The way you track customers who visit your website is about to change. Apple has released technology to all its iOS users that gives the user the option to limit your ability to track them using cookies. Apple is going to require that every app running iOS 14.5 gets permission from the user to approve all data collection.

What knowledge entrepreneurs need to know

Apple has announced new features as part of their iOS 14.5 release. These include prompts “when an app wants to track you across apps or websites owned by other companies for advertising, or wants to share your information with data brokers.” 

Why should knowledge entrepreneurs care?

Right now, websites all over the world, including those run by Kajabi Heroes, rely heavily on the Facebook Pixel. It collects data about their site visitors in order to efficiently advertise their business. 

Be sure to read more about it directly from Facebook. 

Here’s why you should care: according to Statista, about 47% of all smartphone users in the United States have an iPhone. So, for business owners who advertise on Facebook, that represents a large number of potential customers that could suddenly opt-out of activity tracking.

How can knowledge entrepreneurs prepare their Facebook advertising?

Mitch Gandy, the advertising manager at GrowthDay, recommends this framework to prepare any Facebook ads for the iOS update: 

1. Setup a Facebook Business Manager Account
2. Verify your domains inside of your Facebook Business Manager Account > Business Settings > Brand Safety > Domains
3. Configure your top 8 conversion events inside your Facebook Ads Manager Account > Events Manager > Aggregated Event Measurement > Configure Web Events
4. Confirm existing campaigns are using conversion events that are in your configuration list Campaign > Ad Set > Conversion > Conversion Event
5. Setup Conversions API (Once Kajabi has Properly Implemented & Made Available)
6. Remove Manually Installed Browser Pixel Conversion Event code from all pages and Optimize Campaigns for Custom Conversions triggered by Conversion API Pixel Event data

What options do knowledge entrepreneurs have?

Businesses that have a checkout on their website can send purchase data directly to Facebook. So, Kajabi Heroes can use the Conversions API.

This API allows advertisers to send web events from their servers directly to Facebook. Server events are linked to a pixel and are processed like browser pixel events. This means that server events are used in measurement, reporting, and optimization in the same way as browser pixel events.

If you choose to add your Facebook Access Token to Kajabi and leverage the Conversions API, purchase and lead events will be sent from Kajabi to Facebook.

For more information about how to use this feature, check out our article on Facebook Pixel Enhancements.

Other advertising best practices to keep in mind 

Regardless of whatever action you take in light of this development, there are other best practices advertisers can employ. Here are a few options for what knowledge entrepreneurs could do in response. 

Pay attention to analytics

If you use paid advertising for your knowledge commerce business, you should pay attention to your advertising analytics. Track the differences on your advertising channels and website traffic before and after this change is implemented. This information will help you guide your unique advertising decisions. 

Gandy recommends that you “download lifetime reporting history from your Facebook Ads Manager Account for future reference to attribution windows for Conversions of all offers.” 

Explore new marketing channels

It may be prudent to explore other marketing channels to add to your marketing mix. Why?

External platforms and companies continually make updates, change their algorithms and policies, and have to comply with changing laws. So, it’s always a good idea to diversify your marketing to not be overly reliant on any one channel. Being prepared for change makes it easier to pivot or adapt if need be. 

Focus on what you can control

You may react to this by choosing to hone in on marketing channels that are less subject to external control. Or, you might work to strengthen your business in general. For example: 

• Pitch cross promotions with others in your network
• Work to grow your email list
• Create email marketing campaigns
• Optimize to improve your conversion rates
• Inbound marketing via blog content and search engine optimization
• Dedicate time to expanding your network
• Explore new revenue streams
  

Gandy recommends shifting your strategy. “Consider shifting front end funnels to focusing on offers with a decision making process of seven days or less. Lead Funnels will be prioritized where conversions are easier to track and efficiently optimize your campaigns.

Make sure you’re in compliance

The Apple update is a helpful reminder that user privacy rights are important. With lots of different legislation in different regions, it’s imperative to ensure your business is compliant in any region you may have customers. 

Kajabi and privacy

If you’re looking to grow your knowledge commerce business, Kajabi is a great platform. We’re focused on providing the best experience for our Heroes. 

That means we are dedicated to staying up-to-date with industry best practices and privacy laws. For example, check out how we made updates to email deliverability and payment security.

Looking to create your privacy policy and terms page? Check out our article on creating your privacy policy and terms page on Kajabi.