CDP Institute

I tried to give you a break from universal ID news, Dear Reader, but vendors keep coming up with new variants.  Mobile ad network InMobi has launched UnifiID, which lets app publishers add IDs from LiveRamp, ID5, and/or BritePool to their data.  InMobi plans to offer IDs from Epsilon, Liveintent, Parrable, Zeotap, and others in the future.

Mediavine, which offers services to Web site publishers, is also making it easier for their clients to append shared IDs to their visitor data. They’ve just added ID5 to their list of ID partners, which already included LiveRamp and The Trade Desk-developed Unified ID 2.0. Separately: identity graph vendor Infutor has announced support for Unified ID 2.0.

Ready to give up on universal IDs and retreat to a walled garden? They have plenty of news too. Target has just connected its Roundel digital ad network with the CitrusAd self-service media buying tool.  And Comcast’s FreeWheel adtech group is piloting a new system that creates combined audiences across linear and digital video platforms.

Consumer attitudes changed significantly during the pandemic, according to this Merkle survey.  While quality and price are still the most important factors in purchase decisions, their weight fell while customer service, personalization, and brand became more important.  Even more intriguing: consumers became more willing to share personal data in exchange for greater convenience and personalized experiences.

Consumers’ demand for convenience extended to financial services as well, FICO research found.  While 41% are more likely to open an account using digital channel, 25% will actually abandon the process if they have to use a non-digital channel to complete the process.  Concern about identity theft is so high that 75% will provide their bank with a biometric such as facial scan, fingerprint or voiceprint to secure their account.

This Morning Consult report takes a more nuanced view of consumer motivations, finding that 40% had abandoned a brand due to quality, service, or pricing issues while 25% have dropped a brand due to privacy or social concerns.  Fewer than half (47%) assume companies are trustworthy until they do something wrong while 37% require a customer to earn their trust from the start.  Read on for fascinating differences by industry, country, and profession.

You haven’t been terribly interested in funding announcements recently, Dear Reader. But surely you’re intrigued that marketing automation vendor ActiveCampaign just raised $240 million at a valuation of more than $3 billion. That’s close to 20x its $165 million annual recurring revenue, which is nearly double the $90 million it had one year before. Apparently marketing automation isn’t quite a commodity after all.

After more suspense than was strictly necessary, Apple has finally set “next week” as the start date for its new rules requiring that consumers consent to tracking by App Store apps. We’ll see if this truly destroys the Internet as we know it. By coincidence or not, Apple was the target of less positive attention today in Senate anti-trust hearings.

Microsoft, which really should know better, has announced its own bird-themed ad targeting solution. Inexcusably-named “Parakeet” assigns people to cohorts similar to Google FLoC, but runs ad auctions in a proxy server rather than the user’s browser.  Parakeet was first proposed in February but gained attention this week when Microsoft referred to it in a statement dodging the question of whether it would enable FLoC in its Edge browser.

Retailers lag in meeting the customer expectations for personalized online shopping, according to this Redpoint Global-sponsored infographic.  Just 21% have up-to-date CRM/personalization technology in place, although 60% plan to have current technology within two years.  Just 14% have bought a software package with embedded artificial intelligence or machine learning.

Any retailers hoping they can avoid improving their online experience by waiting for customers to resume in-store shopping are taking a big risk.  This Sitecore study of Gen Z consumers found that 64% want to keep buying almost everything online.  They’re a demanding bunch: 83% see shopping as an experience, not a transaction, 71% expect highly personalized treatments, and 38% will switch brands after a second bad experience.

Needless to say, there are plenty of companies eager to sell retailers the technology they need.   Cart.com, just founded in September 2020, is a new option, offering end-to-end ecommerce software, services, and infrastructure.  They just raised $45 million over five months.