Nearly two thirds (65%) of app developers and marketers are searching for new ways of targeting new paying users without IDFA, cookies or data privacy issues.
This is according to the latest research from AdTech company Bango. Even with Google’s recent announcement that they are postponing the removal of cookies once again, changes such as Apple’s decision to restrict IDFA, and mounting government legislation, are forcing app developers and marketers to rethink their strategies.
Bango’s research surveyed over 300 app developers and marketers to explore the changing app user acquisition landscape. Key findings include that over half (59%) of those surveyed agreed that it has never been more difficult to acquire new paying users for their apps, while 61% are having to rethink their user acquisition strategy because of the new privacy regulations. A third (30%) went as far as to say that they are “very concerned” about this issue.
According to Bango’s data, the most popular new avenues to target user acquisition campaigns and generate revenue in the new landscape are: third party Purchase Behavior Targeting (61%), lookalike audiences (59%), demographics (58%), psychographics (57%), first-party Purchase Behavior Targeting (56%) and third-party data (54%).
Commenting on the research, Brett Orlanski, SVP Bango Audiences, said: “App marketing is in a state of flux. Users want more control over their privacy choices and less mass data collection by brands. At the same time, they still want to know about new apps and games. For app publishers this poses a real challenge. How do you acquire new high value users without clear data on how to find them?
“The answer is to focus less on who people are, and more on what they buy. Where there’s a high purchase intent, users are happy for brands to show them ads, they just don’t want them collecting unnecessary information about them, especially personal profiling. For both revenue generation and new user acquisition, relevant targeting doesn’t have to be based on invasive personal information, it’s simply enough to know what users are in the market to download and buy.”
To achieve this, Bango is suggesting app developers and marketers focus on ‘Purchase Behavior Targeting’ (PBT) as their default form of user acquisition. PBT does not rely on invasive personal information, IDFA or third-party cookies. Instead, it calls on past mobile purchasing data to reveal what apps, games or content a user has previously paid for. This provides all the information a marketer needs to target their ads and build a revenue-generating customer base.
Interested in hearing leading global brands discuss subjects like this in person? Find out more about Digital Marketing World Forum (#DMWF) Europe, London, North America, and Singapore.
