What Does the iOS 14 Update Mean for Facebook Marketing

Facebook marketers are bracing for impact as Apple rolls out its iOS14 finally in the coming weeks. This update is set to disrupt the way marketers use consumer data and track the performance of their Facebook ads.

Developers won’t be able to display an announcement with an ‘OK’ button if you agree at the bottom with a link to your settings.

Instead, the iOS 14 update will require users to explicitly opt-in to grant these permissions.

This is the exact opposite of Facebook’s current data collection policy. As it stands, Facebook informs users about the way it handles data, and users need to go to their privacy settings to opt out. Of course, most of us don’t bother.

Apple’s iOS 14 will tell users how an app handles their data. While these are welcome changes, they will impact negatively Facebook marketing in particular.

What lies at the heart of the update is the question of privacy versus ad personalisation and tracking ‒ some would say a well-worn theme in the marketing world.

The iOS 14 update has led to a public spat between Apple and Facebook, which will influence how privacy is handled moving forward.

Apple has announced that the feature will be introduced sometime in February of 2021.

Facebook is worried. If ad performance decreases as a result of these changes, then marketers will spend less. This threatens to put a serious dent into Facebook’s revenue stream.

In this article, I’ll go over everything that we know about the iOS 14 update and what it means for the future of Facebook marketing.

The Changes That Come With the iOS 14 Update

The Apple prompt will ask for your permission to use your data with two easy options:

  • Allow tracking
  • Disallow tracking

This prompt will appear on all iOS apps, which includes: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Also, apps that are integrated into the Audience Network will be included.

Here are some of the examples from Apple that will require approval from iOS users:

  • Providing customised ads in your app based on data sourced from apps and websites owned by other brands.
  • Sharing device location, advertising IDs or other IDs, and email lists with third parties that use the data for retargeting purposes or to build lookalike audiences.
  • Including a third-party SDK in your app that tracks user data from your app with user data from other apps for targeting and marketing purposes. Even if you don’t use the SDK for these purposes, you’ll have to ask for permission. For example, using an analytics SDK that takes the data it gets from your app to improve targeted advertising in other apps.

Apple’s goal is to make users aware of what an app will track before they decide to install it:

Image Source: Search Engine Journal

Once an iOS user installs the app, they have to grant permission for tracking one more time.

Apple has dubbed it the “App Tracking Transparency” prompt.

While users were always able to prevent apps from tracking them, the procedure to do so was typically hidden from the user.

Now, with the iOS 14 update, users will have to grant permission explicitly, and Facebook predicts that most users will opt out.

Facebook’s Reaction to the iOS 14 Update

To say that Facebook is not happy about the iOS 14 update is an understatement.

Facebook Ads rely strongly on user data to track actions or purchases from ads, create retargeting, build lookalike audiences, and much more.

Without this data, the targeting features of Facebook Ads will weaken significantly.

Once Facebook and Instagram are made to display Apple’s prompt to their users, businesses that target, optimise, and report on mobile web events will take a hit.

Facebook’s response has been to focus on the harm that the iOS 14 update will do to small businesses:

They’re hurting small businesses and publishers who are already struggling in a pandemic. These changes will directly affect their ability to use their advertising budgets efficiently and effectively.”

Facebook claims that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy is all about profit, not privacy. The iOS 14 update is designed to force companies to offer subscriptions and other “in-app payments” for revenue. This would benefit Apple, but force businesses to start charging for services that were previously free.

Facebook warns us that the iOS 14 update will also harm small businesses in the following ways:

  • Ad personalisation will take a hit, which could result in 60% fewer sales from Facebook or Instagram ads.
  • Publishers experienced a 50% dip in revenue when personalisation was removed. This could lead to a drop in revenue by 50% resulting from Facebook app install ads.
  • Reaching the target audience will be more difficult, thus limiting growth.

Facebook claims to have the interests of most vulnerable businesses in mind, rather than the big companies with huge marketing budgets.

In an attempt to gin up resistance to the iOS 14 update, Facebook built a dedicated page for small business owners to voice their opposition to the iOS 14 update.

Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement

To limit the negative effects of the iOS 14 update, Facebook has introduced Aggregated Event Measurement. It’s designed to measure web events from iOS 14 users once the updates come into effect. You’ll be able to measure campaign performance while respecting “consumers’ decisions about their data.”

8 Conversion Events Per Domain

Aggregated Event Measurement will let marketers track 8 conversion events tracked per domain. The events are either Pixel or custom conversion.

How does this work, exactly?

