Conversions shows how many conversion events and purchases, along with how much revenue and life-time value were driven by each aspect of your marketing (e.g., campaign, ad network, creative).
In this article:Conversion Events tab
In Analytics, your most important events are called conversions, five of which are predefined:
Enable events as conversions
To enable or disable an event as a conversion:
Flip the switch in the Mark as conversion column in the row for that event.
You can enable up to 30 events per project as conversions, in addition to the five that Analytics defines by default.
Attribution information associated with an event is collected from the time of enablement forward.
Create new conversion events
Use this option to identify events as conversions before you start logging them. With this option, all attribution information associated with those events is collected as soon as you start logging the event.
- Click Conversions.
- Click New conversion event.
- Enter the name of the event you want to identify as a conversion.
- Click Save.
Click an event in the table to see how many conversions are attributed to each source. When you're evaluating an event, choose an attribution model:
- Cross-channel last click: Firebase looks at clicks from all sources and attributes the conversion to the last click. (Excludes direct*)
- Cross-channel last engagement: Firebase attributes the conversion to the last click, or to an ad impression if there is no recent click. (Excludes direct*)
- Google Ads preferred last click: Firebase attributes the conversion to Google Ads whether or not there is a click from another source. (Excludes direct*)
- Google Ads preferred last engagement: Firebase attributes the conversion to Google Ads whether or not there is a click or ad impression from another source. (Excludes direct*)
*All attribution models in Analytics exclude direct visits from receiving attribution credit unless a conversion cannot be attributed to a campaign.
In addition to choosing an attribution model, you can also choose to see the origin of the events by Source, Medium, and Campaign, Network, Ad Group, and Creative.
If you have renamed a Google Ads campaign or ad group:
- If you use a date range that includes only data from December 31, 2018 or earlier, then Analytics displays the campaign/ad-group name(s) in use during that time period.
- If you use a date range that includes only data from January 1, 2019 and later, then Analytics displays the latest campaign/ad-group name.
- If you use a date range that includes data from before and after December 31, 2018, then you see:
- A row for each campaign/ad-group name in use up through December 31, 2018
- A single row with the latest campaign/ad-group name for all data from January 1, 2019 and later
In rare cases where Analytics doesn't have the Campaign ID or Ad Group ID necessary to join data, then reports that include data from before and after January 1, 2019 may display multiple rows/ names for the same campaign or ad group.
To see Google Ads-attributed Conversion Events in your Google Ads attribution reports, link your Firebase project to Google Ads, and then import the Analytics Conversion Events to Google Ads (Tools > Conversions > Firebase).
To help you better understand your conversions, Google Analytics for Firebase features view-through attribution: If there is no click event associated with an app install, Google Analytics for Firebase examines whether an app-install ad was viewed within a given time range, and attributes the conversion to the app-install ad viewed most recently before the installation.
The attribution window for first_open is 30 days. The attribution window for any web or subsequent in-app conversions is 90 days. You cannot adjust these attribution windows.
Add a network
To add a network:
- In Analytics, navigate to your app.
- Click Conversion, then click Network Settings.
- Click NEW NETWORK.
- Select a network from the menu.
- Source is automatically the Network name. Some networks also offer metadata about Campaign medium and Campaign name, so no additional input is needed. For other networks, we’ve provided the Campaign medium and Campaign name fields to capture custom information. Use the generated URL as your referral link (copy and paste the URL).
- CLICK: If you’re running a campaign to drive users to download the app, use the URL you generate here.
- DEEP LINK: If you’re running a campaign to re-engage existing app users, use the DEEP LINK tab. In this section, enter the URL scheme and path information. The same parameters will be appended.
- To send conversion information back to the network, turn on the Configure Postback switch. Otherwise, click Save.
Postbacks
A Postback sends your conversion data back to an ad network. Postbacks are optional. You may send first_open data in addition to other in-app conversion events. If you decide to set up a Postback, you also choose whether to send the network all conversions, or just the conversions that Analytics attributes to that particular network.
Postbacks help networks optimize the traffic they send you. For example, if a network knows that an app has been downloaded to a device, then it also knows not to serve that device any additional ads for that app.
If you send the network all conversion data, then that network is able to optimize its own traffic based on an awareness of conversions from all networks. When you send all conversion data to a network, the other networks involved in delivering conversions are anonymized.
If either of 1) all property-level data or 2) individual events or 3) specific event names or user properties have been excluded from ads personalization, then Analytics will append an additional signal (called ‘npa’) in Postbacks indicating that networks should not use the data for personalized advertising. Note that each network's treatment of such 'npa' signal is determined by such network.
To configure a Postback:
- In Analytics, navigate to your app.
- Click Conversions, then click Network Settings.
- In the row for the network, click Configure postback.
- Select the conversions you want to send, and select Only conversions attributed to this network or All conversions.
- Enter the network parameters (e.g., Tracking ID, Advertiser Password). Parameters vary by network.
- Click Save.
Custom campaigns for Google Play apps
When you use a custom campaign for an app you're distributing via Google Play, use the Google Play URL Builder to generate your custom URLs.
