Privacy vs. Ad Targeting
Apple’s newest version, iOS 14, is already out. A new feature (to be rolled out in the coming weeks) will ask users for permission to track their data across apps and websites owned by other companies. This update will impact your marketing efforts. But the question is “how?”.
Some uncertainty on what is to come: The details are still shady. Here are some of the major changes you should know about regarding web conversion events:
1. Audience and performance:
- Tracking, analyzing and optimizing certain ad campaigns will be more difficult as Facebook will no longer be able to access some data.
- The size of personalized audiences will go down.
2. Attribution:
- Facebook’s default attribution will diminish from 28 to 7 days after a click.
- For view-through attribution, only 1 day’s worth of data will be accessible.
3. Conversion events and reporting:
- The number of Facebook conversion events will be limited to 8 per domain.
- Value Optimization will use 4 of the 8 conversion events.
- Post conversion breakdowns will no longer be available.
- If the user refuses data tracking, conversion events will have a 24-48 hour delay.
- If the user refuses tracking, only 1 conversion event will be visible in Ads Manager.
The complete list of changes is available here.
These changes will impact your ability to measure, optimize and analyze data from Facebook ads. While it isn’t possible to say with certainty what repercussions this will have on your campaigns, you can prepare.
5 Smart Steps to Optimize Your Performance
Here are 5 recommendations from Facebook and 1 from Absolunet:
- Verify your domain in Business Manager.
- Limit the number of events in your ad account.
- If more than 8 events are active, Facebook will automatically choose. Only campaigns using these conversion events will stay active.
- Check the percentage of your ad audience using Apple devices to gauge the impact.
- Compare the impact that the change will have on attribution windows.
- Bonus from Absolunet: install the Facebook Conversion API.
- The API allows you to maximize the data Facebook can use to optimize your ad campaigns.
This new functionality impacts not only Facebook but all iOS apps (Pinterest, Amazon, TikTok, etc.).
Digital Growth in the Era of Data Protection
In an era where data is increasingly valuable to companies, it is crucial to ensure control, transparency and the security. While this iOS change does not signal the end of personalization in advertising, it does highlight the importance of:
- opting for multi-channel strategies,
- not depending on certain platforms alone
- investing in 1st-party data collection
- creating loyalty programs
- and maximizing client retention
Will Facebook remain a worthwhile platform for your investment?
The Absolunet team is convinced it will. Facebook will have less data on its users, but the majority of the functionality that made it what it is will still be in place. It is now up to marketers to adapt.
See this situation as an opportunity to branch out. If your company is staying afloat only thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, “don’t build your house on someone else’s land.”
Read more: Facebook Documentation & Apple Documentation
