Overview
Branch is excited to announce our upcoming support for Google's Integrated Conversion Measurement (ICM), a new solution designed to enhance your mobile campaign performance and provide more comprehensive reporting across iOS and Android.
As an official Google App Attribution Partner, Branch is supporting ICM to empower marketers and developers with improved insights, while prioritizing user privacy.
What is Google ICM?
Google's ICM is a forward-thinking solution designed to provide more reliable and privacy-centric mobile app conversion measurement.
By leveraging techniques like on-device measurement, ICM aims to improve reporting accuracy for iOS and Android campaigns, especially in light of evolving privacy landscapes.
On-device measurement is a privacy-preserving technique where conversion data is processed directly on the user's device rather than being sent to a centralized server for aggregation before attribution. This method enhances user privacy while still allowing for accurate campaign measurement.
Key benefits
Below are some of the key benefits you can expect from using Google’s ICM with Branch:
Enhanced reporting across iOS & Android: Get real-time and event-level reporting of your campaign performance.
On iOS, gain improved reporting for app conversions from iOS 14+ users.
On Android, benefit from better reporting for app conversions from the European Economic Area (EEA) or when a user opts out of device-level permissions.
Privacy-preserving techniques: ICM utilizes privacy-preserving technologies, ensuring no identifiable information leaves a user's device or is disclosed externally, including to Google.
Seamless integration: As a Google App Attribution Partner, Branch directly integrates with Google ICM, enhancing reporting for advertisers whether you're using our SDK or server-to-server integrations.
Getting started
Use the information in this section to understand the process for getting Google ICM data flowing for your app campaigns.
iOS
To enable enhanced reporting for your iOS app campaigns with Google ICM through Branch, please confirm the following:
You have an active iOS App campaign for installs with Google Ads.
You have implemented on-device conversion measurement using event data within your app.
You also have the option to upgrade your infrastructure to ensure compatibility with ICM and future measurement improvements.
To do this, you can:
Upgrade to Branch iOS SDK (v3.11.0 or higher) and integrate the standalone On Device Conversion Measurement (ODM) SDK from Google.
Upgrade to Branch iOS SDK (v3.11.0 or higher) and upgrade to the latest version of the Firebase SDK, which includes the ODM SDK.
Use a server-to-server integration, where you will need to pass the on-device measurement
”info”string to Branch.
Note
Google has reported that advertisers with a majority of logged-in users who implemented a similar solution with their first-party data saw a median 19% reduction in CPA on Google's owned inventory!
Android
There are no immediate actions that you need to take in order to gain access to this solution for Android. Measurement improvements will automatically be applied when available.
Additional resources
To learn more about integrating Google Ads with Branch and leveraging its full capabilities, please refer to our comprehensive documentation.
For more information about Google’s requirements for ICM, please refer to Google’s Integration Guide and to your Google representative.
Tip
To analyze cross-channel attribution, considering coupling ICM with Branch’s Predictive Aggregate Measurement (PAM).
While ICM improves visibility into conversions under privacy constraints, PAM complements this by providing insights into previously unattributed conversions, offering a more comprehensive view of campaign performance.