Webinar: The value exchange: Generating trust through personalization
In this Mobile Growth Association webinar, learn how mobile apps can further cultivate trust with their users in a privacy-first world.
Speakers:
- Chuck Fuller, Director of Product Management, Arity
- Chase Davis, Sales Engineering Manager, Arity
- Alexa Tang, Product Marketing Senior Manager, Arity
Transcript
Host:
Hello and welcome to today’s Mobile Growth Association webinar, The Value Exchange: Generating Trust Through Personalization. Consumers are more and more conscious of how their personal information is being used and have a heightened level of scrutiny and lack of trust. So the question for app creators is, how can they convince people to share their data so that users can access services and that encourage greater engagement and ultimately hire user retention? Today, Arity a mobile data and analytics company is here to help us answer that question. So please join me in welcoming Arity.
Chase Davis, Arity:
Thanks, Theresa. My name is Chase Davis and before I joined Arity, I come from a background of mobile development. I had a few years as a developer writing code and implementing features. Shortly after that, I transitioned into behavioral analytics where I worked with a large company to help monitor how their users are using their applications. So we used all sorts of technology to monitor button clicks, app flows, fallout charts, you name it, to really understand what sort of experience sticks out to a user and how it can best benefit them. And then after that, I transitioned into my now current role as a sales engineer here at Arity where I’ve been for the past three years. Right now I partner alongside our business development team, helping our clients and our prospects work through custom solutions app flows, helping onboard new users and ultimately finding the best solution for their program. As a silent participant for the majority of this is Alexa Tang. She’ll be helping us at the end with Q&A, and then my partner here on this webinar will be Chuck Fuller.
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
Hey, thanks, Chase, and good morning everyone. Thanks so much for being here. Like she said, my name’s Chuck Fuller and I am the director of product Management for Mobile Solutions, a piece of the Arity business focused around mobile publishers. I’ve been a product manager going on, and I can’t believe I have to say this 15 years now, spent the last eight or so focused on various aspects of mobile product development, covering things from analytics to data to consumer app experiences, and most recently a heavy focus around location data and SDK innovation. And I joined Arity a couple of years ago to lead a team that’s focused on how we can help mobile application publishers solve some of the thorniest problems they face around attracting and obtaining new customers for their apps. So in that role, I have a somewhat dubious distinction of probably being able to say that I’ve read more app privacy policies than almost anyone but my colleagues on the legal side.
So I have that feather in my cap, but forget about me. Let’s talk a little bit more about Arity because I do want to spend a little bit of time introducing who we are as a company and put simply, we’re in the data business. We collect and analyze driving and mobility data, and we use that to try to derive insights that help the businesses with whom we work better serve their customers. So in my role as a product leader in mobile for Arity, I work really closely with mobile application publishers to help them take advantage of the technology we created so that they can incorporate our unique data and insights about their customers and that their app experiences. And the fact is that that really only works if there’s a healthy give and take between our publisher customers and their customers, and we understand that relationship.
We are deep in the weeds of them on that. And so we as a service provider to them are incredibly sensitive to consumer hesitancy when it comes to data sharing. So because that question is so critical to our business, we put in the time to recently survey over 700 smartphone users to get a better understanding of when and why they’re sharing their data. So for the next 25 minutes or so, chase and I are going to reflect on what this new research tells us about consumer sentiment on data sharing. But beyond that, we’re going to dive into where we see some opportunities to overcome potential challenges and get mobile app users more engaged with your services. So we’re aiming to deliver some valuable insights into that ever evolving world of data privacy for you. More importantly, we want to talk about some actionable steps that you can take to make sure that your apps stay on your user’s devices.
Challenges for mobile apps
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
So Chase, if we step back and we really start at the top, when you and I are working on client problems, either that’s internally you and I are having a back and forth with members of our team or working directly with those clients, I’d say the overarching challenge is that attention game, any successful product, figuring out what features, what services that I can offer that are going to bring customers to the door, get ’em to walk through it, and then want to stick around for a while, that’s really the holy grail. And as somebody who in a past life worked directly on mobile customer acquisition, I can deeply sympathize. It’s not surprising I’m not doing that anymore. It’s a huge challenge. The scale is massive where you have huge percentages of customers who after you’ve done all that work to get them to that point, they drop off even uninstall the app within 24 to 48 hours of initial download. It’s a really rough starting point and there’s things that obviously we know work to try to overcome those challenges. You know what I mean?
