The impending iOS 14 update is causing ripples of anxiety amongst Facebook advertisers, but how worried should we really be? Here we give a top line view of what we do know, what we don’t know, and what you can do to help keep your campaigns running smoothly.

What do we know?

We know that in January, Apple are due to roll out the iOS 14 update, and with it a prompt which will ask mobile and ipad users if they would like to opt out of tracking. This has caused many a furrowed brow over at Facebook as this tracking is one of the key tools which supports Ads Manager to deliver the exceptionally successful ads campaigns it is renowned for. To help minimise disruption they have responded with a solution which requires Ads Manager users to make a few changes. More on these below, but our recommendation is to act on these as early as possible.

One of these solutions is the introduction of Aggregated Event Measurement, which will mean:

• Users are limited to 8 conversion events/custom conversions per domain (eg purchase, add to cart, view content)

• The conversion events will be ranked by priority and if more than one event is completed only the highest will be reported (ie a customer who completes initiate checkout, add to cart and purchase it will only report the purchase)

As these changes are rolled out we will also lose the ability to use the 28 day click through attribution window (the period of time between a customer being served and advert and taking action). From January attribution will be set at 7 day click through and 1 day view. To prepare our clients for this change we have analysed the last few months figures using both 28 day click through and 7 day click through. Measuring the difference between the two gives us some indication of the drop off we can expect in the data in January. Critical to remember, the drop off is in the figures reported, not how hard those ads have worked for you.

What don’t we know?

Technically these updates should only affect mobile and ipad Apple users, but it’s currently not clear whether the Facebook solutions will be rolled out globally to apply to everyone, so it’s best to make that assumption for the time being.

There is broad speculation on what the impact will be on advertisers, but we’re confident that there will be some positives to come out of this too. Those who are prepared and minimise the bumps in the road could find conditions are less competitive than they’ve been for some time. One possibility is CPMs are likely to come down. This figure is the amount you pay per 1000 impressions, and is a key soft stat to keep an eye on when optimising your ads performance. Watch this figure over the next few months. 

What do you need to do now?

This update is rolling out some time in January, and being prepared before that happens makes good sense. We’d recommend the following:

• Get your domain verified in Business Manager. This is good practice anyway, but often gets knocked down the ‘to do’ list if it’s not immediately impacting your work in Ads Manager. It will now… get it done! 

1. Go into your Business Manager > Business Settings > Brand Safety > Domains

2. Click the blue ‘Add’ button and add the domain name you want to verify.

3. Select the method you’d like to use and follow the instructions, depending where your website is hosted 

• Plan for using just 8 conversion events. We believe you will be prompted to do this in early January, so best to prepare for it.

• If you use Dynamic Ads Facebook are advising that you verify product URL domains in the catalogue feed and avoid using URLs redirecting to a different domain. They also advise that you prepare to use only 1 pixel per catalogue to optimise for prioritised conversion events across all catalogue items.

• Switch your attribution windows to 7 day click, 1 day view and update any automated rules which are using a 28 day attribution window. You can use the Comparing Windows feature to see how conversions attributed to ads compare over different attribution windows.

In short, there’s still a lot to learn, but well prepared and well managed accounts stand to benefit from a changing marketplace and we’re confident we will manage this effectively for our clients.  

Nutshell manage paid social media advertising for businesses of varying size, in multiple sectors. We’re more than happy to make your life easier and help you take your social campaigns to the next level and beyond!