How to Prepare Your Business For the iOS 14 Update

How to Prepare Your Business For the iOS 14 Update

Because 2020 hadn’t already thrown enough at small business this year, we now have widespread panic about Apple’s iOS 14.4 release set to happen in early 2021.

So what is the big deal about this latest software release and how will it affect your business?

Let us start by saying it’s not all doom and gloom. We will certainly see changes to the way we can use data to track and target people using ad platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, but there are measures you can take to make sure your business keeps striving forward… regardless of this update.  

According to Apple

“Privacy is a fundamental human right and at the core of everything we do. That’s why with iOS 14, we’re giving you more control over the data you share and more transparency into how it’s used.”

“You can now get information on the App Store to help you understand the privacy practices of every app before you download it”

According to Facebook

“Apple has announced changes with iOS 14 that will impact how we receive and process conversion events from tools like the Facebook pixel. Businesses that advertise mobile apps, as well as those that optimise, target, and report on web conversion events from any of our business tools will be affected.

Specifically, Apple will begin to require that all apps in the App Store show a discouraging prompt to users on iOS 14 devices, in accordance with their AppTrackingTransparency framework. Apple’s policy will prohibit certain data collection and sharing unless people opt into tracking on iOS 14 devices via the prompt. As more people opt out of tracking on iOS 14 devices, ads personalisation and performance reporting will be limited for both app and web conversion events.”

“Apple’s new iOS 14 policy will have a harmful impact on many small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat and on the free internet that we all rely on more than ever.”

In English

In short, Apple has released a new privacy addition to their next update of iOS 14 which will enable users to turn off tracking for any app (i.e Facebook) they use on the phone. On one hand this may seem great for you as a personal user, but on the other hand this means as advertisers, and business owners, if people opt out of tracking we loose the ability to run personalised ads to them.

It’s important to note that users will have the option to opt out of tracking, it’s not a blanket application. 

Facebook ads are a powerful tool for eCommerce business owners and allow us to show a personalised message to people based on where they are at in the buying funnel. It’s this personalisation of the right message at the right time, to the right person that makes Facebook ads the success that they are for many eCommerce stores large and small.

If you’re not familiar with how we currently use Facebook ads to grow eCommerce stores check out:
How to use Facebook Ads to Deliver the Right Message to the Right People

The 5 Pillars of Successful Facebook Ads

The Effects

Turning off this ability will certainly change the way we run Facebook ads in the future.

Not only will we not be able to track when someone makes a purchase after seeing an ad, we also won’t be able to show ads to someone who has viewed a product or added it to their cart. The dynamic ads showcasing the exact product they were looking at, or had in their cart, have always generated the highest returns for Facebook ad campaigns.

Facebook is adapting as fast as possible to the changes – as you can imagine this will affect their bottom line – A LOT!

One change is your pixel may only optimise for a maximum of 8 conversion events for each domain.

Conversion events include things like ‘PageView’, ‘ViewContent’, ‘AddToCart’, ‘InitiateCheckout’ and ‘Purchase’.

Facebook will initially configure the conversion events they believe are the most relevant to your business based on your activity, making all other events inactive for campaign optimisation and reporting.

You will then be able to manage your preferences in Events Manager. When you create your ad set you’ll choose only one of the 8 designated conversion events to optimize for (same as normal). Any existing Ad sets that were optimising for a pixel conversion event that is no longer active, will be paused so you will need to update these.

If you’re in eCommerce I believe the 5 events listed above are all you need so I wouldn’t stress too much about this change. The only reason you would need to narrow down to 8 is if you are using lots of custom events such as ‘PurchasedTop’, ‘PurchasedBottom’ etc.

Outside of the iOS update for apps other measures have already been put in place including ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention) for Safari, Apple’s internet browser closely followed by ETP (Enhanced Tracking Prevention) by Firefox.

