Branch has just released install referrer support for multiple Android app stores

Targeting Android devices like Samsung, Huawei, or Xiaomi phones just got easier. Branch now redirects users intuitively to the native device app stores on these devices with install referrer support. It works the same way as Google Play Install Referrer. Branch retrieves referring parameters from an expanded selection of Android app store APIs to provide deterministic matching for attribution and deep linking purposes on these newer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This expansion marks another milestone in Branch’s ability to offer accurate measurement and linking across apps, on an immense breadth of app stores, to support your complex user acquisition strategies.

Deterministic matching captures high LTV customers

Before this release, deterministic matching was available only for campaigns leading to the Google Play Store. Android app installs through any alternate app stores would have had to rely solely on probabilistic matching. Android campaigns on newer app stores like Huawei AppGallery could not offer brands the comparable ability to provide seamless and delightful user experiences. Now with Branch, advertisers can employ deterministic matching with the support of multiple Android app store install referrer IDs. Finally, brands across the world have another robust way to capture high lifetime value (LTV) customers for additional Android app stores.

Disadvantages of probabilistic matching

For advertisers committed to offering accurate attribution and great customer experiences on a consistent basis, the chances of a probabilistic mismatch are ever-present. And the potential for mismatch in probabilistic attribution methodologies also limits visibility into post-install events. In general, advertisers who simply use probabilistic matching struggle to personalize customer experiences and confidently discern where their highest LTV customers came from on third-party Android app stores.

How does Branch use install referrers to improve matching?

The install referrer is essentially a string of code that Branch sends to an app store when an ad is clicked. When the app is installed, the referrer is sent to Branch where we match the install with the ad network (or source) where it originated. Accurate install referral data guarantees almost 100% matching accuracy. This is crucial to understand which traffic sources send users to download your app and to gain insights into post-install events.

Branch’s Android SDK has been supporting the Google Play Install Referrer for years. With install referrer support, Branch confidently attributes and deep links the user when they open the app. And now with install referrer support expanded to newer app stores, brands can reliably deliver great customer experiences across a broader range of devices, as well as deter fraud.

Expand paid campaigns to new regions and devices

100% deterministic matching is now possible for deep linking after install by leveraging each new app store install referrer. With improvements to the customer experience and increased visibility into your post-install activities, you can now make better investment decisions on paid Android campaigns from third-party app stores. This additional flexibility in OEMs with install referrer support is undoubtedly game changing in Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American regions.

Deterministic matching on an expanded set of app stores via the install referrer, enables you to leap one step closer to a world where every experience works seamlessly, for every customer, every time.

Deter fraud across third-party Android app stores

With expanded support for multiple app store APIs, Branch now gathers the exact install begin time (the moment the user entered the app store and clicked the “install” button). The simple availability of the true install begin time provides a fuller view into the prevalence of fraud in the ecosystem.

By the nature of how they are built, install referrers can match clicks and installs decisively and effectively defer fraud on Android devices. Historically, before the install referrer API could provide the install begin time on third-party app stores, MMPs like Branch only had visibility into a user’s first launch of an app, which triggered the initialization of our SDK. In the absence of install referrer data, an unknown time gap existed between click and actual install. This gap was an ideal time window for fraudsters to exploit.

During this window, a common type of fraud called “click injection” could take place on Android devices. Click injection is a type of mobile ad fraud unique to Android install campaigns where a dubious source will trigger a click just before an app finishes installing. This will occur in a way that reattributes credit for the install to the dubious source and away from its authentic source, which could be relevant paid, owned, or earned channels in an app’s marketing mix.

Click injection can undercut organic installs. Fortunately, utilizing the install begin time saves Branch customers significantly on falsely attributed installs in their Android app store campaigns.

Grow your Android app adoption across the globe

Advertisers need to create compelling user experiences in their global, omnichannel campaigns. This often means handling continuous experiences across every OS, OS version, app version, browser, and experience. Supporting multiple Android app stores in more accurate and effective ways is part of Branch’s ongoing commitment to push the capabilities of attribution technology.

With the growing popularity of alternative app stores on Android devices, we recognized the need to give more flexibility to global advertisers who rely heavily on Android campaigns.

