On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Nick Shackelford, Managing Partner at Structured Social. Nick is a seasoned performance marketer and media buyer who works with over 100 brands. He is an active part of the ecosystem that is going to be affected by the upcoming iOS changes and published this guide that addresses the changes about to roll out and the next steps to take as an eCommerce brand. His previous appearance on the show was one of our most popular episodes of 2020.

If you’ve been following the Martech news in 2020, you may have noticed the ongoing spat between Apple and Facebook. Facebook even put out full-page newspaper ads criticizing Apple. At the center of all the back-and-forth is privacy. More specifically it is a prompt called App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which will rollout in the coming days. This prompt will ask you to Opt-in or Opt-out of data sharing for each of your apps.

Why is this a big deal?

If you are a DTC or eCommerce brand, then chances are that Facebook ads are a major part of your marketing strategy. Both Facebook and Facebook ads thrive on users data. You get better targeting, metrics and attribution because of this data. But that’s all going to change now. Over 50% of the buying audience have iOS devices. A chunk of those users might stop sharing data, and alter the marketing landscape for good.

On today’s episode, Kunle and Nick look at the genesis of ATT, how it is going to affect Facebook marketing and how you can brace for impact when the changes roll out. Whether you’re a marketer, business owner or just a consumer – you’re probably on Facebook and you definitely don’t want to miss this one!

Here is a summary of some of the most important points made,

• • The language of the prompt will encourage opt-outs
  • Facebook hasn’t done enough to prep users
  • Attribution models will change drastically
  • Now is the time to diversify your marketing strategy
  • Focusing on retention is even more critical now

Covered Topics:

On today’s interview Kunle and Nick discuss,

• What is the ATT Prompt
• Problems with Attribution after opt-outs
• Changes to Media Buying
• 1st party vs 3rd party cookie
• Metrics to use going forward
• Immediate to-dos before the changes hit

Nick’s Advice on What you need to do before this hits:

• Carry out an Audit on your attribution window (1-day, 7-day, 28-day) and identify where the majority of your conversions are happening. Inventory your M-o-M changes and identify where your lift is.
• Breakdown all your historical data of metrics per month by device
• Carry out an Inventory of all your ads to identify what works on creative

Timestamp:

• 10:00 – The silence before the storm
• 11:55 – Background of App Tracking Transparency (ATT)
  • This has been coming since iOS 10
  • At the core Apple wants to protect users
  • The ATT prompt will allow users to opt out of sharing data with apps
• 15:55 – What happens to free apps?
• 17:35 – The Apple vs Fortnite saga
• 18:35 – Apple’s motivation for this move
  • Privacy ethos
  • Closing off the space?
• 21:35 – The anatomy of the prompt
  • Setting up Facebook for a fall
  • The language is designed to encourage opt-outs
• 25:00 – What Facebook has been doing to prep users (and why it isn’t enough!)
• 28:40 – How does this affect data collection
  • Conversion event tracking will be almost gone for iOS users
  • Optimizations will become extremely difficult
  • 44% of small businesses have increased ad spends
• 36:10 – How will Facebook manage the guesswork with reporting metrics?
• 38:15 – Changes on your ad dashboard:
  • Events will be visible
  • You will be able to see the end result but not the path
  • You will only get the purchase event for Opt-outs
  • 72-hour cooldown period will remove realtime optimisations
• 39:50 – What happens to UTM Tracking?
  • Google GTM is working on an update with a workaround
  • Future of UTM is not clear
• 44:55 – 1st party vs 3rd party cookie
  • The FB pixel is a 3rd party cookie
  • 1st Party cookie is one that lives on your own server. Shopify and Facebook have it currently
• 50:05 – ROAS becoming redundant?
• 51:00 – Which metrics to use going forward?
  • MER (Marketing Efficiency ratio)
  • Site-wide profitability
• 52:45 – Choosing your next platform after Facebook
  • Snapchat has a comparable audience and the content that works on Facebook fits well there too
  • Pinterest has longer attribution windows
  • Choose the platform where your target audience is at
• 54:00 – Why you need to focus on retention and micro-conversions now more than ever
• 60:50 – What you need to do before this hits:
  • Check your attribution window (1-day, 7-day, 28-day) and identify where the majority of your conversions are happening. Inventory your M-o-M changes and identify where your lift is.
  • Breakdown all your historical data of metrics per month by device
  • Inventory of all your ads to identify what works on creative

Takeaways:

• Customer Retention will be critical to profitability going forward
• Now is a good opportunity to diverse your marketing
• MER (Marketing Efficiency ratio) could become the main metric to track
• Content marketing is still a viable choice

Links & Resources

• Nick’s report outlining the situation and next steps to take
• Facebook: How Apple’s iOS 14 Release May Affect Your Ads
• Facebook: Preparing our partners for iOS 14: Mobile Web Advertising
• First Party Cookie Settings
• Conversion API (CAPI) Overview
• Andrew Foxwell – Facebook’s Conversions API (CAPI) and How to implement it with your Shopify site
• What is IDFA and Why Apple Killed it: Everything Marketers Need to Know
• Trackify
• Zipify
• Shogun
• Geek Out Education

Tweetable Quotes:

“Apple and Facebook are like divorced parents, and their child is billions of dollars in shared revenue.”

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