Chase Davis, Arity:
Yeah. I think what’s interesting, you’re absolutely right. How do you get that customer and then keep them on your platform and in a position as a sales engineer, I work with a lot of different prospects and a lot of different mobile publishers and frankly, it’s a no brainer. They all desire to add more personalized features to their applications. Moreover, we even get users who’ve come to us who’ve already done the research. They know which features they want to add. Oftentimes they even have resources readily available to implement those features that they want to use. They have the research, they have the team, but they’re still a little bit afraid to do it. And what we’re seeing is it’s that fear of upsetting and losing those current customers that if any of those new features that they want to add, any of those new personalizations, you name it, they require a new permission, then it’s really tempting to just kind of stall or put it off or really just kind of tiptoe around getting that in there because they’re afraid to hurt that current customer base and ultimately it prevents them from taking action, right?
The need for mobile app personalization
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
Yeah, absolutely. The point about personalization is a huge one that is, it’s not just a critical for that success, but for it to be successful, it has to be differentiated as well, right? Because anybody can sort of just pull in some data and pop up something with your name. It’s sort of like the basic, you get an email with your name in the subject line that’s not going to really wow somebody. You’re looking for something that is differentiated, that makes you stand out from the pack and so on both counts. Personalization and differentiation. There’s a common thread here, right? Publishers looking to make use of what makes mobile applications different. Why would you go into this platform and not make use of the unique capabilities? And in many cases, those types of services require those permissions like you said. I mean there’s location data, there’s notification, permissions, motion data, et cetera. All those things are often going to be critical components in making those types of things work, right? And of course once you start talking about that, then you start talking about the onboarding challenges.
When to request new permission
Chase Davis, Arity:
If the research is done and the resources are there and they’re ready to do it, and they’re even okay with accepting that, requesting that new permission, now they have a new challenge. And that new challenge comes with how do we best present this to our current users? What’s the proper verbiage? What’s the proper flow? How do we request that and ultimately show the value to the user? How are they going to perceive that we now need a new piece of their data, a new piece of what they perceive as privacy? And I think even further than that, what’s really interesting is with recent conversations with several different prospects, it’s showing that even those publishers that are willing and accepting to request multiple permissions, they’d really prefer to do that at initial app download. They really don’t want to have to do that if you already have hundreds of thousands, millions of users in your application, they don’t want to prompt those users for a new application halfway through that, or they don’t want to disrupt their current flow or really make their current users mad or concerned about why something’s needed.
So it’s really how do we get that value and how do you can’t tailor that initial app download? How can we work with you to get that during the process and provide that verbiage to the user to make them feel more trusted, more safe, more secure with that information they’re going to share? So it’s just really interesting when you look at the timeline for requesting those permissions and again, just understanding those flows and how those users really interact with it. Is that kind of what you’re seeing from a product side as well?
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
Yeah, absolutely. You and I have had probably a lot of joint conversations with clients where we’re working as said on that first critical impression with both new mobile app users, but also existing app users where you’re introducing something new or you’re adding a new service effectively, they are new to you as a service provider. And so going through that, determining how we can work with the client, with our client, the publisher, do the onboarding flow and all the required prompts to ensure that we’re addressing those obvious open questions about what’s going to be required to make the experience work. That’s really the name of the game. How will data be used critically, what are the benefits to the customer, the person on the other end of that phone in providing that level of data access? What are they going to get out of it? What is the give and take? And sometimes that means taking non-standard approaches, right?
How to request new permission
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
One really common recommendation going back as long as we’ve worked on user experiences is that you want to try to limit the amount of text. You don’t want to have to give somebody a novel to read when they’re presented with a prompt, especially something like an onboarding prompt where you’re really trying to get somebody through the flow as quickly as possible. But in working with one of the app partners that we work with in the weather space, we worked really closely with them of course on their own onboarding flow when they were incorporating some of our services. And what we found is that by including a more verbose pre-pro, something, the prompt that comes ahead of the system prompt for that permission, we use that to very clearly, of course with as little text as possible, but enough to be able to really tell the story.
