If you are using Facebook Ads to market your product, service, or organization, you are keenly aware of the role mobile phones and tablets play in this process. Most people today are going to see your ads on these devices as they scroll through their Facebook feed or spend time in their favorite group. You also realize that a very large percentage of those people will be using iPhones or iPads. So when the latest update, iOS 14, hit these Apple devices — it will extensively modify how ads are created, tracked, and interacted with.
It’s official. It’s happening. And it will affect how we use Facebook ads.
In this blog, we will:
- Demystify exactly what the iOS update entails
- Clarify how it will affect your Facebook advertising
- Help you plan and strategize in response to the update.
So read on if you want to continue getting the most out of your marketing and advertising efforts on the Facebook.
What is Apple’s new privacy update?
Apple recently announced a new App Tracking Transparency framework as part of the upcoming iOS 14 release, which is expected in the Spring of 2021. This new framework will prompt all iPhone users to expressly provide apps with permission to track their data, which will have a significant impact on any apps that use this data for advertising or other purposes
In response to the upcoming changes, Facebook has indicated that they expect the amount of data available for ad targeting and measurement to decrease as users “opt out” of tracking. The company expects the decrease in data to have a negative impact on the effectiveness of all digital campaigns, particularly for advertisers that rely on web conversion events.
Now, we do agree that allowing users to decide what happens with their data, is a great win for the security and privacy of the individual. But the issue is when the majority of users do opt-out, and almost everyone expects that will happen, we can kiss personalized advertising and current marketing strategies goodbye.
How will it affect my Facebook and Instagram ads?
For users who opt-in to allow activity tracking, there will be no change in advertisers’ ability to target ads and measure performance. However, in the case where the user opts-out of tracking, Facebook’s ability to target ads based on actions and measure the person’s reaction to ads will be impaired.
Facebook has communicated that advertisers should prepare for the following changes:
- Conversion Tracking: iOS 14 changes will significantly impact how Facebook can receive and process conversion events from the Facebook pixel. Actions such as view content, add to cart, checkout, purchase and other similar events will be under-reported if users choose opt-out of data tracking.
- Ad objectives: Some types of ads the use pixel tracking will be impacted: traffic ads optimized for landing page views, conversion ads optimized for standard events or custom conversions, and app installs targeting iOS platforms. Advertisers will also experience limitations when it comes to attributing app installs to users using iOS 14 and later.
- Remarketing and lookalikes: Advertisers should be prepared for a possible decrease in the population of pixel-based remarketing lists (such as website visitors who have shown an interest in a particular product) due to the new limitations in tracking. However, Facebook has communicated that lookalike audiences are not expected to be affected. While the seed audiences that lookalike audiences are based on may see size decreases, advertisers are unlikely to experience a noticeable impact to performance of ad sets using lookalike audiences.
- Delayed and aggregated results: Real-time reporting will not be supported, as Apple will be delaying data for up to three days after the event has occurred. Web conversion events will be reported based on the time the conversions occur and not the time of the associated ad impressions. Also, data will be aggregated in some instances as Facebook may not be able to measure ad results at the user level, or will have restricted access to certain types of data.
- Conversion windows: Going forward, Facebook will only be tracking the following conversion windows: 1-day click, 7-day click (default), 1-day click and 1-day view, or 7-day click and 1-day view. The previously available attribution windows of 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through will no longer be supported. This means that companies with longer sales cycles may see a decrease in reported purchases.
- Offline Conversions: Delivery and action breakdowns will no longer be supported for offline conversion events. Conversion events will be reported based on the time the conversions occur and not the time of ad impressions.
- Audience Network: Facebook’s ability to deliver targeted ads via the Audience Network on iOS 14 will be significantly limited. As a result, advertisers should expect less volume and lower effectiveness when using Audience Network as a placement.
How to prepare your Facebook Ads for the Apple iOS 14 update:
- Get your Domain Verified.
- Focus on getting email addresses with your ads so that you can rely less on Pixel optimization for retargeting.
- Start understanding how many purchases/leads and other events are from iOS devices (use the Breakdown reports)
- Send your clients messages about these steps and work with them on Domain Verification.
- Choose which Conversion Events you will use if you have more than 8.
As always, if we can be of assistance here at Defqon Digital, do not hesitate to reach out us at: hola@defqondigital.com
