Google ICM

Overview

As an official Google App Attribution Partner, Branch supports 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, follow the steps below.

All integrations

For both automatic and manual integrations, you need to:

1. Confirm that you have an active iOS App campaign for installs with Google Ads

2. Upgrade to Branch iOS SDK (v3.13.1 or higher)

3. Use this Firebase tutorial to link your app to the GoogleAdsOnDeviceConversion framework using one of the following methods:

   1. CocoaPods

   2. Swift Package Manager

   3. A manual integration using a downloaded version of the Firebase iOS SDK

4. In Xcode, add the -ObjC flag to Other Linker Settings in your app target's build settings.

   1. Please note that you must do this regardless of what method you used to integrate the GoogleAdsOnDeviceConversion framework.

At this point, you are fully set up to have Branch automatically fetch ODM info. No additional code is required. Branch will automatically handle ODM data fetching and reporting.

Manual integrations

If you want custom control over ODM data fetching, you can implement a manual integration.

1. First, complete all steps outlined in the “All integrations” section.

2. Fetch ODM info using Google’s GoogleAdsOnDeviceConversion API, specifically the fetchAggregateConversionInfoForInteraction method.

3. Pass this ODM info to Branch using the Branch iOS SDK’s setODMInfo method:

Branch.setODMInfo(odmInfo, andFirstOpenTimestamp: firstLaunchTime)

[Branch setODMInfo:aggregateConversionInfo andFirstOpenTimestamp:firstLaunchTime];

To learn more about this method, visit our iOS Full Reference guide.

Android

There are no actions that you need to take in order to gain access to this solution for Android. Measurement improvements will automatically be applied as available.

Additional resources

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.