Is Your Brand Ready for More Privacy-Related Marketing Restrictions?
Back in February, we wrote about the privacy changes Apple was preparing to implement on iOS devices that were poised to put the user in control over whether an App could monitor them using both detailed data points and cross-app tracking. The conclusion of that piece was to not rely exclusively on retargeting efforts (based on data collected in that fashion), adapt, and remember that people should care about your content based on its own merit, not by pushing it through slimy cross-targeted means.
So what's happened between then and now? Well, that feature launched. And I hope you’re sitting down…users opted-out like there was no tomorrow. Ars Technica revealed that a whopping 96% of users opted-out of being tracked. You read that correctly. 96%. We presume the other 4% works for one of these companies, but can't be certain. This is what happens when companies behave in ways their users don't agree with and are finally given the power to voice their opinion.
This piece isn't just about circling-back to that article, but instead looking at what's coming next in the world of data tracking. Well, Apple's iOS 15 update is going to include three more privacy-focused updates that are going to hit (poor) marketers and (slimy) advertisers alike, and here’s that list from Marketing Brew:
Mail Privacy Protect: This prevents email senders (think marketers) from knowing when a user opens an email in the Mail app. It also conceals user IP addresses so they can’t be linked to other online behavior.
App Privacy Report: A feature that lets people see how frequently apps (that have gotten permission) accessed things like their photos, location, or microphone over the past week—and if that data was shared elsewhere.
iCloud Private Relay: It’s basically a virtual private network (VPN) that Apple says makes users untraceable while they browse Safari.
For most brands, they should be aware (but not necessarily concerned) about Mail Privacy Protect, as that will impact visibility into email campaign metrics. Most brands don't have apps, so App Privacy Report is not of significant consequence. It will be eye-opening for users to see this data, however, and know which apps are effectively spying on them in an automatically generated report. Lastly, there's iCloud Private Relay. This is the one that's getting a significant amount of attention, and rightfully so. If Apple can obfuscate the user's IP address, taking away a core component of 'fingerprinting', then (poor) marketers and (slimy) advertisers have less understanding of who they are targeting with their ads, creating noise and forcing them to broaden their targets.
Initially, Private Relay will be a paid service, so this is not going to be something Apple provides for free to all users (unlike the 'Ask App Not to Track' feature). Why? Well, it's an incredibly complicated feature that requires a boat-load of backend infrastructure and support in order to pull this off. Don't believe me? See Tech Radar's write-up about how it works. Instead, if you're an auditory/visual learner, check out Renee Ritchie's video and article. If Apple does open this up as an unpaid service, it could have equally as much of an impact as its anti-tracking measures did earlier this year. Historically, this has been a bit of a cat-and-mouse game, but Apple appears to be taking this subject very seriously now and has become much more effective with its way of handling the subject of tracking.
What's the actual take-away from this? Your brand cannot rely on tracking methods to target/retarget the same people with your message. Your content and brand-messaging must be compelling enough to stand on its own and attract the interest of your audience. If you've failed to attract their interest in the first place, your semi-unethical ways of monitoring email opens, web traffic tracking, and cross-app tracking are both sneaky and nonsensical methods to place your brand's diluted messaging in front of an audience that doesn't necessarily want to hear from you. If you're focused on content and raising brand awareness the right way, aside from not seeing accurate email open rates, none of these privacy-focused changes will affect your brand in any meaningful way - and that means you're doing it right.
