With the iOS 14 changes, the world of marketing has a new reality, but it doesn’t have to be as devastating as it seems!

Imagine a world where you are no longer able to access the movements or understand the preferences of your customer… With the iOS 14 changes that is the new reality, but it doesn’t have to be as devastating as it seems! Below, we break down what has changed, what this means and why it shouldn’t hugely affect your business if you’re working with an experienced marketing partner.

But before we begin, we should ask you a question…

What’s Changed? 

Whilst the introduction of the iOS 14 changes have caused a ripple effect across the advertising landscape, the most significant change would have to be the privacy prompt that appears when users first open any of the Facebook family apps. How they respond will have a significant impact on how you target them in the future. Essentially, if they respond by asking the app not to track their movement, the Facebook pixel will be turned off and their activity will no longer be accurately recorded. Devastating for big and small businesses alike? We don’t think so, but we’ll get to that.

The battle of Android vs. iOS 

Is this the downfall of Apple? Will Samsung finally take the place as top dog in the battle of the smartphones? As it stands, I wouldn’t be making the switch just yet. Android users will also be affected, as iOS 14 changes have sparked Facebook to apply their own changes globally, declaring an 8-event limit when on each ad set, overall effecting:

Reporting

Fewer conversions are now reported, with no defined attribution window. This means that rather than reporting conversions attributed to advertising that occur within 28 days of clicking and 1day of viewing, the window is modified by you or set at the default of a 7-day click. This will affect your understanding on how effective your ad was in relation to its goal making sales, site visits, sign up, etc.).

Targeting

Larger and fully accurate retargeting audiences are no longer possible, meaning you may miss targeting your more ‘interested’ customers and find it difficult to exclude your less optimal customer.

Optimisation

The 8-event limit means there are fewer events to optimise for, in some cases with only the highest priority even being reported, for example, if both Add to Cart and Purchase are 2 of your chosen 8 events and a user does both actions, only the purchase event will be recorded as a higher ranked priority. Also with demographic breakdowns now unavailable, future ads and optimising current ads will be based on less complete data.

 
The 8-Event Limit

What does this 8-event limit mean? Basically, you can now only configure up to 8 unique conversion events per website domain that can then be used for campaign optimisation. It is also important that these conversion events are then ranked based on priority when it comes to reporting. This can greatly affect what your data tells you and how you determine how well the ad set is performing based on its goal. These 8 events can be chosen and ranked by you in Events Manager. This ‘limits’ the information you’ll receive on your customer’s journey and if not chosen wisely and used effectively across different ad sets, could be detrimental to your success in the advertising landscape.

 
The question on everybody’s lips… How will this affect my business? 

Any marketing agency telling you this doesn’t affect your business does not have your best interest in mind. However, in saying this, if they have expressed their concern, beyond a cursory heads up, you’re working with the wrong agency. An experienced Facebook marketer should be able to navigate the changes and adjust their strategy accordingly in order to suit the new privacy-concerned world.

If your marketing team is experienced and strategic with your optimisation (within the 8-event limit, of course) and as long as you are able to access someone’s age or location, you are still able to target your ideal customer and other people suited to your business and it’s offerings. Looking for a strategic marketing partner that will get you through these new variances in this new advertising world? As Facebook Partners, AM Group prides ourselves on our understanding of Facebook advertising. As a company, we are always ahead of the curve, and the iOS 14 changes are no different. We’ve done the research and training to ensure we are able to dominate the new landscape and continue offering our clients successful ad campaigns that garner conversions and real leads.