How different conversions are attributed
Dynamic links
When you add Dynamic Links to your app, the following events are recorded when users click those links:
- dynamic_link_first_open
- dynamic_link_app_open
- dynamic_link_app_update
You can view Analytics data for these events in the Events report.
If you enable these events as conversions, you can see attribution data in the Conversions report.
Learn more about Dynamic Links
Universal links
You can configure Universal Links to include utm parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign), and see the related data in your Conversions report.
Universal Link example:
http://my.app.link?utm_campaign=myappcampaign&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc
When a user clicks the link, Analytics logs a firebase_campaign event with those parameters, and you see the following data for campaign-related events:
- Campaign: myappcampaign
- Source: google
- Medium: cpc
Android-app links
You can configure Android App Links to include utm parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign), and see the related data in your Conversions report.
Android App Link example:
http://example.com/gizmos?utm_campaign=myappcampaign&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc
When a user clicks the link, Analytics logs a firebase_campaign event with those parameters, and you see the following data for campaign-related events:
- Campaign: myappcampaign
- Source: google
- Medium: cpc
Play Store install referrals
Install referrals from Google Play Store appear as follows:
- Source = google-play: indicates one of two things:
- The user was deep linked to Play Store listing via a link that specified a referrer (e.g., play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foo.bar&referrer=R)
- The user searched Play Store and discovered the app organically
- Source = (direct): indicates:
- The user was deep linked to Play Store via a link that didn't specify a referrer
Attribution windows
The attribution window for first_open conversion events is 30 days.
Once a first_open conversion event is attributed to a campaign, then all other conversion events for that same combination of user and app are attributed to that same campaign until the attribution window expires in 1 year. The attribution window is renewed for 1 year with each subsequent conversion that occurs before expiration.
The attribution window for a re-engagement campaign is 90 days.
Re-engagement campaigns
A conversion from a re-engagement campaign gets attributed twice:
- To the campaign that got credit for the first_open event. LTV accrues with that campaign. (Events other than first_open add to LTV if they include revenue details, e.g., the in_app_purchase event or any of the events for online sales.)
- To the re-engagement campaign. No LTV accrues with that campaign.
Campaign and re-engagement-campaign conversions are attributed as follows:
- Click-through: the conversion is attributed to the last campaign ad that was clicked, irrespective of how many different campaigns are running.
- View-through: the conversion is attributed to the last campaign ad that was viewed if there was no click between viewing the ad and converting, irrespective of how many different campaigns are running.
Apple Search Ads
If an app is installed as the result of a click on an Apple Search Ad, then Analytics logs a firebase_campaign event with those parameters, and you see the following data for campaign-related events:
- Source = Apple
- Medium = search
- Campaign = <iad campaign name>
You must add the iAd framework to the Xcode project file for your app in order to track Apple Search Ads.
(not set)
The dimension value (not set) appears when there is missing information for either source, medium, campaign, ad-network type, or creative.
Discrepancies between Analytics and Google Ads conversion data
| Circumstance | Description |
|---|---|
| Campaign conversions in Analytics but not in Google Ads (or vice versa) | If you see conversion data for a campaign in Analytics but not in Google Ads, then you have not completed one or both of the following:
If you have linked your Firebase project and Google Ads accounts and you are seeing conversion data in Google Ads but not in Analytics for Firebase, check whether you are sending conversion data directly to Google Ads from an app-analytics provider other than Analytics. |
| The number of conversions attributed to the same campaign is different in Google Ads and in Analytics during the same period | This is expected. Google Ads registers a conversion based upon click date (the date when a user clicked an ad that led to a conversion). Analytics registers the conversion on the conversion date (the date when the user actually converted). If the click and the conversion didn't both occur during the time period you are using, then the number of conversions will be different in each reporting environment. |
| Campaign clicks in Analytics and Google Ads, but no conversions | If you target a campaign for an iOS app to the Google Search Network, conversion tracking is not supported. Clicks are recorded, but conversions are not, so you will see click data for those campaigns in both Analytics and Google Ads, but there will be no conversion data. |
| Campaign clicks but no conversions in Google Ads, no Google Ads-attributed conversions in Analytics |
If you have linked a Google Ads manager account to your Firebase project, but have imported conversions from one of the child accounts, those conversions will not appear in either Google Ads or Analytics for Firebase.
|
| Different numbers of conversions in Analytics and Google Ads | If your time-zone settings are different in Analytics and Google Ads, then you might see different numbers of conversions in each context. For example, if conversions are timestamped such that they fall within the date range you're using for reports in Analytics but outside the date range you're using in Google Ads, then you'll see fewer of those same conversions accounted for in the Google Ads reports. A difference between attribution windows in Analytics and conversion windows in Google Ads can account for different numbers of conversions. For example, the attribution window in Analytics for the first_open event/conversion is 30 days. If in Google Ads you set the conversion window to 7 days for the same event/conversion, then Analytics is likely to account for a lot more first_open conversions than Google Ads. |
| More conversions for iOS-related campaigns in Google Ads than in Analytics | Conversions for iOS App campaigns and reporting for App ads served to iOS users on Google.com are available only in Google Ads. Learn more |