Ads.txt & Ads.cert

When working (or like, surfing the web), I’m often shown ads of goodies I’d be interested in swiping my card for. There is little surprise as to how this show-of-the-most-cool-ads happens, as I work in an adtech startup! Nonetheless, when it comes to shopping online, I’m giving no “site” any benefit of the doubt. What I’m trying to say is that I am not willing (or even cuckoo enough) to enter my card details at a random site just because it displays the “computer mouse” I’m in need of. Say for example, I’m on one of the big retailer sites looking for a black Puma* backpack and I see the same bag displayed in an ad (at a discounted rate of course!) by “BuyGoodStuffForCheapHere.com”.

How am I to even know if a third-party, selling goods of a retailer, online, is an approved seller? From my example above, is “Buy Good Stuff For Cheap Here” authorized to actually sell Puma goods? Will I get an original product? Has Puma approved this seller? How would I know? These are a few questions that run around in my head every time attractive ads by various third-party sellers grab my attention.
*The product and company names are trademarks of its respective owners. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

I can also say that the same logic applies to brands buying ads programmatically. But, luckily for them, in late June, the IAB Tech Lab set up a method permitting brands to confirm that a third-party offering space on a publisher’s site is really approved to do so. This is called “Authorized Digital Sellers or ads.txt”. And as the name clearly suggests ads.txt is a simple text file uploaded to a publisher’s site listing the official sellers or resellers of the publisher’s inventory along with the publisher’s ID for buyers to match. Though it might be difficult for a publisher to list the unique IDs its sellers and resellers use to identify its inventory, it has been identified as an efficient means to fight fraud in the marketplace.

Given that ads.txt takes care of the authorization process, entities that are granted permission can access the designated areas. However, if an entity is not properly authenticated it can easily access areas it shouldn’t. Now, say for example, I order a super-duper expensive designer bag from a well-known ecommerce site. There are fraudsters along the way ready to swap my bag for a cheap one without the knowledge of my courier company. And since my transaction is happening online, I will need a way to make sure that that the bag is indeed the one that was sent by the store, i.e. I need to authenticate the source of my bag. What if the store were to send me a unique digital tag number imprinted on the bag and send the same to me via email? That way when I receive the bag I can verify that it came from the right source. Similarly, in the programmatic buying business, advertisers/buyers can now know of the authenticity of an inventory’s source with the help of ads.cert – an authentication initiative by IAB Tech Lab.

Ads.cert is a follow up to ads.txt by IAB Tech Lab and it uses cryptographic security measures to authenticate inventory.

Ads.txt can help authorize inventory sources and ads.cert can help authenticate the same by creating a “signature process”. Publishers can now incorporate cryptographically signed bid requests on showing the path of inventory thereby authenticating the inventory. This process will be able to certify units of inventory coming from verified publishers. This digital signature prevents fraudsters from tampering with the inventory simultaneously letting buyers verify a specific site’s inventory. Ads.cert can block any manipulations done to variables like device, domain, IP address, location to make it look like valuable impressions. Now everyone in the supply is required to provide and signature; this promotes good behavior and is a means of tracking bad behaviour.

I have simplified this further and prepared an infographic that lists why ads.txt and ads.cert is actually important to you if you’re part of the programmatic’s supply chain…

If you’re a publisher or an advertiser give us a ring to take your ad inventory game to the next level, well whaddya waiting for?

 

Communications Marketing: Getting Personal The Right Way

Give that a thought for a moment. It’s not about ‘Marketing’ communication, but more about how different ‘Communications’ are marketed. As a consumer, the only brands that catch my eye in an inbox full of promotional newsletters, are ones that masterfully hit the nail on the head. And as an Ad-Tech entrepreneur, how I help brands strike that hot iron is by practicing personalization, the right way.

May I?

Permissions Marketing is crucial, because, from the customer’s point of view, the line between personal and private information is very thin. When you leave it to consumers to decide if their geo-location, browsing behaviour and profile details can be accessed to keep them informed about upgrades, discounts and exclusive invites, you’re telling them that you respect their privacy and discretion. That kind of etiquette goes a long way to impress upon people that you can afford to not-be-desperate and that perhaps they might stand to lose by staying un-informed of some good deals. Since the user was explicitly asked to grant access and permission, chances are, the next time he/she spots your ad or email, they will recall the brand in good light.

Asking for permission also makes more economic sense than asking for forgiveness. The rising “Unsubscribe” figures and “Report This Ad” actions on Google indicate a disgruntled customer base, misinformed marketing policy and hence, loss of revenue. A filtered database of users who are genuinely interested in receiving communication helps contain your ad dollars and improves conversions naturally. Try not to look at every customer as an opportunity cost. Instead, weigh the risks of losing immediate prospects to pesky advertising in the short run, so that you can gain a steady, loyal following with time.

Permission Marketing

Quit Being Trigger Happy

There is more to personalized communication than just addressing a prospect by their name, gender and last purchase. It is more about going deeper to deliver individual specific messaging that may not form a part of your monthly carpet bombing strategy. A good rule to ensure you don’t repeat your re-targeting practice is to imagine that you have only 1 shot at rekindling the user’s interest. Do you have enough information to know if your offer can’t be refused or do you think it’s best to wait another week? Perhaps the customer abandoned the shopping cart to wait for his salary that would afford him the luxury? Or maybe a list of consumer testimonials that highly recommend the product/experience would be more convincing than reminding the user about the big bucks he forgot to charge to his credit card?

