Anyone who runs adverts on Facebook has certainly come across at least one of these two ads in Facebook Business Manager several times in recent weeks:
The launch of iOS 14.5, which was announced some time ago, is drawing ever closer and with it fundamental changes to the performance marketing environment as we have known it up to now. An exact date for the roll-out is not yet known, but it is already worth looking into possible solutions and taking the necessary precautions.
What will change with iOS 14.5?
With the new update of Apple’s own iOS operating system, Apple users have the option of opting in or out if an app wants to track the user. This choice by the user as to whether or not usage data can be collected poses major problems for many companies, such as Facebook.
The new options for Apple users
Logically, there are now two cases:
- An opt-in is selected by the user: The data can continue to be recorded and – apart from the changes in the Business Manager – everything remains the same.
- The user chooses to opt out: The known ways of tracking are now prevented by Apple. However, Facebook has already developed an initial solution for this: Aggregated Event Measurement.
What changes will the introduction of iOS 14 bring to Facebook Business Manager?
Facebook is responding to the changes brought about by iOS 14.5 and is fundamentally reorganising the Business Manager. The most important changes can be divided into three areas:
Tracking changes:
- Only a maximum of 8 conversion events per domain can now be tracked.
These events must not only be defined, but also prioritised.
Reporting:
- View-through tracking is only possible to a limited extent.
- Facebook now only provides a 7-day click attribution.
- Fewer conversions will be tracked, which will result in a lower ROAS.
- Conversion events can no longer be broken down by demographic characteristics.
Optimisation & targeting:
- The conversion window at ad level is changed or cancelled.
- Due to the lower number of conversion captures, the size of the retargeting pool is consequently reduced.
Aggregated Event Measurement – Facebook's response
Aggregated Event Measurement, or AEM for short, is Facebook’s current response to Apple’s tracking restrictions. It continues to enable tracking of users who have opted out, even if only a limited amount of the usual data can be collected.
This restriction on the data that can be collected has prompted Facebook to prioritise the events to be tracked in Aggregated Event Measurement. Page operators or marketing agencies can now define up to 8 events per domain that are to be tracked when a page is visited. However, simply creating the events is not enough. As only one of the events can be tracked in the event of an opt-out, these events must be prioritised:
On the left, 5 events have been defined as examples that a company might want to track in its online shop. All of these events will continue to be tracked for the following users when they visit the store:
- All Android users
- Desktop users
- iOS users with an iOS version older than iOS 14.5
- iOS 14.5 users who have given their opt-in
However, as soon as a user with iOS 14.5 decides not to have their data collected, only the event with the highest prioritisation will be tracked.
An example: A person visits the store via a Facebook advert and decides to opt out. He then clicks through the online shop and looks at products. This fires the View content event. The user really likes one of the products and adds it to their shopping cart. He then leaves the online shop. Two events were triggered during the visit: View content and add to basket. However, as ‘add to cart’ was prioritised higher, only the event is recorded.
What needs to be done?
Some precautions can already be taken before the official release of iOS 14.5. We recommend taking the following steps now to ensure the smoothest possible transition.
Verify domain
Firstly, each domain must be verified. To do this, open the Domains sub-item in the ‘Brand Safety’ section of the Business Manager settings:
A new domain is added by clicking on the blue ‘Add’ button. To verify the domain, a choice of three options appears:
- DNS Verification
- HTML file upload
- Meta tag verification
Meta tag verification is the simplest option, as only a short tag needs to be added to the header of the domain.
Define the 8 most important events
Once the domain has been verified, the up to 8 events that are to be tracked from now on should be defined. This decision should not be taken lightly, as future campaigns could be significantly affected. The events can be changed later, but it can take up to 72 hours for the change to take effect. During this time, it will not be possible to track or optimise campaigns for the new event.
The events are set up in the Facebook Business Manager under the Data Sources section or the Events Manager.
Once the Events Manager has been accessed, click on the ‘Measurement of aggregated events’ tab (as shown in the following screenshot). The blue ‘Configure web events’ button then takes you to the ‘Web event configurations’.
In the next step, a list of domains is displayed. Click on the domain to be edited to open it and the ‘Edit events’ button appears under the number of the assigned events, as shown in the next image.
After clicking on ‘Edit events’, the events can be defined. To do this, simply select the pixel from the drop-down list and then the event to be tracked. If several events are to be tracked, they must also be prioritised. To do this, the events are prioritised from highest to lowest priority using drag-and-drop. As soon as this is done, the selection is confirmed with the ‘Send’ button.
Once these steps have been completed, the 8 events defined for the domain will be tracked automatically as soon as iOS 14.5 is launched.
Caution: If these events have not yet been defined at the time of the iOS 14 launch, Facebook automatically selects eight of the existing events and prioritises them itself. This can lead to the wrong events being tracked or the prioritisation not matching the set goals or ongoing campaigns. A subsequent change will then ensure that the campaigns affected by the changes are shut down for up to 72 hours.
Change attribution window
Facebook must restrict the attribution windows due to the new forms of tracking by the AEM. In future, only the following attribution windows will be available:
- 1 day after the click (1-Day Click)
- 7 days after the click (7-Day Click)
- 1 day after clicking or viewing (1-Day Click & 1-Day View)
- 7 days after clicking or 1 day after viewing (7-Day Click & 1-Day View)
At the moment, the ‘7 days after clicking or 1 day after seeing’ window is set as the default. As soon as Apple releases iOS 14.5, the default settings will change to the 7-Day Click attribution window.
Our recommendation: Gradually switch to the 7-Day Click Window now so that you can get used to it.
Conclusion
The release of iOS version 14.5 is fast approaching and with it one of the biggest shocks the performance marketing industry has ever seen. However, Facebook has managed to find an answer to the new challenge with Aggregated Events Measurement. However, the AEM can only compensate to a limited extent for the loss of data that is to be expected due to the opt-out option for iPhone users.
Above all, it is important to take the necessary precautions now in order to be prepared for the changes associated with AEM. Two steps in particular should be taken: You should verify the domain and enter up to 8 events in prioritised order to limit data loss.
However, it should be noted that even if these two steps are followed, a significant loss of data is to be expected, which will severely limit retargeting opportunities, among other things. It is currently not possible to do more than follow the steps described and so it remains to be seen how high the opt-out rates will really be and whether there will be any further solutions and workarounds.
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