CMO and Founder of Bango. Fighting to build a strong connection between marketing dollars spent and revenue generated by businesses.
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It’s easy to take a bleak view of digital advertising when you are struggling to engage your audience. We’re bearing witness to the death of cookies and IDFAs, all while governments and consumers have become (understandably) wary of invasive tracking methods. These have combined to bring about what I call the “app-ocalypse”: a cataclysmic event that’s acutely impacting all marketers, but in particular, app-based businesses.
Not having the means to target your ads means you’re in danger of seriously underperforming when it comes to advertising KPIs, whether it’s return on ad spend (ROAS), click-through rate (CTR) or conversions. I’ve come across no shortage of clients who’ve voiced this concern. Moreover, 2022 research from my company suggests that 65% of app marketers are concerned about the effect Google’s removal of third-party cookies will have on their user acquisition strategy. Sixty-one percent of app developers even reported they’ve lost sleep because of the threat to their businesses.
So, in the age of the app-ocalypse, how can app marketers run targeted ads to reach new, paying users once again?
Companies have touted a range of solutions to solve this problem, but I’ve been left somewhat underwhelmed. Instead, I’d like to suggest a different way to think about the problem.
Current Options
Previously, I covered the pitfalls of universal IDs and contextual advertising, both of which present challenges for audience targeting and consumer privacy. Targeting via email doesn’t work perfectly, as users might have multiple addresses, while multiple people might use one address. Contextual advertising can also miss the mark, as the data is often skewed toward news and entertainment services.
Meanwhile, Google is promoting a new way of audience tracking as cookies crumble: topics. This new platform is a replacement for its recently scrapped FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), which means it will still target ads by arming itself with insights into your browsing habits. Using this information, the company can map the sites you visit to certain ad categories. Your top five categories will be recorded weekly by Chrome and shared with Google’s advertising partners.
While this appears to be somewhat privacy conscious, it’s worth mentioning that organizations could combine this information with other data to work out personal characteristics. What’s more, there are currently only about 300 topics, and that could raise concerns that they’re far too general. Knowing that a user is interested in gaming might be useful, but it doesn’t tell me if they prefer console, PC or mobile.
App Marketers In A Strange New World
Given the challenges of this new environment, marketers are expecting the worst: A study conducted by the MMA and BCG (via DigiDay) reveals that only 12% of marketers feel they’re prepared for a cookieless world. This increasingly bleak situation led the IAB to sound the industry alarm by calling out the “state of data” and predicting an industry loss of $10 billion in annual sales if it doesn’t change.
I don’t find this particularly surprising. Respondents to my company’s survey indicated that majorities across a range of app businesses were reportedly affected by the “app-ocalypse,” including entertainment (69%) and games (63%).
Reviving Your Audiences
App marketers are facing app-ocalyptic challenges, and they’re beset by a range of options that may not work perfectly. They need a solution that’ll allow them to run targeted campaigns, and that means having relevant data while still remaining privacy-conscious. There are several strategies they can use to achieve this.
Purchase behavior targeting (a capability my company offers) grants app businesses access to rich transactional data delivered as custom audiences, which enables them to target users who are most likely to buy based on what they’ve already bought. It’s possible to access this data via mobile commerce platforms, which already possess purchase information that’ll empower marketers, as well as from other sources I’ve discussed.
Running ads this way is one way to send the app-ocalypse’s four horsemen into retreat. There’s no need to enquire into people’s browsing habits or personal characteristics, either, as the only data you need for this strategy is what’s commercially relevant. That means reduced privacy concerns and the potential for less risk of noncompliance.
A second strategy is building look-alike audiences. You will have first-party data, and within that data you can filter for purchase propensity. From this core dataset, ad platforms (Facebook, Google and TikTok) allow you to generate audiences from individuals that share the characteristics of your first-party purchase group. These audiences will likely generate a higher return on ad spend.
A third strategy is to leverage third-party marketing partners. For app businesses with subscription-based content and services, there is a network of partners, including communications and financial services businesses, that may be willing to offer your product with theirs. Be prepared to offer a promotional discount incentive, but the power of a multiproduct bundle is often irresistible to new customers.
App businesses should embrace innovation to fix digital advertising and engage users once more. These three strategies can help them smash their marketing KPIs and survive long enough to see off the app-ocalypse.
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