iOS ATT opt-in messaging: who nailed it, who blew it
The communications battle continues unabated between Apple and advertisers over the app tracking transparency (ATT) feature in iOS 14.5. The new feature is simple, with far-reaching consequences. ATT prompts users to choose whether apps can track their activity, for advertising purposes, across the Internet—which may alter the entire digital ad space.
The messaging railing against Apple and ATT has been steady and strident. The emotion is understandable: a big apple cart, so to speak, is being turned over.
But Apple isn’t all stick, no carrot. App developers can a create a custom message to accompany the ask-to-track prompt, giving businesses the chance to make their case directly to users.
So many companies--including huge brands--absolutely blew it.
According to AppFigures, nearly 10,000 apps have already enabled the ATT prompt:
And thanks to https://www.attprompts.com, we can review the messaging of many apps. Who constructed a compelling message? Who blew it? Let’s look at a few examples.
Accuweather
Not terrible. But Accuweather missed a key component: specificity. “Product enhancements” is too broad. Instead, tell users exactly what they will miss out on if they opt-out of tracking.
Dunkin Donuts
Dunkin missed the opportunity, letting the prompt default to Apple’s messaging.
Huge opportunity missed. Was Dunkin in the haze of a post-Munchkin sugar crash? Maybe, but many other prominent brands and apps failed to customize their messaging.
Facebook and Instagram
Facebook insinuated they just might start charging you if you don’t let them track you around the Internet:
This isn’t outright dishonest; ad revenue does keep Facebook’s services free for users. But it’s shady: Facebook isn’t ever going to charge for its services.
I mean, imagine paying for Facebook.
Daily Harvest
Daily Harvest made a small but important adjustment to the default message.
“Feature just the right ads for you” sounds more thoughtful than a “personalized ad experience,” or “more relevant ads” which is the messaging many companies used. The former sounds like careful curation, the latter the grinding results of an algorithm.
Here’s the ATT prompt messaging done right.
It’s empathetic: “You’re in control”
It offers rationale: “Flipboard features hand-curated premium content for free, but we couldn’t do that without ads.”(This is good, but could have been just a little more persuasive if it read “... we couldn’t do that for you without ads”
It reduces risk: “You can change your settings at any time” lowers the permanence of the choice and reduces to risk of opting in.
In a storm, don’t forget to execute the basics
When a storm hits a business--and ATT is a Cat 5 storm for digital advertisers--don’t miss the simple communication opportunities right in front of you as you develop longer-term strategies.
App developers were given a critically important opportunity to . Many companies blew their chance to make an honest, empathetic, and persuasive case to users. Or, just as bad, ignored it.
Execute the basics, always. Especially when chaos tries to blow you off course.