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Impact Of iOS New Version in Mobile Marketing. New version of iOS can be considered a blight for the mobile marketing industry affecting the marketers to interact with the consumers on mobile devices. Well perk to the Apple consumers but not so same for marketers I would say. In Late June 2020, The Apple announced their upcoming new user privacy regulations at world-wide developer conference. Before understanding the changes, one must understand some important terms. For example, I d f a, App tracking transparency (ATT) and Hide my Mail. I D F A: Identifier for advertisers, is a semi-permanent unique identifier assigned by Apple to user’s device. It is the central mechanism for advertiser that underpins app attribution, optimization, and targeting today. ATT: This requires apps to prompt users of iOS devices to give permission before Applications can start “tracking” them and their data. Hide my mail: This privacy protection allows IOS users to hide their IP addresses mail senders and prevent senders from seeing if they’ve opened the email. By now you must have gotten a hint what exactly has changed. Version IOS 14+ users will be alarmed for each new application showing a prompt whether to permit or deny the application to track their data and use it for advertising purposes. If the user does not allow the data to be tracked, the I d f a will be returned to the marketers in string of 0s. This will affect the specific targeting, measuring attributions and optimizing the campaign based on conversion value. Since Mobile marketing industry thrives on the vast amounts of consumers data to serve targeted ads, the execution of ATT spooked many marketers in business. Since data privacy landscape is always evolving, a new way has emerged. Mobile attribution before IOS 14 Mobile attribution model consisted of basically three components. Measuring the initial ad click, Attributing app events, such as installs and conversions, to clicks, and notifying the marketing vendors of the attributed app events through server postbacks. We typically use Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) to handle this process. The major MMP platforms are Adjust and AppsFlyer. Here is the simplified flow: 1. User clicks on an ad from ad network and is redirected to the MMPs platform. 2. MMP records the I D F A in database and redirects the user to an app store. 3. User downloads the app. 4. User opens the app, activating the MMP SDK. 5. MMP SDK sends I D F A and install event, as well as subsequent app events, back to the MMP server. 6. MMP match the device collected I D F A to the click I D F A in database. 7. Once app event is attributed, postback with the conversion details are sent back to the ad network. Mobile Attribution Post IOS 14. The above illustrated process will surely be useless if the user does not op-in and gift you with their I D F A. The new framework to track attribution is called SkAdNetwork. The SKAdNetwork has 4 main players, publishing app, adnetwork, target app and mobile measurement partner (MMP). Views and storekit renders are the 2 types of engagements that SKAdNetwork registers. SKAdNetwork Flow: 1. An ad is displayed in the publishing app. As soon as the ad is displayed, the publishing app starts the 3-second timer and notifies SKAdNetwork that it has started. 2. If the ad is displayed for at least 3 seconds, the publishing app will then notify SKAdNetwork that the 3-second timer is up, and this activity will be recorded as a successful view. If the user engages with the ad, the publisher renders the advertised app StoreKit. 3. Once it is displayed, SKAdNetwork registers that the StoreKit was rendered successfully. The next step would hopefully be for the user to download the advertised app. 4. If the StoreKit was rendered, the user can download the app right then and there. If the user installs the app and launches it within the SKAdNetwork attribution window, the install is attributed to the ad network and the device sends the install postback to the ad network and a copy to the advertiser. 5. For SKAdNetwork, the attribution window can be up to 30 days between click and install depending on the ad type. Unlike standard postbacks, SKAdNetwork postbacks are not immediately sent to the ad network and advertiser when the app is first launched. 