Some of the effects from the browsers include limiting Cookie Data to a 7 day lifespan. This means:

  • You won’t be able to track conversions attributed to your ads that happen outside of a 7 day window. This means 28-day click-through, 28-day view-through, and 7-day view-through attribution windows will not be supported. You will need to prepare to transition to the new 7-day click-through attribution.
  • Re-targeting audiences such as Viewed Content, Added To Cart, Initiated Checkout or Purchased will be limited to the last 7 days (currently up to 180 days). This will change the whole re-targeting game.
  • If you’re running Lookalike audiences built from the above custom audiences your seed audience will be reduced to the last 7 days, greatly reducing your audience size and ability to create a lookalike as you need to have a minimum 100 people in the same country in your seed audience. So if you don’t have 100 purchases in 7 days you won’t be able to create a Lookalike audience from that event.

What Can You Do?

So other that hide under the Christmas tree with your eggnog, what can you do?

  • Narrow down to using only 8 Facebook events or less.
  • Remember the principles of marketing and advertising haven’t changed (and they never will).  
  • Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Facebook ads in their current state are amazing, but as things change make sure you have other ways to re-target your customers. Start collecting emails from your website visitors so you can interact with them via email once they leave your site. Consider running a competition to entice them like they do at https://picnicseason.com/, the old 10% off your first order is not enticing these days as it’s everywhere.
  • Sync your email lists with Facebook. As you’ll want to be able to target old customers, or exclude recent purchases and likely want more than 7 days data it’s a good idea to sync your email lists with your custom audiences so you can use these audiences to target and exclude. We recommend Klaviyo which makes this super simple.
  • Get super clear on your customer avatar. This is particularly important if you have been relying on Lookalike audiences and Broad audience targeting. Narrow down your avatar’s interests so you can start targeting people that way.
  • Verify your domain with Facebook. We’ve started seeing issues in creating ads for our clients recently and our Facebook rep has suggested all accounts verify their domain to ensure there are no further issues with pixel integration etc. There are 3 ways to do this. 

It’s not all doom and gloom – the fact that Privacy is becoming a top priority for large digital corporations is a good thing overall, just inconvenient for those of us who use the data to place ads! Facebook is trialling a new tool already which we are setting up for some of our clients which will replace the pixel all together. As updates continue to happen we can be sure Facebook will continue to evolve to the current climate – after all their ad revenue is their business model and they’re not going down without a fight! 

For now stay calm, take the steps mentioned above and keep an eye on out for our email with any further updates.

Here’s to an amazing 2021 for your business!

 

Oh sh*t this page doesn’t exist!

Our tech may have blundered but to be honest, it’s likely a human error (yep, my company is run by humans).

You may be able to find what you’re looking for with the links below. 

Or send me an email and a real person will get back to you.

Karyn x

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5 ways to reduce your environmental impact

5 ways to reduce your environmental impact

Whether you’re a solo eCommerce entrepreneur or have a large team, you need to think about the environmental impact your business is making.

Considering the environment is good for the planet and good for business. Here’s why: 

  • Obviously, the environmental impact
  • You may be legally required to
  • It increases affinity with your customers
  • Customers are increasingly environmentally conscious and will align with brands who are too

5 things you can do to reduce your environmental impact: 

1. Be mindful about the packaging you’re using

It’s estimated that 5.45 million tonnes of packaging was made available to the end-consumer (including business users) in Australia in 2017-18. That’s a lot of packaging! Get stats and tips about eco-friendly packaging here.

Verde Store recycles and reuses all the bubble wrap, plastic wrap, paper wrap and cornstarch pack bubbles & lots of our cardboard boxes that come to us.  They haven’t purchased any of these for over 10 years!

2. Install solar panels at the office or offset your carbon

Look at getting solar panels installed. And if that’s not an option, check if your electricity provider offers a carbon offset program. Most providers offer one. 

3. Use coffee pods / reusable coffee cups 

Coffee. We’re not going to tell you to stop drinking it. We’re no fools! There are plenty of waste-free options to get your caffeine fix. 

Stock up on reusable coffee takeaway cups. Don’t just have one. You’ll forget it and you’ll end up getting a disposable one then you’ll feel bad and we don’t want that! 3 is a good number for me. 1 for the car, 1 for the drawer and 1 for the dishwasher.

If you have a coffee machine in your office, choose reusable coffee pods such as these from Podstar (we love ours!).

Or you could drink plunger coffee.

Also, think about where you source your coffee from. Can you get your beans from a local roaster to reduce packaging and miles travelled? 

And don’t forget to put the grounds in the compost. 