Why waste 3 rounds of remarketing? Sometimes, reminders that are frequent and mass marketed may rub consumers the wrong way instead of showing that you care. Identify value in every communication and allot touch points that will make the best impact. Build a schedule that caps the number of ads displayed and spreads out across the full customer journey. This will allow you time to study and customize your communication with an offer that is truly relevant.

Make Profit With ‘Give & Take’

Companies typically employ result oriented strategies to their advertising, like broadcasting newsletters on Wednesdays because of high open rates. However, with such mass marketing tactics, rarely do companies share the value of that advertising with the consumer.

A good example is Pepsi partnering with fitness app brands to reward users who completed a certain level of exercise with a FREE bottle of Pepsi’s Propel Zero Enhanced Water.
What a great way to pair a brand’s agenda with a surprising gratification in real time! The customer or website visitor is already familiar with your brand and services. Personalized communication is your turn to reflect that recognition back onto the consumer. Know which network, publication or brand to partner with and try to understand when is a good time to tap customers navigating the web on the shoulder.

I believe that Personalized Communications Marketing is not just about collecting information from registers, mobile towers and cookies to hyper segment user profiles into numerous buckets that look like Russian nesting dolls! It is about delivering thoughtful service and information with a sensibility and sensitivity that make the end users see repeated value; all because you made them feel special and known.

I understand that all this can be achieved only with a centralised data system and a team of professionals trained to study and spot such opportunities. That is exactly what we at BPRISE have built. We aim to go beyond the usual geo-location, purchase patterns and web history data points, to really read people’s minds! Talk to us!

4 Easy Ways To Monetize Your Mobile App

BPRISE blog_monetize mobile app

I’m active on Tinder* and I’ll admit that I sort of like the ads that come in between all my left swipes (what can I say, I’m shallow, #JudgeMeNot). And more often than I care to admit, I’ve felt the wicked desire to click on the ad to own those high-tops. This is not the only time I’ve had to hold onto my horses though. Surfing the web is like studying while window-shopping. I never get to read an article fully because I’m already opening another article with a catchy title. Right click, open in new tab – we’ve all been there… Don’t you dare be opening a tab on me right now!

It’s either that or the completely ingenious ad strips and videos that somehow bring before me the things I’ve been looking for of late. As a consumer of various goods today and a user of one too many applications, I understand that my “data” is spread all over. I also understand that there are brands “analyzing” such data and deriving “customer insights” from it. I personally have nothing against this because it comes back to me in the form of the most appropriate ads and product suggestions. Who doesn’t like those funky shoe ads anyway?

BPRISE blog_cybersecurity

Another cause of my relief or faith that my data will not be misused by brands/companies are the digital privacy laws out there. This brings me to the data privacy law by the European Union called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR has some stringent laws in place which will affect how companies big or small, collect and process their customers’ data. Even if your company is not based in the EU, should you have customers in Europe, you are bound by the law. So, if you are a retailer, a publisher, an advertiser or a tech company that collects and analyzes data of individuals across the globe – be mindful of digital privacy laws and adhere to the same.

App users today don’t really fret about data unless of course, they feel an invasion. And with digitally aware netizens growing in numbers (almost 500 million mobile internet users in India!)  the way data is used and processed is under scrutiny. Analytics has crept into all things digital and I’m positive the retailers, publishers, and advertisers are making the most of it.  This is weird but also in a way cool because now I don’t have to go fishing for products online. I do not have to make the time to exclusively surf the web for shopping. With analytics empowering in-app ads, I may as well be booking a flight ticket and be offered a brand-new luggage to go with me. Because, what I’ve been wanting to buy (for example, the luggage), is now offered to me at a discounted price. Another example of adverts winning my attention is when I’m on one of those apps that hide your IP and stuff (again #JudgeMeNot) and see these wonderfully worded ads that speak directly to me!

All of this is very telling of how well a brand probably knows me. It is appealing because I do need what’s shown (in the ads) and it is the fastest way to shop. Ads are a fine way for the app owners to make money although the elite users may very well be able to get their hands on ad-free versions.

Apps are built for generating revenue and here are some more ways you can do that if you’re an app owner, developer or marketer…

  1. Newsletter signups & subscriptions – Allowing users to sign up for newsletters is also a way to get users to engage more deeply with your brand. Getting them to subscribe to unlock all the features of your app helps you monetize the same. For example, consider Tinder Plus and Gold – the difference between the two is the single swipe feature called “Likes You” in the Gold version. And it is about time I tell you that “*The product and company names are trademarks of its respective owners. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.”
  2. In-app purchases – Coolest option for free apps to monetize. Purchases for one-time-use, such as options for users to buy game credit or service adds are examples of consumable and non-consumable in-app purchases, respectively. Beef up your apps with upgrades while giving more to your app users. This way you not only monetize your app, you’re also giving the end user quality services that they’ll be willing to pay for.
  3. Partnerships – Tie up with brands that have a similar customer base by integrating their offering into your app. You not only win the referral fee from the partner but also engage your users better with the integrated offering. Of course, finding the right partner is critical, but need I say that explicitly? I mean I’m on Tinder swiping away photographs of men on their wedding days. IK.
  4. Advertisements – This is the most common way to monetize your app and most profitable. If you have a robust user base for your app, then with the help of analytics and insights serve the most fitting ads for each user. Subtle details like the placement of ads, retargeting users and accessing programmatic demands lead to maximizing your revenue through app advertising.  

If you’re an app owner and you’d like to show ads of relevant products/services to your users, then connect with BPRISE and earn more from your in-app ads. And if you’re anything like Tinder, I’d love to help you up your ad game! After all, girl’s gotta shop good stuff no matter the app!