We wanted to highlight the questions that they were going to be asked, the prompt that was going to come, and we wanted to talk about the specific needs for that permission, why do we need that and what are we going to do with the data and what are you going to get out of it? And I can’t guarantee to you that every single person read through the entirety of that, but we definitely saw improved rates of user opt-in when we took onboarding flow in that direction, which I thought was really interesting. I think it speaks to some of the data that you’re going to talk about in a minute around the interest level in understanding how my data is going to be used. Then of course, the last mile is that we work really closely with those same publishers to then co-develop the features that are going to help fulfill on the promises that are made in onboarding.
So it’s sort of that it is really an end to end flow. So if we want to start talking about some of the research, I think it’s a really good segue because this is our experience. These are the things that we are hearing when we’re working with mobile publishers on a day-to-day basis, but we’re a small sample size, which is why we wanted to get a larger sample size and conduct some research to get broader insights into the industry across the full gamut of app types. We wanted to get smarter around, how do we remove that friction even more? How do we get the app and app customer relationship working more effectively? And so as I said earlier, we surveyed over 700 smartphone users to go much deeper on why they engaged with some apps and not others. One encourages or discourages them from sharing their data, even when the benefits of doing so are really clear as well as what prompted them to download that app in the first place so that the TL;DR that our frontline experience does map pretty well to this larger audience’s experience, at least through the results that we’ve seen.
User’s privacy concerns
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
People are absolutely more aware of when and how apps use their data. I don’t think that’s too surprising given how much emphasis in all sorts of areas from the media, from the way that apps are presenting this information, there’s much more emphasis on that these days and people’s preconceptions about what is valuable and trustworthy in a lot of ways almost matters more than ever. We really believe that these findings are going to be helpful for publishers as they’re looking to improve their own app experiences and figure out how to focus on engagement throughout the customer lifecycle with the app. So Chase, why don’t we jump in and talk a little bit about that data, which really does speak to that sort of full end-to-end lifecycle.
Chase Davis, Arity:
Thanks, Chuck. Yeah, this is my favorite part of this content, right, is really diving in and understanding what did the details say, what did the survey show us and where are these users actually at? So over the next few minutes we’re going to talk about activation experience and retention and ultimately just again, dive into those responses from our users and from just a wide variety sample set here and understand what people said. So with activation, as privacy concerns continue to increase and people become more aware, they’d be starting to become more active data managers and ultimately they’re starting to refine their comfort zone with regards to which apps and which app categories that they’re willing to trust and provide that data. So first, and this one kind of surprised me even right off the bat, is one third of mobile app users are actually managing their access either daily or almost daily.
So they really want to be able to dive in, understand what information are you taking, how are you using it? Do I have the ability to turn it off? They’re doing this on a very frequent basis as they continue to work through download new apps and explore all sorts of content of course that’s out there on their mobile phones. Now, what we did find when we looked across a handful of different categories was that mobile app users actually have less privacy concerns when it comes to fuel and convenience, QSR – quick serve restaurants – real estate and travel applications compared to a wide variety of other categories. When you download our results and you look through the survey, you’ll find information on app categories from retail, entertainment and gaming, personal finance, weather navigation, social media and more. And ultimately when it comes down to again, this activation flow, it’s really going to be about what they trust and which application they trust, how valuable it’s to their daily lives and how much they feel they actually need that.
Users feel more comfortable sharing opinions rather than quantifiable personal data
Chase Davis, Arity:
When you’re looking at sharing the data, right, we found that people are more comfortable sharing descriptive data such as opinions and attitudes coming in at 53% versus quantifiable data like financial data, where only 16% of users say they’re really comfortable sharing that. Now, that doesn’t mean that users aren’t willing to share that. They just need to better understand why you’re requesting that data, what value they’re going to receive and allowing you to have it. So again, it’s just going to come down to transparency and clear communication quickly. How simplified can we be in allowing those users to understand what’s collected and why it’s collected? And that ultimately leads us into the experience.
[Our survey] found that people are more comfortable sharing descriptive data such as opinions and attitudes coming in at 53% versus quantifiable data like financial data, where only 16% of users say they’re really comfortable sharing that.