    4. Compost your scraps

    Have a bin in the office and take it home once a week to pop in your home compost. Hot tip: line the bin with newspaper so it doesn’t get all gross. 

    Investigate local compost collection schemes. Search “compost collection near me”.

    Or set up a compost bin in your office garden, if you can. The Composta (pictured below) looks like it’d be perfect for an office balcony or small space.

     

    5. Batch your trips to the post office

    Batching is great for time management, but also fewer trips to the post office mean fewer emissions produced.

    Final word

    Being environmentally friendly is good for the planet and good for business. And every little bit helps.

    Written by Megan Winter

    Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

    Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

    Simple Wisdom from Decjuba’s Owner & CEO, Tania Austin

    Simple Wisdom from Decjuba’s Owner & CEO, Tania Austin

    I recently had the privilege of sitting down with Tania Austin, Owner and CEO of Decjuba at a fireside chat hosted by Emma Isaacs as part of the Business Chicks Business Club.

    Tania is a truly remarkable woman and I loved spending time with her. I got so much out of our chat and I’m sure you will too.  

    A little more about Tania… after exiting the Cotton On Group as co-owner, Tania purchased Decjuba in 2008. At the time she was a single mum with three kids under the age of six. In the 12 years since Tania bought the business, she’s grown it from 5 stores to 140 stores and created two new brands under the Decjuba banner – D-LUXE Basics and DECJUBA Kids. Tania is also a committed philanthropist and under her leadership, Decjuba has raised more than $1.5 million for The Hunger Project. 

    One overarching theme of the conversation with Tania’s was simplicity. There is such a beautiful elegance in keeping things simple so let me get straight into sharing the who, what, when, where, why and how of Tania’s simple wisdom.

    Why does the business exist…

    When Tania was asked about how she transformed the Decjuba brand she explained that when she exited Cotton On she felt the need to prove herself and she felt that her next move needed to reflect this. But she quickly (thankfully) realised that she really didn’t need to prove anything to anyone and she based her decisions around what she wanted and what makes her happy.

    She didn’t care what people thought and just did what she loved and wanted. And the irony is that she “proved herself” by not needing to prove herself.

    I think this is such a good lesson in simplifying the reason why we are doing things.

    We can all take a moment to get really clear on why our businesses exist.

    What is your brand promise…

    A brand is a promise. When you put a brand out there you are promising something to your customers.

    Decjuba’s vision is to deliver amazing at every touchpoint.

    It’s that simple.

    And she reminded us that simple is best and perfection is unattainable. When you have a really clear, simple vision, delivering on the brand promise becomes much more doable.

    And I love the concept of striving for progress rather than perfection. Perfection is impossible and a really sneaky way of keeping us stuck and small.

    How you operate your business… 

    A lot of businesses over complicate things. 

    I think the reason that we business owners tend to complicate things is to prove that we are smart and talented and capable, however, there is such a beautiful elegance in simplicity. Something I think we need to remind ourselves of often. 

    She did joke and say that if her logistics team heard her say how “simple” things are they’d die. And I think this is such a beautiful reminder that the vision coming from the company’s leadership has to be simple. As does the user-experience. However, the execution can have a lot of moving parts, of course. But even this should be kept as simple as possible.

    Who else is in your space…

    I’ve always been baffled by huge competitor analysis reports. I’ve stayed in my lane and run my own race. 

    Tania absolutely confirmed this and said that every minute we spend thinking about what our competitors are doing, it’s a minute less your focus on our own business and delivering your own brand promise. 

    Once you have a clear brand vision, run at it as hard and fast as you can. If you’re worried about what others are doing then you’re not focusing on yourself.

    When to let go…

    When you bring out a new product your customers will tell you if they love it or now. 

    Tania tells her team that you can love your product so hard, and you can justify its existence until the cows come home, but at the end of the day your customer will tell you what they love. And they’ll do this with their dollar by what they buy. If your customers don’t love something, let it go.

    Where your products are displayed…

    We constantly tell our students to keep their website needs to be simple so their products can shine. When you walk into a Decjuba store, or visit their website, you are always greeted with a clean, simple and functional layout. Yes to this! 

    Final word…

    I kinda feel like this blog is like a photo of the sunset… you can never really appreciate the truly wonderful nature of it unless you were there. But hopefully, you’ve got a little taste of Tania’s wisdom from my words. If you have any questions about my chat with Tania please comment and let me know. Thank you to Business Chicks Business Club for organising this chat. 

