iOS14 Facebook Advertising FAQs
As soon as we published our previous article on iOS14, the questions starting rolling in. So, to take it further, we asked a question in our Facebook Group, Facebook and Instagram Pro Ad Buyers, centering on lingering questions people still had. This article addresses those questions. We’ve spent hours researching this, so please enjoy, and do let us know other questions you still have via our contact form on our homepage.
The Top Five Takeaways In This Post:
Not all tracking is being lost completely.
The iOS14 rollout will transparently notify users which apps are tracking their data and allow them to choose whether to opt-out. If a user opts out, changes to that person’s data will include shorter attribution windows, eight standard and custom optimization events, no demographic data in reporting breakdowns, and likely smaller retargeting audiences due to only the highest prioritized events being noted.
Facebook is working on something that’s a way to track via advanced click measurement. That’s all we know now, but it should help in the attribution loss we will face.
If a user has opted-out of tracking on iOS14, one highest-prioritized event be attributed to that user within the 1-day attribution window.
The 7-day click attribution setting will not initially support opt-outs and it will only report on opt-ins, where data flows in as it does today and more than one event can get returned, without delay.
There should be no degrading in the quality of audiences built on actions within the platform (i.e. video views, post engagers, saved posts, etc.).
Before Facebook removes 28-day attribution, we suggest comparing the relationship between 28-day to 7-day so that each account has an understanding of what success looks like with a 7-day window, in order to have that knowledge once 28-day attribution is removed.
We, along with Facebook, are unsure of what Google is doing, and/or when they may be also moving away from a 28-day attribution window, so it is still unclear whether or when Google Analytics/UTMs will be affected.
So…What does FB see as a real way forward on tracking and attribution?
A: To us, at least for now, it looks very much the same or similar to what we already have currently. The biggest things to remember are that we are not losing ALL tracking abilities and performance data. We will still have a 7-day click window with which we can manage performance within, and sales will continue to exist. At this time, the changes simply mean that things will be a little more gray until we find a better way.
That said, Facebook is already in the works to improve upon what Apple offers in their private click management (PCM), as it is limited in understanding the nuances of the digital ecosystem. For example, When an iOS14 user is served an ad on Instagram and is taken to a web browser to complete a purchase, with PCM, that event would be lost and not properly attributed. The same would also occur in a scenario where a user in Spain is served an ad for a US based company but is then redirected to the Spain version of the site based on their location. In this that redirect would cause the attribution of that purchase to not be properly tracked.
To remedy this, Facebook will be rolling out their Aggregated Event Management tool that will, in turn, be able to properly attribute sales in instances mentioned above, thus improving the overall attribution.
Q: What will the 8 optimization/tracking events be, and how will they be determined?
A: Facebook says they will release their tool set in mid-to-late-January where advertisers will be able to prioritize up to 8 conversion events each account wants to utilize. These can be updated as time goes on, but only 8 standard and custom events can be utilized at a time. This goes for both CAPI and browser-based pixel events. When a user is on Android or has opted-in to tracking, all 8 events will be passed from that user. When the user has opted-out, we’ve been told that 1 prioritized event will still be attributed to that user within the 1-day attribution window.
For example, if an advertiser prioritized their events as: Purchase > Initiate Checkout > Add to Cart >View Content (with purchase being most important) and a user who opted out makes a purchase, the advertiser will only see the purchase event attributed. If the user does not make a purchase, but added product to their cart, the advertiser will see the ATC event, as it is the next most important event they have prioritized for that the opted-out user has taken within 24-48hrs of that action.
Q: Is there going to be a 3-day lag on all reporting or just some reporting? Will conversions tracked via CAPI be more accurate/faster/more thorough vs. browser events?
A: The three-day delay only applies any time an advertiser wants to change one of the 8 events. Advertisers will need to wait 3 days to run campaigns against the newly prioritized event – one day of attribution, followed by 24 to 48 hours of delay (similar to PCM). The 72-hour cool down ensures there are no potential errors in reporting or optimization. When an event is changed, the cool down period extends for the maximum elapsed time that a previously assigned event could be reported.
As it relates to CAPI, data passed may be more accurate as it is improves upon the inconsistencies that can occur with browser pixel events, but overall events passed this way also follow the same iOS14 protocols (IE: CAPI is not a way around iOS14 protocols but creates more consistency for the data that is able to pass from your site to Facebook on web & iOS14 devices).
Q: Will in-app checkout (i.e. Instagram Shopping) roll out globally as an alternative option? Additionally, are there plans for in-app purchase and shops to be expanded for digital products and services?
A: At this point, there has been no announcement on whether Shops will expand for digital products or services. It is also safe to assume that Shops will be around, and as ad tools grow for them, there will be value in testing the waters to see how they may improve a brand’s overall sales and attribution. We feel hopeful this will live alongside traditional conversion ads as a viable compliment to those ads reliant on a website.
Q: Would adding UTMs, either in-ads-platform or manually help tracking at all?
A: UTMs in this scenario may help in being able to discover purchases that came from FB/IG that are not able to be attributed within ads manager, but only for a limited time and here is why:
We know that in mid-to-late-January, Facebook plans to move away from the 28-day window and will only show a 7-day click. We, along with Facebook, are unsure of what Google is doing and/or when they may be also moving away from a 28-day attribution window.
