The new Branch analytics experience reorganizes the reporting you relied on in Classic into a single, flexible system of dashboards, widgets, and data sources. If you've used Classic reporting, almost everything you did before still exists, but you’ll often find it in a new place.
This guide explains what changed between Classic and the new platform so you can find your reports quickly and rebuild any view you depend on. It focuses on the differences. For step-by-step instructions on building, editing, and sharing dashboards, read the Dashboards Overview. For the fields available in each data source, read the Analysis Data Sources Reference.
Tip
Branch University offers live, expert-led training on the new analytics experience. See Analysis to Insights with Ivy to get started.
Before you begin
To follow the steps in this guide, you first need:
- Access to Analysis in Branch.
- A basic understanding of dashboards, widgets, and data sources, covered in the Dashboards Overview.
The options to copy dashboards and build widgets appear only when dashboard editing is turned on for your account. You can share a dashboard with a teammate once they’ve signed in to Branch and their role includes access to aggregate data.
Find your Classic reports
In Classic, each report lived on its own analytics tab with a fixed layout and its own hidden filters. In the new platform, you’re no longer locked into a single static view, and you have two ways to get to the same data.
Start from a prebuilt dashboard: Branch provides a Classic Suite of dashboards that recreate the structure of the Classic reporting pages. Find them under Analysis > All Dashboards. Each one appears only when the matching product is turned on for your account. For the full list and the Classic page each one maps to, see Default dashboards. Branch owns the Classic Suite dashboards, and they’re read-only, so make a copy when you want to customize one.
Build your own widget: To recreate a report from scratch, create a widget and select the data source that holds the data you want. The following table shows the data source to use for each Classic report.
| Classic report | Data source to use |
|---|---|
| Summary | Activity |
| Sources | Activity |
| Ads Activity | Activity |
| Ads Unified (SKAN and non-SKAN) | Unified Activity and SKAdNetwork |
| Ads SKAdNetwork | SKAdNetwork |
| Activity | |
| Journeys (now Banners) | Link And Banner Analytics |
| SEO and AIO | Activity |
| QR codes | Link And Banner Analytics |
| LinkHub link-level analytics | Link And Banner Analytics |
| Cohorts (acquisition) | Install Cohort Activity |
| Funnel | Funnel |
| Fraud | Activity Fraud |
Tip
Activity is the most complete last-touch data source Branch offers. Use it to report on performance across Ads, Links, Banners, and more in a single widget. You can also add several widgets that use different data sources to one dashboard to compare numbers side by side.
Report on total and unique counts
In Classic, you used the Unique checkbox to switch every metric on the page between total counts and unique counts. The new platform replaces that global toggle with dedicated measures.
When you configure a widget, you'll find a total and a unique version of each measure listed separately. For example:
- Add to Cart gives the total count of events.
- Add to Cart Unique gives the unique count of events.
Select the measure that matches what you want to report. Because total and unique counts are now distinct measures, a metric always means exactly what you built it to mean, even when it's used inside a formula.
Filter out organic activity
In Classic, you used the Organic checkbox to include or exclude unattributed activity. In the new platform, widgets you build include unattributed activity by default, and you control it with a filter instead. Most Classic Suite dashboards start with the Attributed filter set to true, so they show only attributed activity until you change the filter.
To report only on attributed activity, add a filter on the Attributed dimension and set it to true.
Note
The new platform refers to this data as unattributed rather than "organic." In marketing, "organic" more precisely describes conversions from organic channels such as search, so filtering on the Attributed dimension is the clearest way to include or exclude this data.
Map your Classic dimensions
The Feature and Channel dimensions work the same way they did in Classic. The new platform adds a third dimension, Branch Channel, so you can see which Branch product drove a conversion.
| Dimension | What it describes |
|---|---|
| Feature | The broadest grouping of how a link was used, mapped to utm_medium. For example, QR Codes. |
| Channel | A more granular grouping, mapped to utm_source. For example, Printed. |
| Branch Channel | The Branch product or feature that measured the attributed conversion. |
The Branch Channel dimension can have the following values:
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Empty | Unattributed |
| BANNERS | Banners |
| SEO | Organic search |
| AIO | Traffic from AI chat agents |
| ADS | Paid advertising |
| QR_CODE | QR codes |
| SHORT_LINKS | Short Links |
| DYNAMIC_LINKS | Dynamic links |
| API_LINKS | Links created through the API |
| UNKNOWN | Couldn’t be classified |
Caution
Channel and Branch Channel aren't the same column. Channel reflects your utm_source value, while Branch Channel identifies the Branch product that drove the conversion.
Recreate custom metrics with formulas
If you built custom metrics in the Classic column selector, recreate them as formulas. A formula lets you combine measures, attributes, and custom event filters into your own calculation, such as a click-to-purchase rate.
Build formulas in the column section when you configure a widget. Use the free-form editor with autocomplete, or start from the prebuilt functions. Because formulas are built on measures, you can use them anywhere you use a measure.
Create custom dimensions with sets
Custom dimensions weren't available in Classic. In the new platform, a set lets you create a new field by grouping the values of an existing one.
For example, suppose your Revenue field holds a wide range of values, and your team treats any order of $20 or less as small and anything over $20 as large. Create a set named Order Size with two rules:
- When Revenue is greater than 20, label it Large.
- When Revenue is 20 or less, label it Small.
The Order Size field then behaves like any other field. Add it to a widget, group by it, or filter an entire dashboard to show only Large orders.
Compare time periods
In Classic, you compared time periods by creating the groupings manually. The new platform includes a change analysis feature that does this for you.
When you edit a headline metric widget, open the Column editor and configure the comparison period. The widget then generates an automated summary of how the metric changed period over period, such as quarter over quarter.
Find other moved settings
A few smaller pieces of Classic behavior work differently now.
- Marketing title: Add the Title dimension from the Link And Banner Analytics data source.
- Dimension and measure order: The new platform lists your selected dimensions and measures alphabetically, not in the order you select them.
- Roll-up toggle groupings: The Classic roll-up toggle isn’t supported. To summarize and break down data, use a visualization such as a pivot table.
FAQ
Where did the Unique checkbox go?
Separate measures replace the global Unique checkbox. Select the total measure, such as Purchase, or the unique measure, such as Purchase Unique, depending on what you want to report.
Where did the Organic checkbox go?
Widgets you build now include unattributed activity by default. To exclude it, add a filter on the Attributed dimension. The new platform calls this data "unattributed" rather than "organic."