iOS 14.5 Overview
This past April, Apple launched its highly anticipated iOS update, bringing us to iOS 14.5. Aside from the usual bug fixes, this update brought big changes to Apple’s privacy policy. With the intention of giving users more control over their personal data, the new update gives users the option to either allow or turn off data tracking upfront. Data tracking has always been optional, but now, rather than having to manually go into settings and turn off location services, each time you download a new app, users will receive a pop-up notification, asking them to make their decision; to be or not be tracked.
The Problem For Marketers
While on the surface this seems like a step in the right direction for protecting user’s privacy, this update could have a huge impact on the data available to marketers, which could, in turn, reduce the efficacy of marketing campaigns. When users opt-out of data tracking, marketers will no longer be able to collect data regarding which websites users visit, any actions taken within the website, or any websites visited after, meaning there will no longer be enough data to personalize ads to specific groups of users.
The biggest impact comes to those who utilize social media marketing, specifically Facebook.
Typically, marketers track numerous KPIs to follow user behavior and can optimize for whichever helps them reach their business goals. Marketers are now limited to 8 events per domain that they can prioritize to be able to reach full audiences, regardless of if the user has opted into or out of the App Tracking Transparency prompt. All other events that remain non-prioritized will now only be delivered to users who have opted in App Tracking Transparency prompt and users on other devices, such as Android, Windows, etc. This means limited delivery and less comprehensive data due to smaller audience sizes.
Effects on Small Businesses…
Though all agencies that rely on data will feel the impact of this update, iOS 14.5 is most likely to affect small business owners whose sole source of marketing comes from social media advertisements. In response to the recent changes, Facebook started the hashtag, #StandUpForSmallBusinesses in an attempt to raise awareness of how small businesses are disproportionately being affected by these data restrictions. Facebook also released a memo providing a number of ways marketers can ensure their ads are still effective. Examples of these strategies include updating to Facebook’s SDK for iOS 14 version 8.1 to continue receiving app conversion data, verify your page’s domain to avoid further campaign issues, and carefully decide which 8 events are most important.
Solutions for Marketers
In our ever-changing world, finding new ways to achieve your business goals is imperative. To give you a head start, here is a list of other ways marketers can ensure their campaigns are still effective despite the lack of data.
- Turn to organic data
- Track data independently- utilize your website’s tracking as well as the use of UTM parameters
- Enable Conversions API
- Enable Value Optimization
While Apple’s new update will certainly force marketers to think outside of the box, producing effective campaigns is not impossible, and we’re looking forward to the challenge of promoting our brands in this new reduced-data landscape.
