As we all know, Apple dropped the iOS 15 update recently and it has caused quite the stir in the marketing world – shock horror. Apple’s iPhone claims a 23.4% global share of the smartphone market (that’s 1 billion people currently using iPhones!), more than any other handset manufacturer. So this update is going to affect a lot of people. So, for those of you who have apps reliant on iOS, we’ve broken down exactly how this update will affect you and your users…

Why Does It Matter?

In recent months privacy has been at the forefront of our minds when using technology. We want to know how our data is used, and that’s fair enough. iOS 15 answers this with transparency on how apps use data, in an effort to put Apple customers first. You gotta love Apple! …Right? As an app owner, this data protection can give you fewer variables to control and analyse because of the reduced data the consumer can now choose to share. As a consumer, this is great as you can see what apps are doing with your data – whoop whoop. You can even download an app privacy report to take a look at how a chosen app has used your data in the past 7 days. Snazzy, eh? But don’t worry, this doesn’t affect your app infrastructure as Apple provides this report to give their users more visibility, but it’s definitely something to be aware of.

What We’re Loving

So let’s start with the positives, shall we? Apple updates aren’t all doom and gloom, in fact, iOS 15 has brought with it some handy features that we can’t wait to utilise. In particular, the ability to have more than one App Store product page is a big win for many apps. As a performance-based marketing agency, we love testing. So this is good news for us because being able to create multiple App Store pages gives us the ability to A/B test. We can target different audiences, making the pages more specific to suit the user. This ultimately gives us more autonomy in what we want to show our target audience. Simple as that. Need an example? We’ve got you. Let’s say you’re an app for hourly-paid workers to track their hours, you can now make different pages to target hospitality, retail, HR or finance. This makes it more niche, therefore more effective and more likely to convert. Happy with that.

Why A/B Testing is Great

With an A/B split test, we can analyse control vs. variation to see what gets the best results. This sounds more complex than it actually is. Basically, you keep one thing the same and change the other – no dramas. An example could be which product feature attracted more click-through. The new App Store Connect is the ideal way to analyse this data. Why? Well, it has lots of important metrics so you can gain insights into the performance of your app by viewing App Analytics data, Sales and Trends reports, and monthly financial reports in Payments and Financial Reports. Plus, different variations of App Clips are now available in the App Store. This means you can use different clips and placements to reach more people, which we’ve helped our clients to do – honestly, we’re just that awesome. Want to make sure you’re making the most of this new update? We’ve got your back. With a skilled creative team working alongside top of funnel (ads) experts, we can plan and create different App Store pages to test and analyse. We’re not tooting our own trumpet but we also have an exclusive partnership with App Radar and other tools. That means we’re always at the forefront of their updates and ahead of the curve for our clients.

The Potential Challenges

But what does this mean for marketing? Well, if you aren’t enabled, your push notification would not show to the user during this time. It can only be viewed on the notification summary which is easy to miss. This isn’t great if, for example, you wanted to send a push notification about a flash one hour sale. By the time people in a Focus mode (if your app isn’t included) saw it, the offer might already have expired. As always, no dramas here. The Focus Mode just means that your push notification strategy needs tweaking. Think about the optimal time to send push notifications and what use your app may have within popular Focus Modes. At Favoured, we like to be prepared so we stay in tune with upcoming updates and map our action steps accordingly in advance. In the instance of Focus Mode, it’s a great idea to test comms that would educate users about the feature and how to use it with your app. Show the user how you are helping and add value by rationalising the need for your app in one of the Focus Modes. Genius.

Need Help?

Well, looks like we’ve covered everything. Wondering how you can tackle future updates? No worries, Favoured is here for you. We work with you to create effective performance-based marketing that keeps in mind the changing industry. Want to chat with us? Let’s catch up and see how we can help your business.   About the author:

Sonam Sherpa – Head of Performance Marketing

  What I do: I work closely with the key stakeholders in your business to understand your short and long term goals and then devise a strategy to help you achieve those goals using our team of marketing and creative experts. I also analyse data to help you monitor your progress as well as extrapolate actionable insights that help you make broader business decisions.