Users want tangible rewards in exchange for sharing their data
Chase Davis, Arity:
People want personalized experience and frankly, they really prefer to receive frequent and tangible rewards. So they don’t just want to personalize, they want to be given something for it too. So over 50% of mobile app users are willing to share their data when the app is important to their daily lives.
Now that’s the key important to their daily lives. What does that mean? Well, when you download report, you’ll also notice that when we survey these users apps that people trust the most and least, right? And throughout this social media actually had the highest percentage of response for least trusted. I don’t think that comes as much of a surprise to us. However, social media also has the highest number of active users. Also probably not a surprise. So again, it’s really going to come down to how important do these users value the experience they’re getting, the application they have and how important it’s to their daily life, which is going to directly relate to how much information they’re willing to give. Now, outside of just how important it’s to them, we are all humans. So rewards help us, incentivize us to do things right? So 65% of users said that they would share personal data in exchange for rewards, cash points or products.
So we see that right in the middle of the screen. Take 10% off your first order. I’m sure we’ve all seen this across multiple websites. We join, Hey, give us your email, receive percents, receive free shipping, you name it, and it’s easily a no-brainer, right? Put in that information, get that instant savings on your product. Then of course come all the marketing emails and things like that, but it’s that data piece that we’re willing to share because we receive something tangible and value for it immediately, and so then customers are willing to share it now. And then again, we look at this last prompt here with experience. Over 75% of users said that they appreciate when apps use their data to offer more personalized experience. So this could be a music application that provides your top picks, this could be several of the weather applications that we work with, that when it comes down to how you’re commuting and your personal trips and your location and what that means for your daily life.
Over 75% of users said that they appreciate when apps use their data to offer more personalized experience.
Users seek relevant, personalized app experiences
Chase Davis, Arity:
I read a recent survey recently that said Facebook and social media, we’re seeing around 60 to 70% of content that’s not related to anybody in our social media. And we take a step back and we look at our social feed and we’re like, wait a second, I’m here for friends and family, but instead I find myself 10 or 15 minutes deep into watching how deep the ocean is or how an application’s made or how someone wins an arcade game, and that’s information that’s personalized to me and content that I like to absorb and I find myself there and I’m okay with it because they’re taking my data and they’re giving me an experience that I enjoy and that I want to be a part of. So really again, it’s just that experience and understanding that they’re willing to give it to you when it’s personalized and when it comes across that they’re getting some sort of reward or some sort of value out of it.
Clear communication is key to retention
Chase Davis, Arity:
Which then leads us into our third point of the survey, which is retention. And in retention, people need clear communication. They need to feel that they can trust an application. More than 40% of users that we surveyed indicated that it’s important that they understand and control how their data is used. We’re all familiar with this prompt here, but I think it’s also important that users, they have that ability to say, when I’m using the app, allow once, don’t allow for the next 24 hours, allow indefinitely, remind me in a week. They want the ability to get that experience but also feel that they have that trust and ability to maintain the data that’s theirs. Now then we look at over 65% of respondents said that clearly communicated privacy policies positively influence how much they trust a mobile app. Now, this is higher than previous personal experiences with that brand or even recommendations from family and friends, which is important because of course those we love and trust the most.
If they point us onto an app, chances are we’re going to download it and take a look. But if we don’t feel comfortable in that application, then we’re probably not going to keep it on our phones, interact with it long. I really enjoy this prompts here on the right because I think it hits to a great point, right? It’s talking about what information, how is it going to be used and how is it secure? Simple, straight to the point, clearly communicates to the user what information’s going to be collected and how it’s going to be used, which is also important when we look back at that first prompt on location, it’s noticing and it’s telling the user, “Hey, I need your location so I can put it on a map and give you directions.” Now, if that prompt just said, “I need location,” or “Hey, just accept location permissions,” we’re instantly going to be skeptical and we’re frankly probably just not going to do it.
