How Apple Broke Marketing

If you work in the eCommerce/D2C space, then you’ve probably heard of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy by Apple.

This policy has impacted many brands in terms of how they acquire customers, as well as their return on ad spend (ROAS).

In this blog post, we will discuss the impact of the ATT policy and how brands can take back control by leveraging 1st and 3rd party data to create a powerful customer context.

What is the App Tracking Transparency Policy?

The App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy was introduced by Apple in 2021.

The goal of this policy is to give users more control over their data.

It requires all apps to ask for user opt-in when tracking their data across other companies’ apps and websites for advertising purposes. With this policy, users have more control over their data privacy and can choose whether or not they want to be tracked.

How has it impacted CAC & ROAS?

Since the introduction of the ATT policy, many brands have seen an increase in their customer acquisition costs (CAC).

This is because they are no longer able to track users across other companies’ apps and websites for advertising purposes.

This means that brands are no longer able to retarget those users who have been exposed to their ads but didn’t complete a purchase or sign up for a service.

As such, their return on ad spend (ROAS) has also decreased due to not being able to track these users and target them with relevant ads at a later date.

How can brands take back control?

Although the ATT policy has made it more difficult for brands to acquire customers, there are still ways that they can take back control of their marketing efforts.

One way is by developing an enriched customer context – which is a combination of both first-party and third-party data – that can help them better understand who their customers are, what products/services they are interested in, etc.

This will allow them to create highly targeted campaigns that are tailored specifically towards those customers that are most likely to convert into high CLV customers.

Additionally, this will enable them to optimize campaigns in real time based on insights from the customer context so that they can get better results from each campaign at a lower cost per acquisition (CPA).

The landscape has changed forever

Apple’s ATT policy has had an impact on many eCommerce and D2C brands by increasing their customer acquisition costs and decreasing their return on ad spend.

However, there are still ways that these brands can take back control by leveraging 1st and 3rd party data to create a powerful customer context that helps them accurately target potential customers while improving ROAS at the same time.

By developing a strong customer context, brands should be able to see improved performance from their digital marketing campaigns despite any changes made by Apple or other industry players in regards to consumer privacy rights.