6. The SKAdNetwork postbacks are built on a timer mechanism that only sends the postbacks when the timer runs out. This timer delays the postback by a minimum of 24 hours. Once the timer runs out, the ad network and advertiser receive the postback. SKAdNetwork can also be considered as a version of MMP. It is a service that logs clicks from ads and interfaces directly with ad networks to postback attributed conversions. The app attribution occurs while masking its data preserving privacy. The only variation is that it permits the advertiser to monitor the success of the campaign on an anonymous aggregated level instead of giving access of detailed user-level data. Further it gets trickier, as one can only send 1 attributed postback for each app user. That means one conversion per user, but still, you can have different conversion types.There are still plenty of options to work with to measure revenue, engagement, funnel progress and more. In addition, no re-engagement attribution support is expected. Interestingly, In the SKAdNetwork, postback call is a conversionValue parameter. The conversionValue can accept up to 64 different values. Thankfully, you can utilize this parameter to map up to 64 different in-app events as conversion goals. But note, only one of them will be sent for that user as an attributed conversion Furthermore, conversion goal will be sent is based upon which mapped event has the highest conversionValue, within a certain timespan. So, you need to think through how you map these in-app events to the conversionValue parameter. For example, in an onboarding optimized campaign, you would map each step in the funnel with incremental mapped values. That way, you are sure to send the furthest and the most valuable conversion step. As previously stated, time span plays an important role in SKAdNetwork, as the updated events are determined by introducing a series of timers that must expire before the final updated postback conversion is fired. It’s an extremely complex process but in essence, whenever an install is attributed, a rolling 24-hour window is initiated counting down to 0. Hence, if there is a lag over 24h between two onboarding steps, the latter and potentially subsequent steps won’t be sent as the final postback. There’s no doubt that compared to previous methods of attribution, SKAdNetwork does bring with it a set of limitations, complexities, and restrictions. The key to unlocking value from SKAdNetwork is to understand Apple’s unique conversion value mechanism. Before iOS15, SKAN postbacks were sent only to the ad networks, and then forwarded to the advertiser or MMP on the advertiser’s behalf. In Apple’s latest iOS15 update, advertisers have been granted direct access to SKAdNetwork postbacks, giving them the ownership, they deserve of their data. By configuring their MMP as an endpoint, the MMP: • Provides advertisers with full flexibility for designing, testing, managing, and optimizing their conversion value logic • Validates the postbacks against those reported by the ad network • Connects ad network campaign name, ad set name, and ad name to the SKAdNetwork-reported campaign • Connects pre-install campaign data such as cost, clicks and impressions • Provides the data in SKAdNetwork dashboard as well as SKAdNetwork APIs • Prevents and blocks SKAdNetwork fraud How can advertisers make the most of SKAdNetwork? Here are a few steps to ensure your business is SKAdNetwork-ready: • Data aggregation – Be sure to collect all SKAdNetwork information from each ad network. • Data validation – Ensure all postbacks are signed by Apple and aren’t manipulated in transit. Working with a trusted MMP can help you address this with ease. • Data enrichment – Match SKAdNetwork information with other data points, such as impressions, clicks, cost, organic traffic and more, for complete ROI analysis. • Data enablement – Facilitate SKAdNetwork data for convenient consumption by the advertiser through dedicated dashboards and APIs. • Seamless integration – Make sure your mobile attribution solution offers full encapsulation, which requires close to zero effort from the advertiser, especially when it comes to future changes in the SKAdNetwork protocol. • Conversion events – Be sure to measure server side, dynamic, and flexible in-app events. Closing Remarks. In Summary, the new IOS version has a major impact on app marketing. Without I D F A - in-app retargeting, lookalike audiences, and real-time feedback loops - goes out the window. Tools like DSPs on the programmatic side and MMPs are much affected affected. SKAdNetwork is a life rope in a world without I D F As but it is a pretty crude one. Marketers need to regardless grasp this rope and start rethinking how fundamentally different they will have to optimize their campaigns as of now. As the industry continues to adapt to a privacy-centric reality, the ability to measure, attribute, and optimize is continuing to improve. Indeed, measurability has been mostly retained with improvements driven by better models, increased usage of predictive analytics, acquired expertise in SKAN, and innovation across the ecosystem.