Facebook Ads has announced that it will be removing the 28-day attribution model from its platform. The change will come into effect on 12th October.
The change is likely to affect many Facebook advertisers, particularly as the 28-day attribution model is currently the default setting in user accounts.
As of 12th October, the 7-day attribution model will become the account default.
Attribution models
Attribution models are an important part of tracking advertising success when using platforms such as Facebook Ads. Until this change, Facebook’s default attribution meant that if a customer ‘converts’ within 28-days of clicking on an ad, full credit would be given to the ad up to 28-days later.
This will now change, meaning that attribution will only last for seven days.
Why now?
Via an official announcement, the social media giant cited ‘upcoming privacy initiatives’ as the main driver behind the decision. Quite what specific initiatives Facebook is referring to is not made clear, however the platform has said that increasing privacy requirements will make it harder for advertisers to attribute user conversions over longer periods of time.
The platform has also stated that this change is intended to make the service more ‘resilient’ to future changes. Again, although not specifically mentioned, this is likely to be in response to plans such as Google and Apple’s intentions to block third-party tracking cookies in the future.
What should advertisers do?
The short answer is, be aware that the change is coming. Many advertisers are likely to be using the platform’s default settings and as such, should expect conversion attribution to change dramatically overnight. Advertisers who have settings that rely on 28-day attribution should now make changes in expectation of 7-day attribution becoming the maximum.
