioral and Audience Based Mobile Targeting: Targeting look-a-like audiences with in-app advertising and cross-site advertising based on a defined set of attributes
In-App: Push notifications to customer segments focused on exclusive offers on products and services of relevance
Retargeting:
• Paid Social: Retargeting this segment with exclusive offers and events
• Paid Search: Bidding on keywords that align with top attributes of a segment
• Display: Creating an audience based on a segment for display campaign retargeting in-app and across-third party sites
Standard Reporting: Applying an audience segment across reports to deepen analysis of customer journey and critical business metrics
Suppression: The removal of certain audience targets based behavior indicating that the group should not, for any number of reasons, be considered the target for an ad or campaign
Contextual Mobile Targeting: Targeting will be based only on data provided by end content providers suggesting details about the intended audience vs. the actual audience
In-App: Based on in-app session behavior, contextual targeting (push notifications) can be activated with explicit user opt-in to IDFA tracking
Retargeting: If a user opt-outs of tracking, brands cannot share any consumer data with third parties for site or app ad targeting purposes. Brands must relay on opted-in first-party data for ad targeting to facilitate retargeting on user specific identifiers
Standard Reporting: Refreshed audience segments will need to be applied to standard reports for analysis given the fact that historical segment data (e.g. pre-iOS 14) will not be permissible for targeted advertising, storage, or use
Suppression: When a user opts-out, suppression targets can no longer be used to prevent ads from being served to the wrong audience based on previous or current behavior
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Focus on strategic alliances with innovative data products – Consider clean rooms, which provide advertisers privacy-safe access to data with events tied to various user IDs, for ID management. For example: Google Ads Data Hub, Facebook Advanced Analytics, Adobe Experience Platform, Amazon Marketing Cloud, LiveRamp Safe Haven, etc.
Integrate your first-party data server-side for resilient targeting – Marketing partners will be able to facilitate retargeting by leveraging any number of user-specific (versus device-specific) identifiers to target individuals: email addresses, phone numbers, etc.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS TO HELP MARKETERS PIVOT THEIR DATA STRATEGIES:
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Users are demanding greater privacy and transparency, but they still expect personalized experiences. [2] Meanwhile mobile brands and predominately ad-supported businesses rely heavily on digital advertising to drive revenue.
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RETHINK MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING
For marketers, IDFA is currently the key method for mobile attribution that protects consumer privacy while still allowing for data to be extrapolated. For instance, brands can use in-app events to track acquired channel or behavioral data. [5]
Mobile attribution lets marketers identify the best-performing channels and determine future marketing budget allocations. It equips marketing teams with the necessary insights to evaluate the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns, budgets and target audiences. For instance, brands can measure the success of mobile advertising, such as app-install campaigns, across social channels including Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook. That will change when Apple makes IDFA an opt-in for every app and, in doing so, greatly reduces its effectiveness. Without IDFA, attribution will happen through Apple’s SKAdNetwork [6] framework, which intentionally aggregates campaign-level insights.
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While advertisers will have a sense of which cohorts are performing, they won’t have enough granular information to easily price impressions.
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Find alternatives to identity resolution – Brands that use IDFA for data stitching, such as combining impressions and app events, must begin to explore alternate solutions (e.g., graph data) that include web and app activity.
Create new integrated ecosystems for sales – Through the creation of integrated experiences where content, ads and native commerce exist on a singular platform (e.g., Instagram and Instagram Checkout), brands can create a closed-loop ecosystem that will boost the attribution and optimization of sales.
Reset goals and reporting – Given that log-level data ingestions will not populate IDFA for most user interactions (clicks, events, impressions), brands will have to pull existing reporting to understand the current composition of iOS users and how IDFA is being used in their organizations. Forecast the expected change in performance based on opt-in rates.
Increase your development resources – The SKAdNetwork will require additional development resources to configure and maintain manual implementations.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR ATTRIBUTION AND REPORTING UPDATES:
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TAKE STOCK OF HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS AFFECT YOUR BRAND
• Set up a meeting with key mobile marketers to acknowledge the changes. Where applicable, use an industry expert to provide a point of view.
• Begin building a strategy to mitigate these changes, including enhancing the first-party data strategy, building stronger value exchanges, quantifying impact, and designing/implementing new tools to address these changes.
GET TACTICAL AND BE PROACTIVE
• Acknowledge that perceived ROI for mobile campaigns will be different when the IDFA changes take effect. Advertisers may see a decrease in audience size as people update their devices, depending on the proportion of iOS users in their Mobile App Custom Audiences.
• Continue to steer away from reliance on third-party cookies for advertising and use server-side tools (e.g., Tealium EventStream) that leverage first-party customer data for targeting, optimizing and measuring ad campaigns.
UNDERSTAND LIMITATIONS
• Apple has not prescribed any limitations on how to communicate the value exchange that comes with opting into providing data to users, which gives brands the chance to be creative.
• Advertisers should connect with their Apple representatives to review the new policies and take the necessary steps towards compliance.
• Brands can leverage the terms and conditions in social media apps to ask a user to show ads and share their IDFA to fully use the app.
• Lean on experts to better understand the App Tracking Transparency framework to create custom solutions. [7]
MOVING FORWARDPrepare for an ecosystem transformation by taking these next steps.
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REIMAGINE DATA STRATEGY WITH A TRUSTED PARTNERWhile these topics of value exchange, media execution, and attribution are daunting among multiple competing priorities, there is no doubt that the privacy-centric functionality within iOS 14 will gain traction and momentum globally in the coming months. Accenture Interactive can help brands leverage platforms, skills, tools, creativity, technology, systems, and services to create the best experiences for their customers as they work to provide greater value exchange for customer data, focus on responsible data handling, update their data strategy, and find new measurement and reporting strategies to reflect the significant changes this update will bring.
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Rebecca Lee
Managing Director, Accenture Interactive
Ankit Mehta
Personalization & Marketing Analytics Lead, Accenture Interactive
Catherine Lansing
Personalization & Marketing Analytics Expert, Accenture Interactive
About Accenture:Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services—all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 506,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
About Accenture Interactive Accenture Interactive is reimagining business through experience. We drive sustainable growth by creating meaningful experiences that live at the intersection of purpose and innovation. By connecting deep human and business insights with the possibilities of technology, we design, build, communicate and run experiences that make lives easier, more productive and rewarding. Accenture Interactive is ranked the world’s largest digital agency by Ad Age and has been named a Most Innovative Company by Fast Company. To learn more, follow us @AccentureACTIVE and visit www.accentureinteractive.com.
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Get in touch to learn more about how to transform your organization for iOS 14 and a cookie-less future. We are here to help your business navigate the changes ahead.
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Sources:1. https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-14/
2. Accenture: See People Not Patterns - https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-110/Accenture-See-People-Not-Patterns.pdf
3. https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=hx9s63c5
4. https://www.adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/how-to-own-data-and-measure-performance-in-a-cookie-less-world/
5. https://www.singular.net/blog/limit-ad-tracking-privacy-checkup-in-2020/
6. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/skadnetwork
7. https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/
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