iOS 14 Update: What It Means For Digital Marketers

Digital marketing and the iOS 14 update

With the recent roll out of the iOS 14 privacy update, users have the option to opt out of any in-app data collection in apps like Facebook and Instagram (just to name a couple). Bottom line is that Apple wants to give users a more transparent choice to protect their privacy and information—which sounds like a reasonable change, right? 

With the choice to opt-out of tracking now front and center, we’re expecting that most people will choose to opt-out of apps sharing data—so what does this mean for marketers?

What can marketers expect from this update?

The iOS 14 update will impact all advertisers. But those who rely on measuring specific actions taken on their websites, or use website retargeting will be most affected.

The updates will impact anyone who:

  • Runs ad campaigns with a specific conversion goal (such as a purchase or lead)

  • Tracks and reports on conversion data from the Facebook Pixel

  • Relies on data tracking to retarget website visitors, or businesses that use conversion data to build lookalike audiences for prospecting

  • Seeks potential customers whose purchase cycle is longer than seven days

One major change that has come with this update, is the way we’re tracking. Before the rollout, we were able to track unlimited events on a website or app. Now, a maximum of eight events can be tracked within a single domain (purchases, sign-ups, etc). Meaning that marketers will have to decide which events are most valuable. This change will notably reduce the amount of data available to collect and report. And, as we know, businesses depend on this data to personalize ads to specific users. Without it, ads will be less personalized, less effective, and with less data, the view of the customer will become blurred. Some predict that sales through personalized ads may drop as much as 60% as the update is rolled out and enforced.

Something else we’re expected to see is a decline in custom audiences, such as remarketing campaigns—if users aren’t giving buying signals so easily, the size of retargeting audiences will shrink and it will become harder to reach people who have demonstrated an interest in your business. Therefore, marketing efforts will likely be forced to reach for broader audiences (who may be less ready to buy).  

Ad frequency and ad performance will also be impacted by the iOS 14 update. With a whole new host of users operating in the dark, Facebook’s ability to limit ad frequency and deliver to the best audiences will be affected. Less user data means less precise targeting, making it more difficult for Facebook’s algorithm to make smart decisions on where to show impressions. 

Another change is how we measure conversions. The attribution window will change to a 7-day click and 1-day view (so long 28-day click & view window!), ultimately giving marketers less flexibility in how much data they are seeing and reporting on. This update could also mean that we’ll see a decline in conversion numbers, as a result of the shorter timeframes.

What can marketers do now? 

While tools like Facebook’s algorithms have done the hard work of finding our audiences for us, changes like the iOS 14 update make it more important than ever to own that information yourself. Collecting data manually isn’t the most intuitive way, but for the time being, collecting data from your website, emails lists, etc. will help with retargeting efforts. Something we’re seeing more frequently is an added landing page, where users are asked to enter their first and last name and email address. This information can then be uploaded to Facebook to create a custom remarketing audience.

Outside of lead gen, in-depth research on your audience and their behaviors is one of the most valuable ways to invest marketing dollars. Here at Pennock, we like to develop customer personas and customer journeys–where we highlight everything from our customers' income, what they do on the weekends, and their buying behaviors. This exercise not only helps us truly understand our customers, it also helps us create more persuasive ads that will appeal to our prospecting audience (and helps us choose the best conversion events for optimizing campaigns).

As mentioned above, you are now limited to a maximum of eight conversion events per domain. Now is the time to decide which 8 events to use for optimizing your account (and rank them 1-8). The following prioritization might provide the most value to your business, but note that this is just an example. Every business is different, so prioritize your business needs.

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With the shortened reporting window, marketers should export any historical 28-day view or click and 7-day view attribution window data that they need (historical data will still be accessible via the Ads Insights API, even after the changes go into effect). It’s also a good idea to export historical data based on the new standard of 7-day click and 1-day view through attribution. This way, you can compare the two data sets side by side to predict how your performance will be expected to change. 

Lastly, with less data being collected and because ad platforms will no longer be able to profile users based on historical engagement data, marketers should be ready for audiences to be overexposed to ads—making ad fatigue set in quicker. Creative will need to be part of a larger strategy and altering creatives and messaging more frequently will help decrease the likelihood that someone is exposed to the same messaging over and over. 

Conclusion

We all know that changes in technology are inevitable, and at the end of the day, all we can do is prepare and adapt. While these changes are bringing more attention to how digital marketing is run, the hope is that they lead to better user experiences and relationships between consumers and marketers. So, roll with the punches, make changes when needed, and always be ready for something new!