So we’re humans, we’re inherently simple when it comes to this information. If you’re just honest and trustworthy and clearly communicate upfront, people typically respond well to that. And at times that can be lost. When we’re working through these flows and creating things, we feel the need to throw that wall of text up, but as much as we can simplify it, be clear and concise, people are that simple. Just communicate, be clear and let them know. And it’s also important to know that that’s not just something you can do and need to do at the very beginning, but it’s also throughout the journey, they really need to be able to understand how they can work with these applications and see it over time. And that’s where here at Arity, we’re able to really help you with that too. We have a dedicated customer success team. You get a manager, a customer success manager when you join our platform, and really they walk you through that depth of experience that we have, that we’ve seen over the publishers that we’ve helped grow, that we’ve partnered with, because this can be a daunting task.
So it’s important to know that when you’re onboarding these customers and you’re working through these flows, it’s not like you’re going to be alone. You’re going to have someone to lean on and get that experience to see really this value that we’re talking about as it comes down to the products and services that we offer and that are available out in the market. Chuck, as you looked at these survey results from a product perspective, that was probably more take as an engineer. What did you see from a product perspective as your takeaway in these surveys?
Adding value is essential to building trust with your users
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
I mean, I think your summary is great, Chase, and I guess what I would add is I just think it’s incredibly valuable and beyond valuable, just critical. You have to take this end-to-end perspective on what matters to the end user of an application, right? It’s not one thing or the other. It’s really all of those in totality and the impact that each one has to the next, the impact of onboarding to the experience of the app and whether you actually close that circle for them. But I guess one of the things that sticks out so much is that value essentially supersedes trust. It’s crazy. Perhaps stated in another way, value is the most critical component to building trust. If you can demonstrate clear value to the end user of an application, if you can then deliver something truly unique that like you said, becomes embedded in their daily lives, then there’s a clear increase in willingness to share the data needed to support that, right?
It shouldn’t be rocket science, but in a way it’s like it is a little bit eye-opening. And I just wanted to reemphasize one point you made, which is that our research points to a higher level of comfort sharing qualitative data. Again, not terribly shocking that somebody’s a little bit more willing to share something like their opinion or their habits or their attitudes, things like that versus quantitative data like location, something that’s more specific to them. But it also highlights that those concerns can be overcome. They’re not this massive wall that you have to climb over as long as you can demonstrate that value in the exchange. And I just think that’s something that’s worth repeating multiple times that people for folks think about. And of course, from our perspective, ensuring that trust and integrity and data usage is paramount, and it always will be for us as a company.
I think the best example of that is that when we work with an app publisher, and I don’t know that I can say this about every relationship I’ve had pre-Arity, but we insist on Arity being a named partner in the policies of the publishers with whom we work. We don’t want any confusion whatsoever for the person using that application about who we are, why we need the data that we need, and how we’re going to use it, and most importantly, how we’re going to safeguard that and safeguard their own privacy. But really those two things, they don’t have to be mutually exclusive regardless of what industry or app category you you’re currently occupying, there are clear opportunities to do both of these things, and the research indicates that there’s a bunch of steps you can take to be more successful at engagement and retention, as you stated really Well, my analogies, I think about it like a layer cake where you don’t want cake, cake, cake, cake, and then some icing on top.
That would be a terrible experience. And in the same way, you’ve got to build a story of trust and value at each one of these stages. It’s a great three-layer version with the three things you called about where you’re really hitting on both the value being delivered and the trust in why you were trusted partner at each one of those stages of the customer journey. I think if you focus too heavily on one or the other, you’re going to leave the person using that application very confused or very wary, like you said, of using that application in which either one is a recipe for saying, forget it, I’m out, uninstall this application. Right? So Chase, keep me honest. What am I forgetting here? Are there anything else we should cover or highlights we want to bring up?
All apps have an opportunity to improve their relationships with their users
Chase Davis, Arity:
Yeah, Chuck. Well, what I really heard you say right there is just that there’s, when you looked across the gamut of being transparent, controlling the data and allowing access for rewards and things like that, really when it comes down to it, there’s no one app, no one app category or any particular experience that can win over every user. But I think what we found throughout this survey, and really what’s supported in this research is that there’s an opportunity for every app to drive more installs and app engagement by creating those experiences that positively influence the user experience and that offer those things of transparency, control, and tangible value. Again, it’s all about clarity, transparency, and just being forthright with your customers and your consumers about what you’re collecting, why you’re collecting it, and what value they’re going to get out of it. That starts at initial app download, but is paramount to do as they continue throughout the app journey, throughout the flow and throughout all the experiences they have when they download that mobile app. So thank you again for having us here. Contact us if you’re interested in learning more about the survey results that you’re able to download. We have more details into app categories, user demographics or even mobile platform, which can help provide some more insight into those findings. In the meantime, we’re happy to take some questions and answers, so I’ll pass it over to our teammate here, Alexa, who’s going to walk through some of the questions that came up while Chuck and I were talking.
