[mparr4]

FWIW I run a D2C brand and the iOS 14 change hurt badly.

We are able to attribute something like half of the sales we used to. The main consequence of this is the FB models can't learn who our customers are as well, resulting in an increase in our cost of customer acquisition.

It makes selling niche products much harder.

[samwillis]

Similar position here, although we recently launched a new product that so far is only advertised through Facebook. Based on that we believe Facebook can only attribute 40-50% of conversion events.

Facebook is going to have to do something drastic to improve this situation, I suspect they are going to push advertisers to fold their store/checkout into Facebook so a customer never leaves the app. It will be the only way to track all conversion events.

[Tagbert]

Then I expect you will lose more customers who object to that practice.

[mensetmanusman]

These changes make it harder for local businesses to advertise directly, so it strengths the ‘winner take all’ amazons of the world.

Interesting feedback loops here that might not have been predicted.

[lanza]

lol Apple knew damn well what would happen. They are a business. This was a good business move for them. Being able to advertise it as privacy just boosted it to a fantastic business move.

[phh]

Am I understanding correctly that your issue is merely about attribution, and not that advertisement is actually less useful?

[ruhdgjns]

It goes hand in hand. First, if you can’t measure conversions and tie them back to advertising, then how can you know if it’s effective? Second, if you can’t measure effectiveness how to A/B test your approach? Finally, without labeled data how you train ML models?

The whole house of cards stood upon attribution.