    Megan Winter

    Megan is an inspiring, brilliant and fun digital marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

    Megan loves helping purpose-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

    Feel repetitive? Congratulations you’re marketing!

    Feel repetitive? Congratulations you’re marketing!

    This morning when I was getting my son ready for school I think I asked him to get dressed about 25 times “time to get dressed now… get dressed please… are you dressed yet… why are you still in your pyjamas!?”

    My son was distracted. Of course, he was thinking about other things. He was not thinking about me and my requests.

    Your customers are kind of like my son. They need to be told multiple times. They are distracted and they are not thinking about you or your product.

    You’ve probably heard the saying people need to see your brand multiple times to start to know, like and trust you. Well, we have a saying in eComm Ignitor:

    “if you feel like you’re repeating yourself, congratulations you’re marketing!”

    Your customers are busy. They don’t think about you as much as you do. Plus not everyone is going to see every piece of content you produce.

    Let’s take a look at how you can do this for your online store.

    First you need to hone in on your message, get clear on your key brand value proposition and FAB points. Then repeat, repeat, repeat.

    1. Identify your key brand value proposition and FAB points

    First, you need to hone in on your message. Your brand value proposition tells people exactly what you sell and why people should buy from you rather than the ocean of choices out there. FAB stands for features, advantages and benefits. These are the unique points that help people identify that they want to part with their hard-earned cash to buy your product.

    2. Tell your audience

    Every touchpoint is an opportunity to communicate your message to your audience.

    When people visit your website, the first thing people should see is your brand value proposition. This should be communicated in your hero banner through your image, headline and subheadline.

    Communicate your key messages in your social media. Use a balanced mix of content to communicate your brand value proposition and FAB points.

    Your emails should be little love notes delivered to your customers with your key messaging and FAB points weaved throughout.

    Use the real estate on your product tags to communicate your value proposition and key FAB points.

    Helen from https://www.lovelinen.com.au/ does a great job of this:

    Your packaging is prime spot to tell people about your messaging. 

    https://au.whogivesacrap.org/ does this so well:

    1 

    Communicate your brand value proposition and FAB points throughout your touchpoints. Same the same thing in different ways using a mix of words and images.

    3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 continually 

    Don’t copy and paste your content. Mix it up. But don’t be afraid to repeat the message.  

    Final word

    Your brand value proposition and your key features, advantages and benefits are the reasons people buy from you and not the ocean of choices competing for their attention and dollar. And just like my son does, your audience needs you to repeat the same message again and again in order to take action.

    Written by Megan Winter

    Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

    Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

    The 3 second test to see if your website is doing it’s job

    The 3 second test to see if your website is doing it’s job

    In our fast-paced world, you have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention and let them know they are in the right place. If you don’t they could leave your website, potentially never to return.

    Your website has one simple job to do in those first few seconds: tell me exactly what it is you sell and pique my interest enough that I look around and browse your products.

    There are so many important elements that your website needs to have. It can seem overwhelming to know what to start with.

    I developed this test when I was a global marketing consultant and used to work with big teams. Large eCommerce brands have so many moving parts, I would regularly do this test as a quick and easy way of seeing if we were on track, or completely off.

    Use this one simple test to know if your website is doing its job, or if you still have work to do on it.

    The super-simple test your website needs to pass

    The 3-second test is a really simple test that I developed to see if your website is ready for traffic or not.

    Here’s how you do the three-second test:

    1. Take a screenshot of your website as it appears before you start to scroll
    2. Show the screenshot to someone for 3 seconds – and only 3 seconds
    3. Ask that person “what do you think my website sells?”

    Important: Make sure you ask people who do not already know what you sell.

    If they answer correctly you pass the 3 second test and you know that your site does the job of telling people what you sell within 3 seconds.

    If they can’t answer or answer incorrectly, you don’t pass the 3 second test and you have some work to do.

    The impact of embracing the 3 second test

    When we first came across Colleen from Ride Proud Clothing her website looked like this:

     

    We ran the 3 second test and honestly couldn’t tell you clearly what she sold.