It’s all about clarity, transparency, and just being forthright with your customers and your consumers about what you’re collecting, why you’re collecting it, and what value they’re going to get out of it.
New privacy updates
Alexa Tang:
Alright, thanks Chase. Thanks, Chuck. Hi everyone. I’m Alexa Tang. I lead product marketing for mobile app solutions. So I always love talking to Chuck and Chase with all their insights from working in product for so many years from working with so many customers and talking to prospects all the time. And it looks like we’ve got a couple of questions as everyone has been interested in the discussion. So I’m going to help serve up a couple of these. So I’m going to start with the first one here in the Q&A. It’s with new privacy policies coming in, OS updates, how are you working with customers to anticipate how their users will react? And do you have any predictions about how people will react to new privacy updates? Chuck, I’m going to send this one to you. As I know there’s been a lot of work on the backend to anticipate these new OS updates.
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
Yeah, no, it’s a great question. I’d say the best part about those OS updates is that they’re going to happen, right? There’s not questions about when they’re going to come and to Apple and Google’s credit. They’re very regular with those. We know what the timing is. That’s probably the best thing I can say about. But no, I think the main point I would make here is that if you are not planning and thinking about those sort of controls becoming more stringent over time, then you haven’t really been paying attention. That’s really the direction that all of that has been going from starting well, starting way back in the day. But going from GDPR into CCPA into the app transparency, the work that Apple’s done, the trend is very obvious that you’re going to continue to be moving down this path towards greater visibility, greater transparency.
And so it is a constant adjustment process of being able to what the timing looks like. And so it’s going to be taking in the information that you’re given when those OS updates come out, and then figuring out how does, have I thought far enough ahead or am I having to play catch up? And I think to our credit, we’ve been reasonably good about staying ahead of those and we are continually pushing ourselves to think differently about how we can adjust to those changes as they come. So when things like the additional location prompts or things like the follow on prompts that started to come out became part of this, I think the key was working, like I said, like we said before, working with our publishers to anticipate what that would mean from, again, at each one of these stages of that journey. If you’re not sort of preparing the person using the application early on, then you’re just creating the likelihood that they’re going to be surprised later on. You should be able to anticipate that those chain are coming and be able to provide them with that, that information so that again, you don’t want it to be a surprise.
Alexa Tang:
Right? Yeah, back to the points of communication and transparency really are the keys no matter what we’re talking about. And I like what you said, Chuck, about the trend is only going to continue where consumers and app users are going to get more control through different kinds of privacy updates. So that part’s not a surprise. And from what we see here, app users are taking that too, where they’re actually being active data managers as well. So knowing that, I mean, it’s not a surprise or anything like that, but Chase, have you heard any new kinds of concerns from customers or prospects or do you have any predictions about how people are going to react to updates to privacy policies?
Chase Davis, Arity:
Yeah, I mean, I think Chuck’s right. The best thing about those updates and about those privacy concerns is that we know when they’re coming and for the most part know when they’re coming. And Apple and Android tend to do a very good job about communicating that, so you can prepare for it. And we saw in recent years when the iPhone started giving you those prompts where shortly your GPS points, and that really started showing users behind the curtain into what data was being collected and how to interact out first. That was probably scary even for all of us in the business, just to kind of see that. But again, it really comes back to that value and that trust. Now, if Waze or Apple Maps or Google Maps or whichever location direction app you use starts asking if your location is showing you the GPS points, well, that’s a no-brainer, right?
Yeah, I need my directions, so yes, you can have my location. So it really makes sense and funnels through. So I think we’re starting to see the consumer shift, the industry shift to moving the curtain showing users behind. So again, I’ll reemphasize it again, I said it a lot when I was talking about our survey results. It comes down to that transparency and clarity, how concisely, but directly can we tell consumers why we need that information and what it’s going to be used for? And that’s really going to help offset the initial shock of, oh, you have this data, of course we have this data because we’re providing you value in this. And think that really helps, again, gain that trust and show that value to the users to begin continue being comfortable sharing that data.
