How iOS 14.5 Changes Digital Marketing
The iOS 14.5 update is all set for users to install. This update includes several new features including incident reporting in Apple Maps, Siri enhancements, and new emojis. What we find the most interesting is the privacy update that Apple is implementing. It seems like everywhere we look lately the world of data tracking is changing. Although Google is pushing back their plan to block the third party cookie, marketers still need to be prepared for it. The iOS 14.5 privacy update will allow users to choose whether or not to share their data every time they download a new app. This is a serious curveball for marketers who use this data to track campaigns and create personalized ads. We have a feeling that when given the option, many users will opt out of tracking. While protecting user privacy is an important step for Apple, it does mean that marketers will have to change their strategy. Fear not, in the digital marketing industry, we have mastered the art of pivoting.
What Will This Update Change?
Not only will this update make it harder to create personalized ads, but it will also skew reporting, make mobile app install campaigns impossible to create if you target iOS users, make retargeting campaigns more difficult, and only allow you to place 8 Facebook Pixel objectives on one domain. Facebook pixels are just another way to track user activity, which means that on top of this new opt-out option, even fewer data will be available to marketers. We should also all expect to see a drop in ad performance and an increase in generic ads rather than the hyper-personalized ads we’ve all gotten used to.
What Can We Do?
As digital marketers, there are changes in our industry almost daily. While privacy updates like iOS 14.5 and Google’s decision to phase out cookies are big changes, we are confident that we will quickly evolve around this. There are a few things that marketers can do right now to adapt to these privacy changes:
Don’t forget about Android
Android users currently makeup over 40% of the population, and as of right now, the opt-out option is not available to them. We can still run Android campaigns and gather data from Android users.
Rely on Your Site
While there will be missing information as Facebook pixel will become limited and people will opt-out of tracking on Safari, you can still gather data collected from your site. Users who are coming from a different operating system or opt-in to data tracking will still provide valuable information to help make an informed decision about ad performance.
Update Facebook SDK
Facebook wants everyone to make sure they update or enable Facebook SDK which will help deliver more personalized ads to iOS 14.5 and later users, continue to measure app install ads, continue to optimize for mobile app installs, app event optimization, and value optimization, continue to optimize for app installs and event optimization with Automated App Ads, send the Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag with app events to share user consent status and share app events from iOS 14.5 and later users. To learn more about Facebook SDK, visit Facebook’s Business Help Center.
Keep an Eye on SKADNetwork
SKADNetwork is Apple’s attribution network. This is an alternative way to measure the attribution of mobile ad campaigns for iOS apps. SKADNetwork has several limitations, as it only shares conversion data without any user or device-level data. However, because it complies with Apple’s new privacy updates, it is currently the only way to receive attribution for users who opt-out of data sharing. This could be a helpful way to fill in some gaps in your reporting. We are also hopeful that Apple will continue to update SKADNetwork to provide more useful information for advertisers.
