People own multiple devices that can access the Internet, and will often view your ads in one environment and then convert on another. Cross-environment conversion reporting shows the effectiveness of your advertising campaign across all environments (tablet, mobile, and desktop; app and web), regardless of the device or environment a user converts on.
Cross-environment reporting links together cookies (for web), resettable device IDs (for mobile apps), and aggregated sign in data, to identify a user across different environments. This allows Google to determine the path taken by the user, from first seeing an ad to conversion. No data about the specific user is retained.
Cross-environment conversion reporting can be complex due to the nature of attribution and conversion tracking in apps. Cross-environment conversions that occur on devices or browsers other than the original ad can be attributed differently, or not measured at all, compared to traditional cookie-based conversion measurement. But overall, including cross-environment metrics will offer a more complete conversion picture in your reporting.
Generate a cross-device conversions report
To generate a cross-device conversion report in Report Builder, click the New Report dropdown and choose Standard > Cross-Device Conversions.
Cross-environment conversion metrics:
Cross environment metrics include both standard conversions and cross-environment conversions. These metrics include conversions from users across different environments, such as an app and a browser, or two different browsers, regardless of if the different environments were on a single device or multiple devices.
- Conversions + Cross-Environment
- Conversion Events + Cross-Environment
- Click-through Conversions + Cross-Environment
- View-through Conversions + Cross-Environment
- Total Conversions + Cross-Environment
- Click-through Conversion Events + Cross-Environment
- View-through Conversion Events + Cross-Environment
- Total Conversion Events + Cross-Environment
- Total Revenue + Cross-Environment
Relevant dimensions for cross-environment metrics:
- Ad
- Attributed event connection type
- Attributed event environment
- Attributed event platform type
- Connection type
- Platform type
Limitations
- Mobile device IDs must be passed back for cross-environment reporting to work. (Google Ad Manager publishers do this automatically.)
- Floodlight tags and activities must be implemented correctly for cross-environment reporting to work.
- Custom Floodlight variables are incompatible with cross-environment reporting.
- There is very little cross-device data in China.
- In-app browsers are complex, and have varying compatibility with cross-device reporting.
- Cross-device reporting is not supported at an event level in Data Transfer.
- Due to differences in cookies and device ID settings, there may be times when conversions can't be measured directly. In some cases, Campaign Manager 360 uses machine learning and historical data to model conversions.