Apple recently announced an iOS 14 update that will give users more control over their privacy settings. What does this mean for your Facebook ads? For one thing, the iOS 14 update will limit the amount of information available to advertisers. Since most businesses depend on social media and digital marketing to drive conversions, it is vital to understand how the iOS 14 update will impact your advertisement campaigns.
What iOS 14 Means for Facebook Ads
In the new update, Apple will require all apps in the App Store to display a prompt to their users on iOS devices, specifically asking for permission to track them outside of the app. According to Apple, the iOS 14 privacy policy will block data collection and sharing until the users click on the “Accept” button to opt-in.
The new Apple iOS 14 update will affect how marketers receive and process conversion rates from tools such as the Facebook pixel. The update will impact businesses that monitor, optimize, report, and target web conversation events. Here are some of the changes you should prepare for and expect.
More Subscriptions Models
At the moment, Apple doesn’t get a cut of any revenue generated via Facebook ads. However, they do get a reasonable cut from apps with in-app purchases or subscriptions. In order to increase the lifetime value of their customer (and be in Apple’s good graces), we’ll likely see more businesses shifting to in-app payments and subscriptions.
Less Effective Advertising
If iOS 14 users opt-out of data tracking, the Facebook pixel becomes useless. It means that you won’t be able to advertise to these individuals through remarketing. Understand that Facebook advertising relies on lookalike generation, conversion tracking, and remarketing — things that are not possible with the new update.
60% Decline in Online Sales
Are you looking to boost sales via hyper-targeted Facebook ads? Guess again. The new iOS 14 update will set a trend toward de-personalized ads throughout the platform. Facebook predicts that the loss in personalization could result in a decline of up to 60% on website sales from ads. And they’re not happy about it.
If you’re using Facebook ads to drive your sales, start finding ways to navigate through the new changes — now. The possible loss of sales could be substantial without proper preparation.
Limited Lookalike Audiences & Remarketing
Businesses small and large leverage their pixel data from Facebook ads to render lookalike audiences and reach new customers. The new update will make this technique ineffective for private iOS 14 users. It will not be possible for businesses to remarket to private users who visit their website.
Decrease in Return on Ad Spend
Return on ad spend (ROAS) on Facebook could see a significant drop due to the loss of personalization. If you use Facebook ads in any area of your marketing mix, you will likely see a drop-off in conversions and overall revenue generated. The loss of personalization and remarketing will lead to a massive reduction in revenue. When your ads are less personalized, the clickthrough rate declines, leading to higher CPC and less ROAS. You may need to rethink your budget optimizations.
How Can You Prepare
The main component that will be affected by the update is pixel tracking (this includes conversion events, remarketing lists, etc.). In this new age, you’re going to have to find workarounds to increase the effectiveness of your Facebook ads. Here are some suggestions on how to plan for the new update effectively.
Verify Your Domain
Facebook has been suggesting to its advertisers to get their domains verified. The first step to be proactive is that your business needs to implement domain verification when you integrate pixels from either personal ad accounts or multiple businesses. Use the business manager to verify your domain within a few minutes. There are three ways to do this:
- Add DNS TXT entry to your existing DNS record to verify that you own the domain.
- Upload the provided Facebook HTML file to your web directory and verify domain ownership in your Business Manager.
- Go to the domain home page section and add a meta tag.
For full instructions on how to verify your domain, visit Facebook for Developers.
Customize Your Ad Configuration
Based on your activity, Facebook will configure conversion events that seem the most relevant. However, you can fully customize your ad configuration in the Facebook Events Manager. Identify the conversion events that are most critical to the success of your business (and don’t forget to test them!). You can arrange them in order of priority within the events manager. The highest priority event will get delivered when a customer takes multiple actions within a conversion window.
Reduce Your Conversion Events
With the new iOS 14 privacy restrictions, Facebook is only allowing eight conversion events per domain. All ad sets that optimize an excluded conversion event will get paused automatically. Due to this change, learning more on aggregated event measurement could help you get the most from your Facebook campaigns. Check your Facebook Ad Manager to make sure you’re not receiving any error messages about inactive conversion events.
Focus on Getting Email Addresses From Your Ads
Most businesses are relying heavily on pixel optimization for retargeting. The new iOS 14 privacy update will make this technique inefficient. You need to start focusing your ad campaigns on collecting customer email addresses instead. Lead generation ads will be the most effective when the new iOS update rolls out. You can even run campaigns that use in-ad conversion forms.
Have Your Team Do the Research
While we’re unsure how drastic the effects of the new iOS update will be until it starts rolling out, reported conversions are bound to get worse. Don’t panic — just stay prepared. Getting all the information you need to prepare for upcoming changes is the best solution.
The entire world is going through this change together. Visit the Facebook Business Help Center and subscribe to our blog to get new information as it comes out. Then, you can make informed decisions about your next move.
Conclusion
If you’re uncomfortable working on Facebook ads and preparing for iOS 14, we can take the lead. Designzillas is a digital marketing agency that helps leading brands dominate online. Our ferocious team of digital experts will help you attract and convert customers online and find new ways to reach your audience in these changing times.
