The Impact Of iOS 14 & The Coronavirus Pandemic
The impact of iOS 14 and subsequent updates eroding the industry’s ability to track and optimize is something that alarmed the industry for many months in the lead up to the release of iOS 14.5. Whilst the full implications are yet to unravel and increased measures are refining the scope of data collection with every update, it is a tense time for mobile marketers that requires focus, iterative methodology, and adaptability. Through this edition of our Bubbles of Wisdom series, Arthur Chin will reveal his thoughts on the initial iOS 14.5 release and how this might affect mobile marketing & customer experience (Note: the videos were recorded in May 2021 & represented his thoughts just after the initial release)
Arthur will also discuss the impact of Covid-19 on customer engagement, attraction & retention rates, including an analysis on the increases in average users’ playing time. Also in this edition, Arthur will lean on his depth of experience to explain how monetization models can lead to entirely different user acquisition strategies.
Over the next week, we will be releasing more of Arthur’s expert insights, if you missed part 1, you can catch up here. You will also be able to listen to the interview in full via podcast here.
Estimated Impact Of iOS 14.5’s Tracking Restrictions
The ATT prompt that asks users to track from both the advertising & publisher level, even a good opt-in rate will lead to inefficiencies over time when you lose knowledge of people coming into your campaigns. From a campaign operational perspective, you are limited to 6 binary digit codes with your campaign ID, added to this the 24-hour randomized timer leaves marketers with a difficult decision of completeness vs timeliness of data. It is good to collect as much data as possible but if the retrieval of this information is significantly delayed, you aren’t able to use this to effectively improve your campaign.
IDFA Removal And Customer Experience
Privacy is a good thing however, it is valuable to have an experience on the web which is aligned with their personal interests and desires. Data provides a better all-around experience for the consumer and customer, with improvements in the game or revenue streams that can be used to enhance future gameplay. Marketers may have to teach that accepting tracking is beneficial and be honest about the way data is used to enhance the overall experience. iOS 14.5 will have an effect on consumer experience in ways that they will not realize.
Performance & Player Engagement During The Pandemic
The lockdown saw an increase in the duration & frequency of user activity within gaming. Upon countries leaving lockdown there was a small disruption in user behavior but this frequency, duration & volume were all higher than pre-pandemic levels. Potentially showing increased loyalty due to the longer users were playing.
App Monetization Models And Effect on UA Strategy
There are always edge case scenarios but from a top level, you need to monitor & align creative performance & network performance depending on the scope of the audience. A narrower audience will require an appropriately selected group of networks based on previous performance and may also require a specific window of time for the campaign to run. With Ad Revenue driven games you have a short window and require a large scale for profitability, this leads to a much broader approach to UA. Games reliant on IAPs need to understand where valuable users are obtained from and align the marketing strategy accordingly & scale. Subscription attainment is tricky, you need a strong strategy to understand the sign-up flow, messaging, UA can then supplement & support this with further data enhancing the understanding of how users behave and the sources to attract them from with the lowest CPI/Highest ROAS.
Arthur Chin, UA Lead at Snowprint Studios after previously leading UA at Treasure Hunt & Wargaming Mobile. Arthur is currently responsible for user acquisition strategy for titles including Rivengard & Legend of Solgard. If you would like to know more about Arthur, please visit his UA Wavemaker profile page.
Bubbles of Wisdom is Bubbleye‘s audio and video series aimed to extract unique insights from outstanding UA Wavemakers around the globe – like-minded professionals that contribute to evolving User Acquisition armed with unique expertise and outside-the-box thinking.
Stay tuned for a stream of thought-provoking questions and new perspectives into the world of mobile marketing and user acquisition.