How to get started with install referrer support

For existing Branch customers, access to the install referrer support on additional Android app stores is now available as long as you have upgraded to the latest version of our Android SDK, v5.2.0. You can also dive deeper into our methodology on install referrers or our Android integration dependencies. To brainstorm ways to kickstart your global Android campaigns and to ensure you’re taking full advantage of our Android SDK, please contact your Customer Success Manager.

If you’d like to learn more about Branch’s ad attribution solution, Universal Ads, contact sales today.

Branch provides the industry’s leading mobile linking and measurement platforms, offering solutions that unify user experience and attribution across devices and channels. Branch has been selected by over 100,000 apps since 2014 including Adobe, BuzzFeed, Yelp, and many more, improving experiences for more than 3 billion monthly users across the globe. Learn more about Branch or contact sales today.

Contact sales

The post Capture Your Highest LTV Customers on More Android Devices With Branch’s MMP appeared first on Branch.

We will dive into the technicality of this revision later on in the blog post, but this is a good reminder of how transient attribution methods are on leading mobile platforms like Android. Staying abreast of these changes is challenging. 

Advertisers are making critical decisions on their Android campaign strategy for 2022, and many more changes are coming. In this post, we’ll look at the current Android 12 privacy landscape and predict how it impacts ad attribution on Android for the coming year.

In this post, we will cover:

• The loss of access to GAIDs
• Why reliable methods for attribution (including probabilistic) still exist
• The Google Play Install Referrer

Note: if you wish to learn more about the Android Privacy Sandbox announcement from February 2022, read our overview or watch this webinar. 

GAIDs and Android attribution: a brief journey

It’s almost impossible to discuss Android attribution this year without bringing up GAIDs. In early June last year, Google announced limits to GAID access as one of the significant privacy changes to come with Android 12.

What are GAIDs?

GAIDs are a unique, user-resettable ID for advertising provided by Google Play services. Before the existence of GAIDs, the mobile app world had no equivalent to web “cookies”. Also, unlike cookies, which often have a limited shelf-life, GAIDs were semi-permanent device identifiers. They don’t change unless users specifically take action in their Android device settings. 

GAIDs helped apps control advertising targeting and attribution better with a simple, standard system. They provided accurate measurement, personalized user experiences, and increased ROI on Android. ​​Prior to GAID, advertisers often used more persistent device IDs (e.g., the Android ID) to identify unique devices, which was clearly an issue for user privacy.

GAIDs vs. Android ID

The main difference between GAID and Android ID is that users can opt out of personalized ads and also reset their GAID, which provides greater consumer choice and privacy than a permanent device ID. Without a doubt, the introduction of GAIDs was a big win for end-users of Android without being too disruptive for advertisers. 

Controls that users already enjoyed before Android 12

After the introduction of the GAID, Android users could opt-out of personalized ads on their devices by going into their Settings > Google menu > Ads and flipping the toggle. Like the original Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) setting on iOS, the default mode was off and there was no compulsory prompt to notify users of their privacy options. Under the hood, the GAID value was still available for use in attribution, fraud protection, and analytics, but came accompanied with a flag indicating the user’s opt-out preference for ad targeting. So in a nutshell, user devices would be flagged but GAID access would not be denied. 

Check out our earlier blog post for additional context on how these limits to ad tracking on Android worked.

What changed about GAID access with Android 12? 

Two changes to GAID access were announced when Android 12 was introduced. One change is now only applicable to Android 13, after Google’s recent documentation update.

First change: Apps can no longer access GAIDs of opted-out users, even for attribution

• In the past, when Android users opted out of personalized ads, their GAID was still available but could not be used for ad targeting or retargeting. 
• GAIDs will now be 100% zeroed out when users opt-out of ads personalization on Android. 
• This was initially rolled out to users on Android 12 in late 2021, and it is coming to Play Store Services on all versions of Android on April 1, 2022.
• This way of limiting GAID access brings Android to parity with Limit Ad Tracking on iOS from a few years ago.

Second change: Technical update is required to continue collect GAIDs

• For apps that target Android 13, a technical change is also required to collect GAIDs beginning April 1, 2022, even for users that do not opt-out of ads personalization.
• This technical change is a new user permission that must be included in the app’s manifest file.

