At this point there’s no avoiding it. iOS 14.5 was introduced in April of 2021 and it has severely impacted the online advertising space. It’s changes affected all paid ad platforms. We took a look at Snapchat’s iOS 14.5 guide and have broken it down to provide you with actionable steps to navigate the platform post update. So whether you’re a seasoned Snapchat advertiser or looking to launch on Snapchat for the first time, there’s something for you here. Here, you’ll also find some of our insights as an agency, that we hope are helpful.

What is iOS 14.5?

To refresh your memory, iOS 14.5 is an update released by Apple that required users to either opt in or out of advertising audiences. With more and more users opting out, a considerable roadblock was created for ecommerce brands’ advertising efforts. The iOS 14.5 update impacted how ad platforms like Snapchat could receive conversion events from the Snap pixel. Ad performance, targeting and tracking were expected to be hindered as a result.

Below you’ll find the scale at which advertising audiences were affected. No one audience will be affected in the same manner however we can conclude that overall audience sizes (especially for warm audiences) will see a signifiant decrease in size.

Targeting Effects

Dynamic Ads (Retargeting)

Snap reports that the most affected audience from iOS 14.5 changes will be dynamic ads (retargeting). They clearly say that these audiences will be smaller over time and less effective. This means that the only people who will be in this audience pool will be those who opted into tracking. This is the most impacted audience. I suggest that it would be pertinent for advertisers to start thinking of ways to convert customers higher up in their advertising funnel.

Pixel Custom Audiences

After dynamic ads, pixel custom audiences have been the most affected audience. This audience will, moving forward, only includes individuals who have opted into tracking. Only uses who have opted in will be able to be included or excluded from tracking.

Snap Audience Matches (SAMs)

Comparably to other targeting, Snap Audience Matches have not been nearly as impacted. The audience size has definitely seen a decreased. Those who have opted out of tracking will be unable to be identified via their mobile ad IDs. It’s imperative to be aware that regardless of submiting an audience containing an abundance of users, not al of them will be available to be tracked. Now, list sizes will need to be much larger to account for that inevitable loss.

Lookalike Audience

Like Snap Audience Matches, Lookalike Audience will be affected in tandem. Again they’ll only have data from users who opted in to work with. With a smaller seed audience the lookalikes will have less data to use to develop a lookalike audience.

Lifestyle Categories & Snap Engagement Audience

The new iOS will have minimal impact on Snap Lifestyle Categories and Snap Engagement Audience. This is due to the fact that they’re primarily built based off of engagement within the app and on platform. It’s recommended that advertisers focus on better ways to increase organic engagement to boost audience sizes.

Snapchat Recommendations

Since we’ve discussed the audiences that’ll be affected and why, let’s move onto some recommendations from Snapchat.

Web Campaigns Measurement

When it comes to measuring web events, Advanced conversions will be used automatically for users who have opted out. Certain attribution windows have similarly been removed (28 day view; hourly view) from the platform.

Web Campaign Targeting

With Pixel Custom Audiences, Snap Audiences Match(SAM) & retargeting pools decreasing in size, Snapchat recommends that we prioritize spend on prospecting campaigns in order to regain scale. With audience sizes dropping due to the changes, it’ll be more important to direct spend to acquiring new audiences than trying to reengage your current audience. When you reallocate budget to prospecting campaigns, it’s important to understand that you could experience a lower blended return on investment than you’re used to.

Here’s what you’ll want to do to put yourself in the best position:

1. Install the Snap Pixel (if you haven’t already)

You’ll want to do this so that you’ll can have improved targeting and optimization over time. The benefit is that it’s simple to set up and has limited maintenance. There are also 1 click installation options for Shopify, WooCommerce and Google Tag Manager.

2. Integrate Conversions API

Conversions API (CAPI) is a multi-feature integration that can be set-up server to server. It’s goal is to measure and target omni-channel actions. This is something that is a lot more hands on than installing a pixel and requires a higher level of effort. You will want to have this set up as a more advanced advertiser.

3. Utilize Lookalikes

More than ever, creating lookalikes from Snap Audience Match (SAM) audiences will hold a lot more weight in the battling the loss of data. While these audiences will still experience a reduction in size, they’re still an audience that can be used to expand your prospecting campaig’ns reach.

4. Focus on Growing Your Email List

Grow that email list. Seriously. Since all your audiences will see a significant decrease in size, having access to people’s emails gives you a real and tangible ability to access and communicate with these people.

5. Brainstorm Ideas to Drive Engagement

We know that data coming from users directtly interacting with the platform won’t be affected. We recommend testing and come up with ads that not only drive sales but engagement as well. This way, you’ll be able increase your audience size and the number of people you’re able to reach

Conclusion

You should prepare for iOS 14.5 on Snapchat the same way you would any other platform. If you advertise on Facebook, you may want to check out our Domain Verification Tutorial. One thing we know is that we are now able to reach less people than before, and our results will be different. We recommend using all the tracking resources made available to you in order to have an indepth understanding of how your advertising efforts are going. Don’t be shy, look into getting third party software (we like Motion and Triple Whale) to get a better understanding of how performance is going.

If you need help with your Snapchat ad account don’t hesitate to reach out. We’d be happy to chat.