The news of iOS 15 in September 2021 struck fear into the hearts of many in marketing (dun dun dunnnnn). We talked about the potential positives (and pitfalls) of the update in our Marketing Guide to iOS blog.
A year after iOS 15’s introduction, how many of those changes have we actually come to see? Are we still seeing the effects of iOS 15 in our marketing strategies? So many questions and so much to get updated on. Let’s dive into everything that’s different, what it’s meant for marketing, and how Favoured can help you navigate it all (you’re welcome)…
What's Changed?
In case you didn’t read our amazing blog (honestly, you missed out) here’s a quick recap on some of the major changes brought on by iOS 15…
- Hide My Email – This generates a unique email address to use when creating new app accounts or signing up for newsletters. This way, users’ personal emails stay private (but your mailing lists might not be super accurate).
- Mail Privacy Protection – Users can prevent senders from seeing if they’ve opened an email, which affects the accuracy of open rate data.
- Custom product pages – The ability to add more than one custom page on the App Store to target different audiences. This allows us to A/B test and improve performance where we couldn’t before.
- Focus – A new addition allowing users to customise which incoming notifications they see at set times. If you’re not on that list, sadly your push is probably not getting seen.
Most of the concern around these changes had to do with increased data protection – fantastic for consumers, but for app developers? This could’ve spelt disaster… or at least a lot more difficulty. But, we had you covered by staying ahead of the updates and tweaking strategy to adapt to these new changes.
So, what did it mean for marketing?
Honestly, not as much drama as expected. According to a Hubspot survey, less than ⅓ of respondents saw a negative impact on their email marketing as a result of the privacy changes. Great news that email marketing is far from ruined in the wake of iOS 15 – you just have to know how to play the game.
But what about push notifications? With a clever strategy and Middle of Funnel marketing experts (like our brilliant Favoured team), this can be navigated successfully. Put some thought into timing, value and test what works – trust us, a detailed comms plan goes a long way.
That’s not all… we’ve used those custom pages to our advantage too. By testing multiple pages highlighting different app features, we’ve found exactly what kind of messaging works best for different client audiences. Plus, we’ve tested variations on design, headlines, and descriptions to see what gets the most conversions.
How to make iOS 15 work for you
With the potential challenges to your email marketing, it’s essential to use a more considered approach. Less visibility on open rate data means that A/B testing with the data you do have has never been more important. Focus on strategic and engaging subject lines to ensure those who receive your communications are compelled to open! You can also turn to other KPIs like click-through rate to analyse your performance.
You could also ask our Engagement, Conversion and Retention team for expert advice on nurturing and engaging your users in this new iOS 15 landscape. We take care of the full customer journey taking into careful consideration these new Apple updates.
Navigating future updates
iOS 15 is unlikely to be the only big update to threaten existing marketing approaches. That’s where we come in. We keep our strategies moving with the industry and stay ahead of important updates so we can keep delivering effective marketing whatever’s on the horizon.
Want to talk to the team about your business? Reach out and see how we can help.
