How Apple's iOS 14.5 Release Could Impact Advertisers Imagine this: You run a successful online store and have a sleek app that makes shopping a breeze. Most of your sales come from paid ads on Facebook and Instagram, and your usual process involves retargeting customers who open your app but leave without purchasing anything. The more app installs you get, the more sales you log. This process is seamless because you’re able to track user activity across apps and optimize your ad spend as you see what works and what doesn’t. But, with this week's release of IOS14.5, the data you collect from Apple mobile devices will change. Here’s how. Apple's New Privacy Policy Apple has confirmed that along with the launch of iOS14.5, there is also a change coming to Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) Framework, which is essentially its data sharing and privacy policies. Apple will now require that all mobile app advertisers gain opt-in from users to track their web and app activity. While this provides consumers with the ultimate privacy, security, and control over the ads they see across their web and mobile devices, it's expected that not all users will accept this prompt to opt-in. This could make it more difficult for businesses to reach their target audience, and deliver relevant ads. From now on, whenever an Apple user downloads your app, they’ll be shown a prompt, asking if it’s okay for the app to track them. Additionally, with limited app user data, companies like Google report that...

What are Mini Apps & Why Marketers Should Care With apps continuing to grow as a vital staple of everyday life, marketers continue to ask, "Do I need to have an app for my business?" Luckily, unless your small business' product is an app -- or you have a skilled staff of developers, you probably don't need to spend tons of time and money building one just yet. Brainstorming, developing, launching, and promoting an app is a lot of work for a small company. In that same amount of time, you can launch a mobile-optimized website or mobile email strategy that could earn you solid awareness and ROI. But, if you're a marketer at a digital startup, agency, or tech firm that thinks an app might be helpful for business, a more affordable development option could be on the horizon. In 2020, some tech companies are starting to invest in "mini-apps." And, as these programs expand, there might be room for companies to test the waters with a more compact app experience. Mini-apps became a commodity on large-scale Chinese social media platforms as recently as 2017. During this year, WeChat's founding company, Tencent, announced the launch of WeChat Mini Programs. After showing success on apps like WeChat, miniature app-like experiences recently caught the attention of Western tech firms like Apple and Snapchat. These companies have begun to build out and launch similar programs to WeChat. But what exactly do these apps look like, and how do they benefit the...

How Marketers Can Leverage WhatsApp’s New Payments Feature Since launching over a decade ago, WhatsApp has gained popularity all over the world. As the chat app'sglobal user-base has continued to expand, so has its platform. After adding features like group chat and video capabilities, the platform quickly became a place where brands can directly interact with consumers. In 2019, due to WhatsApp's booming popularity, it launched one of its biggest features yet:a specialized app called WhatsApp Business. This app, which passed five million active users in its first year, is quite similar to the consumer version of WhatsApp. However, it allows companies to create a public business profile that includes links to ecommerce stores and a catalog of product shots. But WhatsApp didn't stop at Business pages. In 2020, the company began rolling out an online payment feature. The feature has already launched on the Brazil-based app but will ultimately expand globally. According to the brand, the WhatsApp payments tool will allow payments to be accepted by brands with WhatsApp Business pages for a 3.99% processing fee. One of the major reasons WhatsApp's payment feature, powered by Facebook Pay's transaction software, is being launched in Brazil first is so WhatsApp can learn more about how local benefits can benefit from chat transactions. Prior to this launch, WhatsApp was already one of the top messaging platforms in Brazil and had already seen a number of brands use it to engage with audiences in this region. "Over 10 million small and...