We've understood since late last year that Apple had some iOS privacy updates coming, and now they are finally here. If you haven't already made modifications to adapt your retargeting strategy, there are still some things you can do.

About the iOS Privacy Updates

Prior to looking at how to adapt to the changes, make certain that you comprehend what changes happened and why Apple made them.

Until recently, if an iOS user wanted to opt-out of having an app that collects browsing data, they had to go to settings and opt-out manually. With the update, opting-out is now the default, not opting-in. When users download an app on iOS 14, the app will request authorization to share and collect data via a prompt.

This is essential for marketing because that data helps you personalize the app and do a lot more. You use that data for personalization, segmentation, retargeting, exemption targeting, and lookalike audiences, among other strategies.

That means that if your users opt-out, you will lose the capability of performing all of those functions. It can have an especially strong impact on your Facebook marketing, as the social media platform utilizes a lot of those features in its advertising capabilities.

Why Apple Changed Its Privacy Policy

The reason for the upgrade boils down to personal privacy. Apple prides itself on being a "privacy-first" company and this is just one step in the process of making sure that holds true.

Now that you understand what these privacy updates are and the reasons behind them, it's time to fine-tune your retargeting strategies. This will lessen the impact of the personal privacy upgrade on your marketing efforts while helping your company adapt.

Below are some ideas you can follow.

1. Verify Your Domain on Facebook's Business Manager

If you haven't already done so, go to your Facebook Business Manager account and verify your domain. If you skip this step, you may not be able to set up conversion events on Facebook.

2. Expand Your Customer Acquisition Channels

While the update will affect every app on iPhones and iPads, you ought to expect to see a more dramatic impact on your Facebook advertising than other platforms. This is due to the way Facebook uses cookies and data.

The very best way to conquer this is to broaden your customer acquisition channels, specifically if your focus was mostly on Facebook. Even if you currently have numerous customer acquisition channels, consider including a few more. After all, each will likely end up being somewhat less effective if you depend on cookies.

3. Go All-In With Email Marketing

The privacy update is also the ideal opportunity to take your e-mail marketing strategy to the next level.

You can utilize email for many of the exact same retargeting tasks you would do with other types of ads, such as offering discounts, sharing sales, and delivering product and service tutorials. You can also use email marketing to re-engage abandoned shopping carts, request reviews, and more.

Most importantly, email marketing strategies don't rely as strongly on tracking and cookies. Instead, these approaches have more to do with purchases and registration. You might even segment your email audience via surveys or sign-up forms.

That being said, remember that some of your e-mail marketing efforts, including segmentation and abandoned product emails, do rely on cookies.

4. Get Information from Other Sources

When discussing email marketing, we hinted at some other sources of information, such as studies or asking questions on sign-up forms. Use these and other approaches to get the data you can no longer depend on from iOS devices.

One outstanding source is your website's metrics data. Your website will currently be keeping an eye on where visitors come from and what they do on your website. While you won't be able to link those actions to specific users, you can still see general patterns.

If you want to focus on sign-up types and self-reported data, develop additional landing pages to be able to capture this information. Or think about using chatbots to interact with users and then produce lookalike audiences based on those interactions.

5. Focus Your Efforts on Android Devices

You should likewise keep in mind that while a lot of people have iPhones, many more use Android devices. This means that even if you no longer have access to some of the data you utilize for retargeting iPhone users, you still have that information for Android users.

If you focus your efforts on Android devices, you can make up for at least some of the data loss from iOS users.

Conclusion Regarding iOS Privacy Updates

With the latest iOS privacy update, iOS users have to opt-in to share their information with you. This may limit your ability to target, segment, and personalize content. But you can overcome this by getting data from other sources and expanding your marketing channels, in addition to a few other simple strategies including adapting your retargeting strategy.