The timeline of this second change is now even more confusing, due to a last-minute change by Google on March 14. While the original deadline for implementation of the new permission is still April 1, 2022, the targeted Android version that the new permission applies to has since been changed to Android 13 rather than API 31 (which corresponds to Android 12). At the time of writing, Android 13 is still in Developer Preview (Beta), which means the vast majority of brands will not yet be targeting this version of Android by April 1 and now have more time to implement the new AD_ID permission. 

For Branch customers, we recommend taking either of the following actions prior to the release of Android 13:

Option 1

OR

Option 2

There are many reasons to remain optimistic about attribution on Android

First of all, the impact of these changes is expected to be incremental and over time. This is a wide departure from how sudden and massive the AppTrackingTransparency changes were on iOS 14. While the ultimate future of GAID after Android Privacy Sandbox is still unclear, it’s not disappearing immediately. 

The table below summarizes GAID access after these two changes have been rolled out:

The Install Referrer Revisited

For campaigns aiming at Android installs via the Play Store, the Play Store Install Referrer provides a promising alternative for deterministic attribution. Indeed, the Install Referrer has been helping fill gaps in attribution for a few years now, and this is a good time to recap what it does and remind ourselves of its continued utility.

When GAIDs were freely available everywhere, the Install Referrer was often redundant for attribution but still useful for fraud prevention. However as GAIDs get deprecated wholesale and privacy becomes a bigger consideration, the Install Referrer is getting more attention. The future of Install Referrer after Android Privacy Sandbox is unclear, but it still offers a reliable solution for attribution today.

The Play Store Install Referrer is applicable for attribution on Android only, with click-through install attribution for installs that take place via the Google Play Store. It is not applicable for view-through conversions, or campaigns redirecting to landing pages before taking users to the Play Store.

Essentially, the Play Store receives a unique string when a user clicks on an ad. And when the app is installed, the attribution provider (i.e. Branch) retrieves the install referrer and uses its value to match the source to the install. You can read more on how this works in Google’s official documentation.

At Branch, we use the Play Install Referrer for two essential purposes: to help eliminate entire forms of mobile app install fraud, and to provide attribution through deterministic methods. Empowered with the Play Store Install Referrer, the increasing loss of GAIDs has had minimal impact on our ability to attribute most types of Android ad campaigns.

While the Play Store Install Referrer is specific to the Google Play Store, other app stores for Android devices also have their own install referrer solutions that function similarly. Branch is building Install Referrer support for third-party Android app stores like Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi in the coming months to augment our attribution capabilities.

Facebook, install referrer and attribution in 2022

While we are on the subject, let’s revisit Install Referrer Support for Facebook campaigns as a glowing example of how attribution still works reliably without GAIDs.

For most mobile apps, Facebook ads have always been a critical channel for the bulk of their user growth strategy. Previously, log-level Facebook ads attribution data based on GAIDs was available to advertisers for export through the AMM program. After Facebook deprecated the AMM program in late 2021, they introduced a solution based on the Play Store Install Referrer to enable continuous access to reliable attribution data.

Fortunately for Branch customers, the Play Install Referrer has been part of the Android ecosystem for years and Branch uses it extensively for various purposes including deferred deep linking and attribution. Our advertisers continue to get accurate matching and attribution for their paid and organic social Facebook campaigns. You can read more in-depth about how this solution works here.  

Probabilistic attribution methods on Android

Other non-GAID reliant fallback attribution methods also remain very much viable and accurate. This is because, unlike the stipulations on iOS 14, Google hasn’t prohibited the use of probabilistic ad attribution techniques in the absence of GAIDs. At Branch, this takes the form of Predictive Matching (PREM), our privacy-first probabilistic attribution engine that achieves superior accuracy in attribution for Android. 

PREM is a probabilistic recognition system that cross-references past user interactions to attribute click-through conversion events for Android accurately. Privacy-first by design, PREM analyzes patterns in anonymous event metadata to uncover the most likely connection. These matches are only used where allowed under platform policies, and provide a significant improvement over point-in-time fingerprinting in accuracy and user privacy protection. 

The future of attribution on Android is bright

Android adoption is growing and advertising investments on this platform are exploding globally. Branch is at the bleeding edge of understanding what is at stake with all the end-user privacy changes with our industry-leading mobile linking platform (MLP) and mobile measurement partner (MMP) solutions. We are constantly monitoring the network-level attribution impact of the Android 12 related changes with our in-house data teams. We are also working closely with Google to navigate the impending changes on behalf of our customers, including the upcoming Privacy Sandbox developments.

