Interesting Reads
Why Apple’s Privacy Changes Hurt Snap and Facebook but Benefited Google
Short version: in the absence of audience targeting feedback loops (which were interdicted by ATT), direct intent signals like search terms become even more powerful. Ad networks without such intent signals have seen much greater impact.
Mobile app metrics: What you need to know in 2022
An excellent article that defines and explains many of the most important metrics in the mobile marketing landscape. I particularly like how each one is broken down into a simple definition, the calculation formula used to derive it, and an explanation of why it matters.
One small note: AppsFlyer has done a lot over the last few years to expand beyond their roots in measuring solely paid media, and this is reflected in many of the metrics highlighted here.
That said, it's worth being aware of places where this heritage still influences things — for example: there's a deep-rooted assumption throughout this piece that organic means 'anything not driven by marketing'. While this was a useful heuristic in a world where the only two options were 'came from paid media' and 'everything else', a better term for this bucket in a cross-channel landscape is direct or unattributed.
The new titans of adtech: evolving giants
Very thoughtful summary about what's driving all of the recent consolidation in mobile adtech, and which players are worth keeping an eye on over the next few years.
Industry Buzz
In-app events land on the iOS App Store
The App Store's support for in-app events (which was announced with iOS 15 at WWDC) is now finally live, which means developers can create and promote special events like game tournaments, live sports, movie premieres, etc.
Apple seems to think users will go browse the App Store to find events for apps they already have installed. I'm not so sure about that, but in-app events are notable also because this is the first time the App Store has tacitly acknowledged the value of deferred deep linking.
It's not real deferred deep linking supported by the App Store itself (technically, this is a two-step process: users have to tap Get, wait for the download to finish, and then tap again on Open…and there's no indication that deep linking is about to happen), but it's the same basic concept.
And the even better news:
- Each Story has a unique URL, which means you can insert it as the destination of another marketing campaign.
- The App Store system accepts a Universal Link (or other 'custom URL') for the in-app event, which is what gets injected into the Open button. This means you can throw a Branch link in there and everything will just work!
Continued Improvements to Ad Performance and Measurement
Buried in this announcement is an interesting tidbit: Facebook is introducing AEM (Aggregated Event Measurement) for in-app conversions.
So far, Facebook's AEM framework has only supported web-to-web and app-to-web flows, which means it essentially replicates Apple's PCM (Private Click Measurement) protocol. This announcement of App AEM is pretty light on details so far, but support for in-app conversion events sounds quite similar to Snap's Advanced Conversions offering, and appears to take AEM solidly into the realm of 'alternative to SKAdNetwork'.
As I mentioned in the last newsletter issue, it's clear that modeling and incrementality-based measurement will be key parts of the future of digital marketing.
Launching Data safety in Play Console: Elevating Privacy and Security for your users
Google's Play Store privacy nutrition labels are still on schedule for early next year, and the Play Console is now ready to accept the developer-reported details that will be displayed inside them.
Privacy & Security
Why isn't Apple policing mobile ads fingerprinting?
TL;DR: because they probably just don't want to deal with the mess.
The explanation in here jives with my personal belief that there hasn't actually been any enforcement of the policy component of ATT to date — the crackdowns on CAID and Adjust's SDK from last spring probably reflected violations of other Developer License Agreement clauses that Apple viewed as too egregious to ignore.
This certainly doesn't mean Apple won't take ATT enforcement steps in future, but as the article says, given that Apple’s only other option for policing fingerprinting is to reject app updates, putting an end to it through technical blocks like Private Relay is likely a less painful approach for Apple.
Tools
Apple Design Resources
Apple launched a new collection of app design resources, including plug-ins, fonts, and preconfigured UI elements in both Sketch and Photoshop format.
Tips & Techniques
"A month ago our ads were really struggling…"
…CTR was at an all time low of around 0.6% and CPC was up to nearly $4. We were still profitable, but not very happy. Today we're at 1.35% CTR and our CPC $2.22. This has given us a 35% decrease in CPA. Here's what we did...
How one DTC brand tested their way back to better ad performance after the IDFA Apocalypse.
Instagram now lets all users share links in Stories via Link Stickers
While Instagram still doesn’t permit outgoing links in normal posts, the Link Sticker feature is now available to all users who want to embed links in their Stories.
App advertisers can now use App campaigns for engagement without implementing deep links
In the past, app advertisers who wanted to run App campaigns for engagement on Google Ads needed to support deep linking. Now, there's a 'Set to app homepage' option.
Probably not something you'll want to do if you care about conversion rates…but it's there if you want it.
Data
Brands Begin Using 'Incrementality Experiments' To Fill Facebook Measurement Gaps
There is nothing groundbreaking here, but a great read if you're looking for a quick refresh on incrementality measurement (or need one for somebody else on the team).
Initial SKAdNetwork conversion value mapping data
AppsFlyer took a look at early patterns for how apps in different verticals are using the SKAdNetwork conversion-value parameter.
A couple of my thoughts after reading this:
- Not really a surprise that most apps are going with a 24-hour activity window; it's so strongly 'recommended' by the major walled garden networks that it might as well be a requirement if you're working with any of them.
- It's interesting to see that games trend heavily toward using the
conversion-valueto report on revenue (smaller purchases that happen earlier in the user lifecycle), while all other verticals prefer in-app events.
There's a lot of potential for better use of the conversion-value data parameter via predictive analysis, but that requires a paradigm shift in thinking and it'll be hard to get there for as long as SKAdNetwork continues being undercut by the forbidden fruit of 'underground' attribution via fingerprinting.
The Encore
We Analyzed 425,909 Favicons
Really cool process, and who knew favicons were such a mess!
Definitely also check out the interactive tool this analysis created.
Events
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- Drizly | Senior Acquisition Data Scientist — Remote
Happy halloween! Before we get to this issue's collection of links: if you'll be at Web Summit this week…first go eat a few pastéis de Nata for me. Those things are delicious.
And then go listen to Mada's PandaConf session: How to Grow on Mobile in the Age of Privacy and iOS 15. Mada's Web Summit talks usually end up being the best-attended session on the stage that day, and I've seen an early preview of her material this year — it's going to be really good.
Alex Bauer