Apple’s iOS14 update asks users for their permission to be tracked by websites and apps. This includes the big tech companies, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
Through AppTracking Transparency, a user’s permission is now required in order to have their data shared across websites and apps. Without sharing your data, you will no longer be targeted by online advertising.
We look at what this means for businesses and how we can continue to successfully target prospective customers through digital marketing.
Just 13% of iOS users opt into being tracked by third-party apps.
Previously, 70% of iPhone users had shared their data with apps.
Using Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), a random string of numbers and letters implemented by Apple for devices to be uniquely identified, companies were able to deliver personalised ads tailored to interests and activity without sharing personal details. There were options to switch this off in the settings before, however, you needed to do so manually.
This update now asks every single app to send you a notification asking if you would like your data shared.
Apple has aimed to set a higher standard for privacy to increase trust among users and to evoke the App store as a trusted place to enter your details.
What does this mean for the big apps?
By allowing users to choose whether they would like to be tracked or not, it provides people with far more control over their data, how it is shared and whether they wish to be targeted by marketing ads.
If a user clicks no, third parties will not be able to use the phone’s pixels to track certain website or app behaviour and use this for targeted marketing purposes.
Advertisers such as Facebook can no longer gain valuable marketing insights into customer behaviours. The change in tracking means that fewer people will be on the remarketing audience list for ads.
Thus, companies are unable to advertise to users who are already interested in a product or service.
It is estimated that sales through personalised ads may drop by about 60%.
What type of marketing is affected by this update?
The update has affected digital marketing and anyone who relies on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat advertising as it is no longer possible to rely on a pixel to collect data and use it to optimise ads.
Consequently, fewer sales will accumulate due to having fewer leads – this will particularly impact small businesses using Facebook advertising.
On Facebook, without pixel tracking all user events, the audience pool has been reduced, resulting in less remarketing and lower conversion rates. Facebook’s own update means that you are able to track fewer events, only 8 per campaign.
The attribution window has also been decreased from 28 days to 7 days, this could impact the number of conversions as there is less data being collected from which to learn from and optimise the ads. To find out more about Facebook’s own updates for I0S14, please click here.
There are currently 44.84 million users active on Facebook, so it is still an effective tool for marketing opportunities.
How are we dealing with it?
For our Facebook ads, we have had to adapt and use the data which is collected on Facebook.
Our own ads have been targeting those who have engaged with or like/follow a Facebook page, watched 75% of video ads, target by interest, age, gender, brand, and location. This has been providing us with a large enough audience pool to use for marketing purposes.
Additionally, audiences can even be segmented to target Android users as the iOS update only affects Apple users.
To ensure Facebook marketing campaigns are running at full capacity, marketers must verify their domains within Facebook’s Ads Manager, ensure that the correct pixel is implemented on the site and all tracking is done correctly in Google Analytics.
The Apple iOS update is a great improvement to our digital world, preserving user privacy and protecting our personal data. So, even though we can no longer target warmer leads with our marketing, there are several solutions to overcome this.
After all, targeting by interest provides businesses with a pool of users interested in our products and services.
Our work
We manage 30+ Google Ad accounts for clients in many diverse sectors. Take a look at some examples of our work.
Get started
Need help with your Facebook Ad targeting? Get in touch and let’s have a chat to see how we can help take your Facebook Ads to the next level.