Let’s assume a marketer includes both Add to Cart and Made a Purchase as two of those 8 allotted events. If a website visitor does both things, only the Purchase event will be tracked because it is a “higher prioritisation” metric.

So, for example, imagine a visitor who goes to the product landing page of your website (event: view content) and begins the purchase process (event: add to cart). Then, they complete their purchase (event: purchase). Facebook will only inform you about the on the purchase event since it has priority.

While this is still a very effective way of tracking customer behaviour, it doesn’t paint the whole picture. For instance, you won’t be able to tell which items experience high abandonment rate.

You can choose the 8 conversion events you want to track in the Events Manager. If you choose to switch one of the events, there will be a 3-day wait before until you can run campaigns against the new event.

How to Prepare your Facebook ads for the Apple iOS 14 update

  • Verify Your Domain: We aren’t exactly sure why, but Facebook is suggesting to do so. This is particularly important if you have Facebook Pixels on your domain owned by multiple entities. If you verify your domain you’ll be safe from any potential future disruptions when it comes to setting up conversion events.
  • Start Researching: Look into how many conversions such as purchases/reads and other events come from iOS users. This will give you a view of how your reporting will be affected.
  • Rank Your Conversion Events According to Priority: This applies only if you have more than 8. Choose the ones that give you the most insight into your audience. This includes add to cart, purchase, complete registration and any custom conversions you have running.
  • Find Ways of Getting Email Addresses: This is important so that you don’t have to use Pixel optimisation for remarketing. Also, look into running lead generation ads to get even more information about your audience.

To learn more about what steps to take, head over to Facebook’s page containing all the technical details developers need to know to prepare for the iOS 14 update.

The Biggest Challenges for Marketers

What does Apple’s iOS 14 update spell for social media marketing? Popular marketing features are going to lose their efficiency:

  • Obviously, Facebook pixels are not going to perform as well. Things like Add to Cart and custom conversions with Facebook Pixel will be under-reported because users will not want to be tracked. As a result, ads won’t be optimised as well because Pixels’ performance will drop.
  • Retargeting ads are not going to be as effective. When you create a remarketing audience, visitors to your website that used an iOS 14 won’t see your retargeted ads.
  • Building lookalike audiences is going to be an issue. Marketers won’t have data on iOS visitors, which means that they won’t be part of lookalike audiences.
  • Facebook won’t be able to optimise around app installs for iOS devices. So, if you’re promoting an app, that’s going to be an issue.

Keep in mind that these changes only apply to devices running iOS 14. The update won’t affect Android and desktop users.

Another important thing to note is that all channels are going to be affected by the iOS 14 update – Pinterest, Linkedin, YouTube, and Google.

Moving forward, it’s safe to assume that the optimisation of our ads is going to be the biggest drawback from the iOS 14 update. Marketers won’t be able to use events anymore to retarget or build lookalike audiences. Just how much damage this will inflict on optimisation campaigns is anyone’s guess.

Moving Forward

The iOS 14 update will make it more difficult to track your audience on iOS devices. The update is going to negatively affect the Pixel, which is one of the most important components of successful marketing strategies.

Making customised offers and marketing campaigns relies heavily on creating lookalike audiences. Most marketers do so based on pages visited, which will be difficult for iOS devices.

Now is time for marketers to step outside of our comfort zones and rethink our outreach methods.

There’s a silver lining here for marketers as well. At least in the short term. As marketers drop out, so will the competition and cost of advertising. Many experts are recommending using Google Analytics to get valuable data when possible.

Also, keep in mind that no one really knows what effect the iOS 14 update will have on digital marketing. And even when the update is introduced, it’ll probably be a couple of months before we have a clearer picture.

It will also affect different businesses differently. How many people in your target audience use iOS devices? And how many of them will turn off their tracking?

The iOS 14 update seems to be a harbinger of things to come. Changes to privacy policies and data tracking were introduced with GDPR. It’s only reasonable to expect more changes in the future.

In fact, Google is planning on getting rid of third-party cookies in Chrome in 2022. This signals another step away from tracking technology. Not surprisingly, Apple’s Safari has been blocking third-party cookies for many years now.

However, this doesn’t mean the end of tracking. Rather, it’s the beginning of actual end-user consent to data tracking. Google wants to build a “privacy sandbox” with transparent tracking standards that protect user privacy.

Consent continues to play a leading role in the major data protection laws – businesses need to find ways to obtain explicit consent from visitors before they can store any information.

The future of compliant tracking is consent. So, the challenge for marketers now is finding ways to build a strong rapport with their users to make that possible.