In theory, by using UTMs, a brand could potentially see sales that are coming in from FB/IG outside of the 7-day attribution window within Google Analytics. That said, this would only work if Google Analytics holds out longer than Facebook to roll out these changes. Remember, this is not just a Facebook vs. Apple thing; this is a change all digital platforms will have to adjust for that operate within iOS devices.
It is also advised that advertisers download as much of their 28-day data before it is removed in order to understand the latency that occurs within their accounts currently and in the past, so they can hopefully build in some expectation or residual model for the relationship between 28-day vs. 7-day data that they and their clients can mutually agree on.
Q: Regarding interest targeting, if users opt out of tracking in the FB app, will FB no longer be able to use their in-app follows for interests profiling, and will future follows/searches/engagements be lost? Also, would this also be the case for geographic and demographic info?
A: To clarify, users are not opting out of in-app tracking, but rather, Apple is providing transparency in the iOS14 update in terms of which apps track them across the web, along with giving users an option whether they agree to being tracked by that app across the web and through other apps they use on their specific iOS14 mobile device when they leave the original app. This is not an opportunity to fully opt-out of all tracking or to opt-out of in-app actions.
With that said, there should be no degrading in the quality of audiences built on actions within the platform (i.e. video views, engagers, saved posts, etc.). It is also our understanding that interest-based targeting is primarily built from platform interactions, so there should not be an issue with interest targeting on the platform.
When it comes to geographic and demographic targeting, advertisers will still be able to target by geographic location and demographic segments, however, advertisers will no longer be able to break down data by these segments within the breakdown or reporting tabs.
If age demo is important for clients to understand, options to remedy this could include running smaller demo tests (breaking out audiences by demo/age/gender) or adding a date of birth field to any existing checkout/email forms, which could help to better understand client demos.
Q: If a user opts out of tracking, will their engagements still be tracked (i.e. video views, saves, likes, comments, etc.)?
A: The short answer is: yes. As mentioned above, by opting out, an iOS14 user is not fully opting out from having their actions tracked within an app, but rather opting to prevent an app from being able to track them using unique device identifiers across the web and other apps on that iOS14 device.
Q: Since retargeting in general will be very difficult (especially website traffic), and assuming retargeting from other platform ad traffic (Google, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok) will also be blocked, what are some ideas on how retargeting will be reimagined post-iOS14?
A: This question is one that will be most interesting to see, as this change will bring a decrease in these audience sizes, though is not going to be fully blocked. Therefore, there may not necessarily be a need to “reimagine” retargeting, it just may require greater consolidating to bring these retargeting audiences up to size. For example, even though a user who opted out did not purchase but may have added to their cart, advertisers will still be able to retarget that user for that single event if it is the next most prioritized event.
Another thing to point out is that custom audiences will still be allowed, so if you have a user who opted out on their iOS14 device, but they are on the email list or are a past purchaser, you can still upload that data to Facebook Audiences to serve them ads.
Q: Is the FB pixel now tied to the verified domain, hence why it is suggested to make sure domains are verified before iOS14 rolls out?
A: Yes, the pixel is tied to a verified domain, which is why it will be so important to verify your domain as soon as possible (and before iOS14 rolls out). It should be noted that this will affect conversion objective campaigns, but should not affect traffic campaigns that drive traffic to sites without a pixel or to a partner site where you may be trying to generate interest (find more information on domain verification here.
We encourage you to read what Facebook says about this below:
Any business that has pixels on their domain owned by two or more business or ad accounts should prioritize domain verification. If they do not, the business will not be able to edit the conversion event configuration for this domain(IE: Prioritizing their 8 events).
An advertiser will be able to edit the conversion event configuration for a domain without going through domain verification if all pixels on the domain are owned by one Business Manager or Ad Account. Domain verification needs to be done at the effective top level domain plus one (eTLD+1 ).
As a general rule of thumb, if advertisers want to know the eTLD+1 domain, it would be the domain that they registered with their website. For example, for www.books.jasper.co.uk, books.jasper.co.uk and jasper.co.uk the eTLD+1 domain is jasper.co.uk.
In terms of say a band wanting to drive traffic to Spotify as an example, you wouldn’t verify that domain because you wouldn’t own the pixel on that domain and would have to drive a link click campaign—you wouldn’t receive any reporting on activity on that domain regardless. You wouldn’t be configuring events on that domain, so there’s no need to verify it.
We’re still waiting for clarification on how one would proceed if they have multiple brands but no top level domain exists.
Q: What percentage of data does FB think they'll lose on tracking for ROAS?
A: From all the research we did (talking to agencies, brands, and Facebook), we were unable to come up with a model or way of accurately predicting this. At this time, it is a bit of a waiting game to fully understanding the reduction we may see.
That said, we understand that Facebook is looking to hopefully have their initial tool set rolled out somewhere between middle and the end of January to help get advertisers moved over and acclimated to the changes before the iOS14 update takes effect to minimize any discrepancies in performance.
Thanks for reading. Make it this far? Still have lingering questions? Want a discount code to one of our courses? Contact us via our contact form at foxwelldigital.com.