    We guessed:

    • Shirts
    • Saddlery
    • Even timber panels

    When in fact, she sold bootleg pants. Colleen joined eComm Ignitor and got to work on her website.

    She did such a fantastic job that she now passes the 3 second test with flying colours. She is an A++ student and her website is a great example of what an online store should do, which is tells me exactly what it is she sells.

     

    What if you don’t pass the 3 second test?

    Often, you are too close to your product and you think everyone knows as much about your business as you do.

    If you don’t pass the 3 second test, revisit your website and think about what information people need to know what it is you sell.

    You need an image that clearly represents your product and a headline that tells me exactly what you sell.

    Final word

    You have 3 seconds to capture your potential customers’ attention and tell them exactly what it is that you sell. By doing this simple, yet powerful, 3 second test regularly you can have confidence that your website is doing its job.

    Written by Megan Winter

    Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

    Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

    Increase your conversion rate with these 5 onsite must-haves

    Increase your conversion rate with these 5 onsite must-haves

    Increasing your conversion rate is one of the best ways to make more revenue on your online store. If you can increase your conversion rate by even 1% that may mean doubling your sales, without driving any more traffic to your online store. 

    When people walk into a bricks-and-mortar store they can use all of their senses to experience that shop and the products. They can look, touch, feel, smell and even taste (if you’re selling ice cream!) Customers don’t have that luxury when shopping online. They can only experience what you give them via their screen. And even though they are looking at their screen with their eyes, there are things you can do that evokes their other senses and encourages them to buy from you. 

    Increasing your conversion rate can dramatically impact your revenue 

    If a website has a 1% conversion rate, a $100 average order value and gets 500 visitors per month, that website will make $500 revenue.

    If that same online store did nothing but increase their conversion rate by just 2%, and kept their average order value at $100, that same website would make $1500. 

    This is without generating more traffic or increasing their average order value. 

     

     

    Ok so let’s look at 5 onsite must-haves your online store needs to make sure you’re optimised for conversion rate. 

    1. Your site needs to have a clean and simple layout

    Imagine walking into a cluttered, dimly-lit store. Chances are you’d feel a bit uncomfortable and would want to get out of there as quickly as possible. Same goes for your online store. 

    Viv from That Little Shop in Jinnali has a physical boutique as well as an online store. When you walk into the store you are greeted by a friendly face and the store is clean, beautiful and organised. This is the vibe you want to portray on your online store, right. So by having a clean and simple layout you’re giving your products a chance to shine. 

     

     

    1. Give people an easy-to-navigate menu

    Keeping with the physical store analogy, when you walk into a retail store you should be able to easily know which isle or section to go to. Things are categorised and grouped.

    The default menu for an online store is home, about, shop and contact. Every time I see this on an online store a little piece of me dies because I have no idea what the store sells by looking at these headings. But if you have these as your menu titles, don’t worry, it’s an easy fix!

    Categorise your products and display these as your menu items. Ditch home, about and contact from your main menu and put them in the footer.

    Ashley from I Choose Me has done a great job of this: 

     

     

    1. Make sure you have high-quality product images

    Product images are EVERYTHING! Our recommendation is to invest in a photographer to take a set of eCommerce (white background) images for your online store. Or if you do them yourself, make sure they are great quality images that showcase your product in the best way possible. 

    If you have poor quality images people will automatically (often subconsciously) assume your products are poor quality too.

    Picnic Season does a great job of showing me all angles of their picnic basket:

     

     

    1. Display evocative product descriptions

    Some people like to read. But instead of being boring in your product descriptions, jazz it up a little. Include evocative language that makes me smile. Also, don’t be afraid to use bullet points, paragraphs and headings to make your product descriptions easier to read. 

    Kate and Bec from The Better Packaging Co. do a great job of this:

     

     

    Kim from Burbridge and Burke also does such a good job with product descriptions (she had me at fluffy duck hair!): 

     

     

    1. Build trust, trust and more trust!

    People are taking a leap of faith when they shop online so you need to give them lots of reasons to trust you. You can do this by displaying reviews, showing user-generated content and having a solid guarantee on your site. 

    Final word

    Ok, so go through your website and make sure your site has these 5 onsite must-haves for a good conversion rate and make any adjustments as needed. Improving your conversion rate by just a little can a huge impact on your bottom line.