As always, we are eager to hear your questions as well as provide proactive strategic insights and suggestions from our experience and that of other leaders, as we navigate the landscape together.

Branch provides the industry’s leading mobile linking and measurement platforms, offering solutions that unify user experience and attribution across devices and channels. Branch has been selected by over 100,000 apps since 2014 including Adobe, BuzzFeed, Yelp, and many more, improving experiences for more than 3 billion monthly users across the globe. Learn more about Branch or contact sales today.

Contact sales

The post The Current State of Play Store Attribution Without GAIDs appeared first on Branch.

We’re excited to announce that Branch customers can now get deeper insights from their Snapchat campaigns thanks to the introduction of our integration with Snap Advanced Conversions. Branch customers can enable the new support for Advanced Conversions via a dedicated toggle in the Branch dashboard. Once enabled, Branch will pass the additional data to Snap to unlock Advanced Conversions optimizations and reporting to Snap Ads Manager.  

The backstory

Advanced Conversions was introduced earlier this year in response to the evolving end-user privacy needs of the mobile ecosystem. Historically, Snap has always held privacy as being very important for the long-term health of the mobile advertising ecosystem and has been very supportive of App Tracking Transparency (ATT). In fact, they were one of the first big social networking apps to show the ATT prompts on their app when iOS 14 first rolled out. While the advent of ATT, and overall iOS changes, is a huge win for end-user privacy, this made it difficult for advertisers to measure and manage their ad campaigns for iOS. Snap set out to solve this dilemma with Advanced Conversions. 

So what is Advanced Conversions?

Snap introduced Advanced Conversions in May 2021 as a new measurement system that utilizes a privacy-centric data pipeline. It’s designed to work without requiring ATT opt-in from the user by obfuscating attributes that are associated with individual users and devices so that identifiable information from the end-user is not linked to their ad exposure and app conversions.  Snap leverages advanced cryptographic techniques to measure aggregate conversion data so reporting will result in aggregate records only, and the cohorted data will be reported by Snap daily, with a delay of up to 36 hours.

Why did Snap introduce Advanced Conversions?

Advanced Conversions is a result of Snap’s privacy-centric approach to mobile advertising measurement. Advanced Conversions helps marketers meet their KPIs while honoring end users’ ad tracking preferences. This is a tricky equilibrium to maintain and Snap aims to find the right balance between providing a high-quality, relevant ad experience for the end-users of their platform and respecting how much data they choose to share with Snap. Ultimately Snap’s goal is to protect user privacy in a way that allows advertisers to find the inherent value of running their ad campaigns on Snap. 

Does Branch support Advanced Conversions? 

Branch is proud to share that we fully support Advanced Conversions. We’ve partnered closely with Snapchat to ensure our integration has all the necessary updates. Branch has a new toggle on the dashboard which, when turned on, sends the relevant additional data to Snap (a friendly call out here is that the toggle is off by default), providing optimal control and access to our customers to shape how much Snap-related campaign data they want to share. To learn more, explore our documentation. 

There are many benefits to expanding the type of data most advertisers want Branch to share with Snap. Some of the immediate benefits of enabling support for Advanced Conversions include:  

• A privacy-centric aggregate measurement for iOS users for a more complete picture of campaign performance. 
• Access to Advanced Conversions optimization and reporting, separate from SKAdNetwork reporting.
• Improved advertising reach, and access to numerous advertising features such as Target Cost Bid Strategy, Country-level reporting and reporting for numerous attribution windows. 
• Additional context and campaign insight while still ensuring that your Snap campaign measurement solution is compliant with ATT and other leading platform privacy policies that are applicable. 

Ready to get started? Learn more about Branch and Advanced Conversions here. 

The post Branch Supports Advanced Conversions, Snapchat’s Privacy-Centric Mobile Attribution Solution appeared first on Branch.

This is where Branch has come to the rescue, with the best tracking compliance functionality in the attribution industry: SafeTrack. 

What is Branch’s SafeTrack? 

Since the release of iOS 14.5 in April, SafeTrack has been automatically applied to all Branch links created to measure ad campaigns. This includes disabling attribution matching via probabilistic techniques until after users give consent via the ATT prompt, as required by Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency policy. We continued our robust support for attribution data re-capture when users give consent (Branch Ads Analytics Changes for iOS 14.5), and we also continued offering our superior deferred deep linking functionality decoupled from attribution, empowering great UX without requiring ATT consent for all users.

