What To Do Next

The iOS 17 updates and privacy changes will make it increasingly difficult to track and attribute conversions to paid media campaigns including initiatives on Google and Meta. Here’s what advertisers can do now to prepare for these changes.

1. Move away from in-platform reporting for cross-channel analysis and look to alternative attribution models.

Goodway recommends leveraging media mix modeling (MMM), multi-touch attribution (MTA), first-party data identifiers, probabilistic attribution and geo-based incrementality testing to understand data gaps and to optimize media holistically.

2. For the above recommendations and within paid media campaigns, continue to prioritize and capture first-party data.

As tracking becomes more difficult, proprietary data will be highly valuable for learning and adjusting.

3. With capturing 1P data, brands should enhance data generated through Meta’s Advanced Matching.

That’s because Facebook IDs may be dropped.

4. If you haven’t already, implement Conversions API for serverto-server signal resilience on social platforms including Meta.

Further, ensure the Event Match Quality score is “good” or “great.” Goodway offers CAPI integration as a service if needed.

5. Paid search teams should opt in to features such as Enhanced Conversions.

These features can improve the accuracy of conversion measurements as well as improve the performance of automated bidding.

6. Teams can analyze the percentage of penetration and action from iOS devices and help paint the picture of potential reporting loss.

This will help model platform data and work toward data accuracy on each account. Advertisers with a heavy iOS/Safari skew will see a greater impact.