Best practices for onboarding
Alexa Tang:
Yeah, absolutely. And what you said about being clear about how you communicate, this next question actually piggybacks off of that, and it’s about what are some good or bad examples of experiences to prompt users to opt in that you’ve seen? And I’m going to go ahead and add, if you have any suggestions, recommendations for best practices, those might be good to share too.
Chase Davis, Arity:
I’ll take a quick stab at that one and I’ll pass it over to you, Chuck, from a product standpoint. I think when I look at some of my past experience doing behavioral analytics and working with a large application to understand how their users interacted with prompts and interact with flows, one of the things we typically monitored a lot was onboarding flows and how many screens does it need, how many clicks for the user to actually dive in and do that. So all of those things are counted, all of those things are monitored, and at a certain point people drop off. And so when you start to have too many screens explaining things, when you start to ask for too much information or it’s too involved for the users, then you really start to lose some of that interaction. So one of the best practices here is again, that how concise can you be, but how direct can you be to make that onboarding experience seamless and simple while collecting what you need, but communicating that to the user. So I know that sounds like a dream, right? Of course, that’s what we’re all after, but it really is how do we get that data in the most concise way, talking to the user, letting them know and helping them understand we’re here on your behalf. We’re not here to be malicious with your data. Be clear, be concise, be direct, be friendly and honest, and people work well with that. Chuck, what have you seen?
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
Yeah, I have somewhat funny example almost I think back about when the ATT prompts were starting to roll out, and I thought it was really interesting. Obviously one of the bigger impacted companies was Facebook – now Meta – right? But the Facebook application. And I think they could have gone a number of different ways with how they dealt with that. I think they could have just not requested it and moved in a totally different direction, but they decided to put up a prompt ahead of the ATT prompt that was, I guess I just thought it was more straightforward and sort of blunt about that value exchange than I thought maybe they might’ve gone right. But I think it was effective in the sense that it was clearly stating what the issue at hand was, right? If you don’t allow for this, then you’re hurting that same value exchange.
And obviously some people are willing to make that, some people are not. But they were more blunt about it than I thought they would, and I thought it was effective. To me, it was effective. And it sort of maps to some of the things that we talked about with, like I said, with one of the weather apps we worked with where I think we were probably more explicit in explaining what was going on than we might’ve been otherwise in the past. And so I think there’s an evolution that obviously as people get more sensitive and more attuned to data usage, the interest level will rise to some degree in terms of getting a deeper understanding. There’s an old, there’s the belief that you pop something up, people don’t look, they just click, right? I don’t know that that’s always true, and assuming that that’s going to be the case may not be the best approach going forward.
Alexa Tang:
I know I personally prefer absolutely straightforward, transparent communication. Don’t try to hide it. And I think that is what I’ve seen more in privacy policies and sharing settings, things like that. It’s just like if you want to use this kind of data, this is what it’s used for and just lay it out. Let’s just say what we’re doing. I think that people do prefer that. All right. We have one more question here. Is there a place to download the full report? I just put it into the chat. There’s a link there where you can download the report. There’s also this QR code here on the screen, so if you’d like to see more of the details behind the research, you can access the insights here. And I think we’re just about time, so I think I’ll go ahead and wrap us up. Again, thank you everyone for joining and joining our discussion.
If you would like to reach out to Chuck or Chase directly, these are their emails [listed onscreen]. Again, Chuck Fuller, product management, Chase Davis sales engineering, and we would love to talk more about what we’ve experienced with mobile app publishers and discuss any questions that you might have. Of course, if you would like to see the report, again, here’s the QR code and the link is in the chat as well. You can also go to arity.com if you’re curious about the solutions that we offer across the board and across our suite of mobile app solutions. So check it out and we would love to talk to you if you access those things. So, okay, I think that’s about what we have for here today, and thank you, MGA, very much for hosting us. We’re really glad to have your partnership in this, and thank you everyone and give you a couple minutes back and enjoy your day.
Chuck Fuller, Arity:
Thanks, everyone. Thank you.