iOS14: Your SKAdNetwork Checklist

MOLOCO’s Marketing Manager Patrick Kim runs through a comprehensive checklist that will help you to ensure your mobile marketing strategy is prepared for Apple's new privacy guidelines

With early spring right around the corner, we’re inching closer to Apple’s expected timeline of when its new privacy guidelines will start to take place. If you’re an advertiser, you’ve probably already begun to prepare for this transition and have taken into account how these changes will affect your entire mobile marketing strategy. However, according to MOLOCO’s 'SKAdNetwork Real-Time Adoption Tracker', only a fraction of traffic is currently SKAdNetwork compatible which means that a majority of publishers are simply not ready.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and are unsure if you have checked off all the boxes, we’ve got you covered. We’ve compiled a comprehensive checklist that will help ensure you’re well prepared and ready to roll once Apple flips the switch. Take a look!

• Predict user value on day one: SKAdNetwork only sends one postback per install and has very unique rules surrounding it. Based on our analysis of how often users open their apps, even during the best-case scenario, more than 50% of SKAN postbacks will be generated based on data from day one. This means it’s really important to gauge long-term user value through the first-day usage and register that value early with SKAdNetwork.

• Start tracking top-of-the-funnel: As the ability to utilise Identifiers for Advertisers (IDFA) decreases, it’ll become very difficult to optimise down-funnel events such as purchases, ad views, subscriptions, etc. What will become essential to understand is which events early on impact Lifetime Value (LTV). Formulating a system that allows you to track and assign values to early funnel events will continue to give you the insight needed to enhance your mobile ad strategy. 

• Increase your iOS budgets NOW: There are many uncertainties when it comes to what will happen to performance once ATT goes live. One dollar’s worth of ad spend today may go further than it will in a few months. Take advantage while you can and maximise those dollars.

• Messaging will be key: Start thinking now about your strategy on how you plan to ask users for consent to track them. Make sure they understand what the benefits are of opting-in and why tracking will improve their overall user experience. It’s worth mentioning to users that ads are what enables you to provide your app for free. Also, by users providing their consent it will ensure that the ads being shown will become much more relevant. If your app does not run any ads, it’s worth pointing that out. 

• Stay in touch with your network: It will be important to have a tight-knit community you can rely on to help you stay on top of the latest. Stay in regular contact with your partners, ad networks, and mobile measurement partners (MMPs) to make sure you’re in sync with the latest guidelines, and be prepared to make adjustments on the fly as necessary. Staying agile and prepared for the unexpected - it could make all the difference.

• Test, test, and test!: Define how you’ll manage your SKAdNetwork implementation and make sure you test it. For example, MOLOCO is set up to test with MMPs all across the board and can help you start testing now.

• Update your MMP SDKs: Make sure you have updated your MMP SDKs to support SKAdNetwork (Adjust, AppsFlyer, Branch, Kochava, Singular, etc.).

• Make sure LAT is enabled: Limit ad tracking (LAT) continues to be a significant source of inventory with iOS and bridges the transition to the new SKAN-based attribution world. Make sure that LAT is correctly configured with your MMP and turned on for all your iOS campaigns.

If you monetise your app with ads:

• Update your mobile ads SDKs: Make sure all your mobile ads SDKs are up to date and SKAdNetwork compatible. 

• Update your plist: Confirm your iOS app’s plist is updated with the SKAdNetwork IDs provided by all of your mobile ads SDKs. By doing so, you ensure that you will continue to access all available demand and maximise revenue. MOLOCO’s SKAdNetwork Id 9t245vhmpl.skadnetwork 

• Messaging will be key: Similar to how advertisers must get consent from users, publishers must also go through the very same process as well. 

To quote Anurag Agrawal, VP of Product at MOLOCO: “Once SKAdNetwork is fully adopted, monetisation will most likely stabilise. However, the first few months after iOS 14.5 launches, a lot of fluctuation can be expected because not everyone will be ready. There will also inevitably be bugs from the first large-scale use of this solution spread across the entire ecosystem. To minimise as much impact as possible, it’s really important for both advertisers and publishers to start preparing immediately."          

At MOLOCO, our top priority is to adapt to the constantly changing landscape and provide our clients with the technology to achieve their growth targets, no matter the metric. In addition to our capabilities of receiving SKAdNetwork postbacks, we’ve already had clients see success using our LAT targeting feature designed specifically for engaging traffic without IDFA. Having enough data to ensure your algorithms are working properly will be of the utmost importance and something we can absolutely help you test. To learn more about MOLOCO’s suite of highly sophisticated machine learning products, contact the machine learning and ad performance experts at MOLOCO today!