Facebook’s removing its 28-day attribution model

Facebook's Removing its 28-Day Attribution Model

What does Facebooks move to scrap the 28-day attribution model mean to you and your business if you run Facebook Ads

Facebook has announced that it’s removing its 28-day attribution window option for Facebook ads, which will mean that advertisers will no longer be able to track direct actions based on their campaigns over a longer period.

Facebook’s attribution models enable advertisers to measure specific responses to their campaigns, based on rules set by the advertiser.

For example, if you were to select ‘purchase’ as your conversion, and apply this default attribution model and attribution window, your reporting will reflect purchases that can be attributed by Facebook to the last ad click that happened within 28 days prior to purchase or the last ad impression that occurred within 1 day of purchase, whichever happened last.

Essentially, attribution models use specified touchpoints in your Facebook advertising process in order to provide more specific insights on your chosen response metric. This, in some ways, enables marketers to glean more info on the actual impact your ads have had, based on that focus element.
Facebook's Removing its 28-Day Attribution Model

Upcoming digital privacy initiatives affecting multiple browsers will limit business’s ability to measure people’s interactions across domains and devices. Among those limitations is the ability for businesses to attribute conversion events back to an ad over longer attribution windows.

So, due to changes in data tracking policy, Facebook will no longer be able to offer a 28-day window, and will instead be limited to a 7-day overview of direct response performance.

The changes will take effect from October 12th, though all historical data will be available until that date. If you’ve used attribution models in the past, it may be worth downloading your data to keep track of historic performance.

Author: Graham Paffett

A seasoned luxury goods & services digital marketer with over 20 years Exp. A specialist in developing "disruptive" digital campaigns and strategies for FMCG brands both within the UK and International. • Paid Social (inc. Facebook/Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn & Pinterest) • SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) • PPC (Pay Per Click) • CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation) • ASO (App Store Optimisation) • Direct To Consumer & B2B Digital Strategy Specialist • Social Media Marketer