iOS 14 - How Will It Impact Facebook Ads

With the new iOS update, there has been a big change to data tracking permissions, which impacts Facebook advertisement. Apple has announced that apps will now require the user's permission to collect and share data using Apple’s device identifier- the wide scope of the impact is hard to predict and only time will tell. There are, however, some facts that are undeniable and clear and we will explore them below to help your business prepare for the change.

The iOS Update

Privacy and data usage are at the forefront of the changes brought with the new operating system. This means users with iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and tvOS14 will be able to learn about how an app uses their data. Furthermore, app developers will be required to provide details on their privacy policies as well as how they are planning to use the collected data.

Opt-IN

Getting permission won’t be an easy task for advertisers and developers as an explicit opt-In permission will be required. This means that using big “OK” buttons or opt-OUT options, (which is how privacy and data collection currently works on Facebook) won’t be permitted.

The app will have to provide the user with two options:

• Allow Tracking

Or

• Ask App Not to Track

Approval For Data Tracking

We know from Apple’s announcement which data tracking will require users' permission [1].

• Sharing location data
• Displaying targeted ads in users app, based on user data collected from apps and sites owned by other companies
• Sharing email lists with data brokers
• Placing third-party SDK in user apps that combines their data from other apps

Facebook’s Response

The general worry is that, as more people don’t opt-in for tracking on iOS 14 devices, ads personalisation and performance reporting will be limited for both app and web conversion events.

Dan Levy, the VP of Ads and Business Products, says:

“Apple’s new iOS 14 policy will have a harmful impact on many small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat and on the free internet that we all rely on more than ever.”[2]

He goes on to state that small businesses could see a cut of over 60% of website sales from ads and is overall very critical of the new operating system.

Subscriptions and In-app Payments

If businesses and developers can’t rely on efficient advertising to make money they’ll be forced to look for it elsewhere. This could lead to charging users for subscriptions or in-app payments.

Small Businesses

Not only app developers will be impacted by these changes but also small businesses, which rely on personalised ads to grow. This is because they have smaller budgets, and cannot afford to display their ads to a broad audience. In other words, by limiting personalised ads, the new operating system will make it harder for businesses to reach their target audience.

These changes will likely benefit larger and well-established businesses with substantial marketing budgets, thus reducing competitiveness.

However, with the power of the Facebook Ads Manager platform, there are ways to optimise ad campaigns and make use of website data to influence campaign targeting and optimise performance. Although there will be changes to the way that users advertise on the platform, there are still plenty of opportunities to reach your target demographic in an effective way to help meet your goals and optimise ROI. 

Event Management: Event Limits

Going forward in 2021 you will be limited to use up to 8 conversion events per domain on Facebook. This means 8 <pixel, event> or <custom conversion> per domain. Users will not have to make changes to the pixel or their Conversions API implementation as event selection will be done in Events Manager early this year.

Ad sets optimizing for an event beyond the 8 that are prioritized will be paused.

The 8 conversion events per domain will be ranked based on priority- if multiple events are completed by a user (i.e. “add to cart” and “purchase”) only the higher prioritized event will be reported.

After the initial configuration, the domain owner will be able to configure which 8 events are tracked for a given domain in Events Manager.[3]

Next Steps

Domain Verification

Facebook recommends domain verification in Business Manager. This only applies to businesses with pixels used by multiple Business Managers or personal ad accounts. To find out more visit: Facebook Help Centre.[4]

Value Optimization

Enable Value Optimisation VO that will transition from Ads Manager to Events Manager. If you have previously used VO, value sets will be automatically assigned based on collected data. You may need to configure value sets manually if you have used VO infrequently or have never used it. We recommend that events with value sets should be placed in higher priority slots within Events Manager for optimal performance.

Metrics

28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through attribution windows will no longer be supported. Statistical modelling will be implemented for certain attribution windows to account for less data availability from iOS 14 users. In-product annotation will communicate when a metric is modelled. By adopting the Comparing Windows feature, you will be able to see how conversions attributed to ads compare across different attribution windows.

More changes and implementation created by Facebook may be expected in the coming months.

If you need any help implementing the recommended changes or you would like to find out more about how iOS 14 may affect your business, feel free to contact Blue Frontier. Our social media team can help you navigate this change and optimise your Facebook ad campaigns.