iOS 14 Update and Facebook Conversions API

A lot of my clients are social media managers and paid social marketers and are getting very worried about the iOS 14 update.  I can see that Squarespace isn't a partner so wondered what others were doing about this and whether anyone was 'worried' about it.  Do others see this as being a big issue?  I'm still looking into it myself so not sure about how greatly the tracking is affected and whether Pixel events will stop working completely or whether it's only an issue for large businesses tracking a high number of events such as large ecomm or coach with multiple landing pages / lead magnets?

Yes, it's already a huge problem but the ad-networks are not talking about it.

I've also written to SquareSpace because it should not be too hard getting Conversion API working with SS websites. Consider that there are 3rd party plugins for wordpress that enable this functionality.

In terms of the actual implementation on SS client side it should literally be just adding the authorization token, but there will be some programming needed.

Typically you are going to be losing 20-30% of conversions tracking to IOS but other providers will follow suite, whether browser or tech based, for example Firefox already blocks the trackers.

You can send a max of 8 events, custom conversions will basically only fire through browser. Pixel events will only fire when there are no ad-blockers or other things in place. That is when the server side will fall-back.

This has been going on for at least 2 years. Expect once implemented your conversions to go up.

Or at the moment just remove Apple devices from all campaign targeting.

Glyn

Hey Just wondering if anyone has found the solution to this? I have a client who manages Facebook ads for multiple clients with Squarespace sites and I need to integrate Facebook Conversions API with each site. 

Any help with be super appreciated! 

I am 99% sure that just as with other CMS provides, Facebook CAPI implementation can only be done by SquareSpace themselves. Not sure if the Developer route open more doors, but I have already written to SS and asked them about when they will roll-out CAPI, so I suggest you do that too!

Considering that a data payload using an Access Token attached to conversion points on the website needs to be fired with certain events such as purchases on buttons etc.

I am hoping they are working on it and that we will just see either being asked to add the Access Token from Google Business Manager, or that it will be even easier as they do a straight partner implementation like Facebook and you can just connect from Facebook Business Manager without doing anything.

In terms of timeline IOS has not rolled out it's update and Facebook still has to release an events priority manager for Business Manager so perhaps SS is waiting on this before making systematic changes.

G.

GlynMusica have you heard anything back yet from SQSP? Because my fb ads pixel is for sure broken! 

Hi there.

It is unlikely to be broken as the sum of these changes affects a single device type - Apple - but I don't even think the update has been pushed out (unless over this wekeend) because the planned update came at a time when a piece of malware was detected in Apple and so the whole OS needed to be patched and so they pushed the update that made this change until the next version.

The best thing you can do is install this into Chrome, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/facebook-pixel-helper/fdgfkebogiimcoedlicjlajpkdmockpc?hl=en,

and you can test it.

Depending on how much stuff you are doing with the Pixel events, you might find it easier to run the whole installation through Google Tag Manager. In this way you can be really prescriptive about what events you want to fire and send to Facebook, but also be sure that both Facebook and, for events Google Events, are firing at the same time. Even Google will change and become server side in future months ahead and GA4 is going to take off too.

Basically we are in a tracking hell-hole at the moment.

Thank you for all the helpful information @GlynMusica.  Do you have any more recent news on your communications with Squarespace on the CAPI?  I am thinking of setting up CAPI within my squarespace website, but I am not sure if it is possible.  Thanks! 

I think that will be borderline impossible without some extreme custom coding and a good Developer. SS will have to fix this eventually. The IOS rollout is happening next week.

Actually it rolled out yesterday!

@GlynMusica Thank you for the response.  Hopefully Squarespace can add this ability soon, as I assume many of us rely on Facebook ads for a significant portion of our sales.  

Unfortunately CAPI doesn't fix conversion tracking in Facebook, but merely sets up an approved mechanism set out by Apple for how to share conversion information with Facebook if users approve tracking by them.

When Apple users start

a) losing discount coupons that are offered when they visited a website but don't convert, because they have decided "not-to-track"

b) seeing what non-personalised adverts actually look like, and scamble to op back in.

c) realizing that it doesn't mean the ads go away or are any less persistent.

I think much of this panic will be shorter lived than described in practice.

G.

We've had a number of clients implement CAPI through Convertevent, which is a Saas solution for server-side pixel event tracking. It works for the majority of eCommerce platforms (Squarespace included), and can integrate with CRM or POS systems. Might be worth checking out as a solution for the time being.

That's helpful, thank you.

Looking at price I think it's probably going to be cheaper to get a Developer to build a custom solution, unless you are looking for a very specific custom events service.

@GlynMusica I feel like custom development work would be much more expensive and depending on the pixel setup prior to CAPI, scope creep is a threat. The other consideration is that every time there's a Facebook update, you're going to need to go back to your developer to make sure there's been no impact on your Conversions API - this isn't the case with something that's self hosted.

There is always a risk of scope creep but if we look at the Facebook tracking pixel as an example, fundamentally there have not been any changes for years to that. Essentially all that is happening with CAPI is that a payload is being sent via the server to Facebook and via the tracking pixel that share the same ID.

Where you do see disconnects is where functionalities are being updated. For example a third-party tool that offers the ability to manage Facebook campaigns not in Facebook ads manager. In those areas you are going to put yourself at risk.

Eventually this will all go away because Facebook will simply provide a closed shop environment and so the only way you can get sales to your business is to open a shop on their channel. Take a peek at the prohibited categories for commerce for IG/FB as a clue to what they want to get their hands on 🙂

G

@GlynMusica thanks for your extensive response on this.  Really useful.  Sorry for not thanking you much earlier!

Hello all,

We are sorting through this same issue now nine months later and these forums are the closest to what we are looking for that we've found.

Two big-picture questions:

• Has anyone figured out a roadmap for developers to follow for this CAPI workaround?

• And if you have figured it out, is it worth it? Are you seeing user data you expected?

Many thanks,

Jonathon

In theory you can configure CAPI for Squarespace but you will need a) a programmer that can write the code that fires inside Google Tag Manager, and then an authenticated Google Cloud Server in order that that the code can be deployed from an authenticated source and therefore be considered as part of your own domain. That is why eventually SquareSpace will just patch it all together on the backend as Shoppify did with their integration. So that's the waiting game.

CAPI doesn't get around IOS et al restrictions it simply creates a way to deliver those conversions if users have agreed to share their data back and in cases where the browser FB pixel didn't fire, because for example their tracking events are blocked (as they are on Firefox browsers).

Thank you @GlynMusica, appreciate it.

I'm trying to make a judgment as to whether it's worth the time to pay a developer.

Have you — or anyone — tried it and seen justifiable results? 

Appreciate it,

Jonathon

Hi @GlynMusica, Two years on, I don't see any integration by SS. Has anything changed in the interim period, or is your advice still the most relevant and up-to-date? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Jason