What Changed and Why?
Beginning in 2020, we started to prepare our clients for the iOS 14 update. Even then, data privacy was top-of-mind for marketers. With the iOS 15 update underway, it is more relevant than ever today.
Apple created the ‘Apple ID for Advertisers (IDFA),’ which is used to help advertisers (and brands) measure ad effectiveness through a series of engagement and conversion indicators. This also allows social media platforms to track devices and people at an individual level. Historically, the data applied to 100% of audiences AND allowed for various levels of data including visitation, engagement and click behaviors as well as purchase detail for both the platform and brand site.
With these iOS updates, Apple iPhone users have been permitted to opt-out of brands’ (company) websites/apps and social platforms like Facebook and Instagram tracking their behavior – that is, across apps and websites owned by other companies. Did you know it’s estimated that ~96% of iPhone users opt out of app tracking today?*
Additionally, many brands have taken a privacy-first approach and are requiring cookie consent when a consumer enters their website. This comes with varying degrees of options that are defined by local legislature, brand risk appetite and data best practices. Some brands take a simple yes/no approach while others feature layers of options for what can and cannot be tracked to consumers.
As data-driven marketers, we understand the severity of the situation. Unfortunately, these updates affect today’s marketers and brands’ omnichannel strategy most. However, with all challenges come opportunities. We’re here to share what you need to know, how your business can adjust your marketing strategy to be more effective and share our predictions for the future.
Today’s Situation
- Tracking is now significantly limited.
- Currently, a consumer’s experience on a given app or platform will not change, regardless of their tracking status.
- However, if a consumer opts out of tracking via the iOS update by selecting “Ask app not to track” then the app developer will no longer have access to the IDFA tracking code. This means the app – Netflix, Drizly or Ticketmaster, to name a few – will not know the individual device, where the consumer came from (source) or the consumer’s behaviors (i.e., any click or engagement actions) while in an app like those mentioned above.
- Right now, Android and its browser, Chrome, allows users to not be tracked, but it is not yet as prescribed as the iOS version (however, we predict that it’s coming!).
- This scenario also adversely affects remarketing campaigns because the consumer is not identified as having visited the platform. For example:
- A consumer selects “Ask app not to track.”
- That consumer visits Facebook and clicks through various links, and ultimately clicks through to the brand website to make a purchase.
- Facebook would report a general conversion event (in this case, a click-through to the brand site) and the brand would report the transaction. However, because the consumer requested to not be tracked, the brand would not know that they came from Facebook or their engagement while on Facebook.
- Social platforms like Facebook also made some adjustments to their reporting methodology. Prior to the updates, Facebook had a default setting for a 28-day click or one day of viewing your ad to attribute a purchase. Since the iOS 15 update that has changed to a seven-day attribution model to offer a more realistic view of ad performance for the platform. This means that if a consumer clicks on your ad and makes a purchase from Facebook the next seven days that behavior will be attributed to a brand’s marketing campaign.
- Using the above Facebook example, if the transaction happened within seven days of being exposed to the ad, they would attribute the transaction to the brand’s ad campaign.
- If a consumer opts out of cookie consent on a brand’s website, the brand will no longer know who that consumer is, what source they came from, or what they engaged with while on the brand’s website. They will still know if that consumer makes a transaction, as well as the contents of the basket. Due to reduced tracking capabilities, visitation numbers will skew lower. For example:
- Brand A has 100,000 users visit their website, but 20% of them have opted-out of cookie tracking.
- Google Analytics will show that 80,000 users visited the website.
- Purchase data is still trackable. This means that brands will still see 100% of the transactions – on social platforms and on their brand eCommerce sites – but will not have additional data on what the consumer did leading up to that purchase (if the consumer has opted out of tracking).
- Using the above example, let’s assume that Brand A also had 5,000 transactions.
- Google analytics would show 5,000 transactions.
- However, the conversion rate would be calculated using the 80,000 vs.100,000, resulting in a 6.25% conversion rate instead of the actual rate of 5%.
- Brands can expect lower “reported” visitation/audience sizes, more inflated conversion rates, changes in reporting, and how that data can be used for advertising.
To summarize, if a consumer opts out of tracking, the brand will only know about the purchase itself; they will lose valuable information including who the consumer is, what source they came from, and what they clicked on. This affects performance marketing elements including targeting, optimization, and reporting, and should be accounted for in marketing strategies.
Pro Tip: Beware of inflated conversion rates! In theory, brands will still have the same site visit volume, but that data will no longer be available in Google Analytics, or its respective reporting tool (due to the shifts in cookie consent and iOS tracking). However, the transaction data is still 100% of the true purchase audience. Google Analytics will recognize lower visitation, so a brand’s conversion rate will appear higher. In reality, it likely is not.
As marketers, we’re all navigating these unchartered waters. We’re here to be your partners and provide as much insight and real-time updates as possible. In fact, we are pleased to offer you a more detailed report which includes what these updates mean for you and our predictions. Reach out today for this white paper!
*Source: Apple Insider. Please note that purchase data is still trackable, but with limitations on who the consumer is and how they entered and engaged with the platform.
**Source: Statisa.