Customers have shared their appreciation for this best-in-class offering. SafeTrack offers the most compliant, industry-leading way to track mobile ads, and customers who use our Universal Ads attribution product can rest assured that their ad links are designed to behave in full compliance with all applicable platform policies for ad tracking, including Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency policy. 

Since the launch of iOS 14.5, some customers have shared with us that they have compliance use cases other than basic ad campaign tracking that they believe fall within the scope AppTrackingTransparency, and which they want to ensure are attributed in compliance with the ATT policy. To help facilitate these use cases, we have expanded the scope of SafeTrack: our Enterprise customers may now choose to disable matching via probabilistic techniques for all of their app’s Branch links.

While we don’t expect this expanded SafeTrack configuration option to be necessary for the vast majority of Branch customers (it brings limitations to both deep linking and measurement of owned and earned channels, neither of which is in scope of the ATT policy), we’re excited to offer this additional flexibility to support customers with highly specific compliance requirements.

SafeTrack	By Default	Request to Enable
Ad links	X
All Branch links		X*

* Customized SafeTrack configuration is currently available for Enterprise clients.

Next Steps

As platform-level privacy policies continue to mature over the next few years, we anticipate a lot of change in every direction, but the strong march toward user privacy is certain. Branch will continue to invest in our SafeTrack configuration options based on evolving customer needs to keep you in compliance, allowing you to focus on your business and leave the ongoing technical complexity of this task to us. 

If you would like to learn more about SafeTrack customization options, please reach out to your Branch CSM.

The post Branch SafeTrack™ Ensures End-to-End ATT Compliance for Your Ad Attribution appeared first on Branch.

Put simply, while you could probably pinpoint your most successful campaign, you wouldn’t understand the cost per conversion for your most successful campaign or the range of conversion costs that led to your most valuable leads. Without full coverage and granularity of your cost data analytics, there is no way to precisely calculate and compare ROI when you pull conversion metrics from different sources. However, Branch’s latest upgrade to cost ingestion capabilities solves that challenge. 

 

A better way to calculate your true mobile ROI

As metrics-driven marketers, we know you are constantly looking for ways to get more insights from your cost data as you parse through multiple network dashboards. Branch has taken another important step forward in solving how you collect, organize, and standardize all cost data from many sources to give you the cost insights you need. 

Initially, Branch offered partner API integrations to ingest campaign-level cost data. These API integrations offered high-quality, reliable data but were only available from select network partners. However, there was no way for the many ad partners who support the relevant cost-related macros in our links to pass on cost data.  Now, we have expanded our cost ingestion abilities to provide 100% coverage of your spend data across all ad networks via link-level parameters for those who are supportive of our macros. This means that ad networks can now effortlessly populate cost data with a few additional macros to send Branch the data you need to better understand the conversions your links generate. Data such as cost per click, cost per install, and cost per mille are then displayed in the Branch dashboard for your use. 

We do the heavy lifting of combining your cost and attribution data so you can increase the efficiency and accuracy of your campaigns. We also provide ad networks the tools to pass on that cost data accurately to you. Plus, you can easily visualize your cost data with the easy-to-use Branch dashboard, as seen below.

Why do attribution with Branch? 

Accurate calculation of ROI for mobile apps is dependent on high-quality attribution data. With the ubiquity of data fragmentation, siloed reporting, and general confusion over return on mobile ad spend, Branch’s key advantage is our ability to consolidate cross-platform, cross-channel conversion data.  Our latest cost on links feature also helps all types of cost data from ad networks integrate with your campaigns. This reduces data silos by centralizing your data in the Branch dashboard allowing you to make informed, timely, and optimal campaign decisions.

Next steps and beyond

If you’re a Universal Ads and Attribution customer, you can automatically access cost data in the Branch dashboard if your ad partners have already started sending Branch your cost data. Going forward, you can also generate a new ad link on your Branch dashboard for new campaigns.  We also recommend reaching out to your ad partners to remind them to start sending cost data if they have not already. 

You can learn more about the cost-on-links feature in our docs. If you have any further questions, reach out to your Branch customer success manager. 

The post Level Up How You Calculate ROI with Cost-on-Links appeared first on Branch.