Google offers to track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns using Ads Data Hub. The service consolidates all the information about them that is available to the system, the advertiser can analyze the results of the campaign, but at the same time is deprived of the opportunity to receive reports at the user level.
Apple's SKAdNetwork tool offers similar capabilities. The results of an advertising campaign can be assessed as a whole, but without going into detail about individual users. If you connect a PR service to this platform, conversions and signals can be sent to it from a mobile app. In return, the campaign organizer receives information about the value and interactions between advertising and users as a whole. There are restrictions that prevent tracking each client; for example, one account can have no more than 100 advertising campaigns.
How the changes will affect marketers
The percentage of "new" users in the benefits of using our homeowner database reports will increase. In fact, these are the people who received a new cookie after a long absence from the site.
The share of direct traffic will increase, since many analytics services are based on the attribution model for the last indirect click. Before the restrictions were introduced, a user who came on Saturday via a PR link and on Sunday via a direct link was counted in the advertising campaign as the same client. Now, on a repeat visit, he is considered a new visitor, because he is assigned a new cookie.
The length of the conversion chain will be reduced. Previously, it was possible to track clicks that brought a potential consumer closer to conversion, but now the number of touches that can be linked to a specific person will decrease.
Cohort reports will be severely limited because they are based on user properties that are now locked down, meaning you won't be able to combine action sequences, product engagement, and orders.
The quality of attribution will decrease. It will no longer be possible to use relatively simple methods, such as last click, and make a direct connection to sources with the same accuracy as before.
Campaign evaluation will become closer to the last click, since analytics services will be able to rely only on the history of user interaction with advertising within one day.
Assisted conversions will play a more significant role in campaign evaluation. Advertisers are already evaluating the effectiveness of channels taking them into account, because it is no longer possible to draw conclusions based on the share of users who clicked on an ad.
Don't neglect web analytics systems