On Sept 30th 2020, Facebook announced a change to its attribution model. As of October 12th, Facebook (and Instagram) are moving from a default 28 day click, to a 7 day click.
This means that advertisers will see fewer sales reported in the Facebook platform, but that actual sales/leads/events tracked in your Salesforce/Shopify/CRM will not be affected.
“Rolling this change out pre-holiday is surprising, but 2020 is the gift that keeps on giving.” says Adrian Padron, Mason Interactive’s Director of Media. “Facebook is adjusting its default attribution window because of upcoming digital privacy initiatives affecting multiple browsers, chiefly Chrome. These initiatives are expected to limit businesses’ ability to measure peoples’ interactions across domains and devices.”
Said plainly, the 28 day default window, a crucial component in the Facebook algorithm, is about to be modified in response to Google Chrome limiting what the browser passes back to Facebook.
This will have an impact on the capability of Facebooks’ machine learning. The logic seems to be, “Better to give the machine cleaner and more recent data, rather than spotty data from a larger window of time.”
What does this mean for you after October 12?
- Moving from a 28 day click attribution window to a 7 day click ultimately means fewer conversions being attributed to your Facebook pixel
- You will have a better picture of the immediate impact of ads
At Mason Interactive, no matter what vertical your partnership falls under, we always focus on your goals. Referencing the platform data is only one piece of the puzzle. It is a guiding force for our teams to make optimization decisions.
We always have to remember that machine learning and AI based bidding algorithms are getting better everyday. We also need to remember that one consumer journey can have multiple touchpoints. The pixel attributed performance is a proxy for making decisions and even though this change is coming, the way in which we work with our partners will not change because we stay focused on key goal goals and a backend source of truth.
Not sure what attribution means for your sales?
Check out the video below to learn more.