App marketing: conversion tracking with Firebase

First of all: Firebase is much more than an app marketing tool. Rather, it is a platform for developers to build or expand their own apps with Google infrastructure. For apps that are not too complex, for example, Firebase is very suitable for outsourcing services to Google servers. You can find all information about Firebase here.

In our example, however, we have already opted for Firebase and are now using the additional benefits of the platform for marketing. Dynamic links are at the center of this.

Dynamic Linking is an important part of the Firebase offer. In simple terms, dynamic links are Google’s version of deferred deep links. In other words, deep links to app content that behave differently depending on the device. In addition, the Dynamic Linking system comes with Google’s promise to work across platforms. With Dynamic Links, it is therefore possible to create links that:

1. Behave differently depending on the platform. For example, when accessed via the browser, a landing page opens, whereas mobile access leads to the app store
2. Behave differently depending on whether the app is installed or not. If it is not installed, a link is created to the App Store or Play Store
3. (This is where the magic happens) After the app installation via the dynamic link, the linked content is displayed to the user the first time they open it. Dynamic links therefore “survive” the installation process, which is wonderful news for marketers.

Too complicated? The following user journey is possible with a single link:

Basically, your app content must be able to receive deep links to content. The procedure remains the same as for the implementation of iOS universal links or Android app links. The link must be a valid URL according to an HTTP or HTTPS scheme.

In addition, the Firebase SDK must of course be correctly implemented in your app. This passes on the link information to the app and therefore also ensures that the link information is not lost during the installation process.

Creating dynamic links is then relatively simple. Firebase guides you through the entire process and makes creating links a breeze. Even capturing campaign-related information is part of the process:

1. The first step is to enter the URL prefix. This gives us “nice” links. For example, a campaign-related prefix such as meineapp.ch/rabattcoupon is ideal here. The prefix prevents long links that your customers can’t remember. The latter is particularly important when used in print materials.
2. Next, we insert the link to which we want to direct the user and give it a name that makes it easy to recognize:

IMPORTANT: To avoid sending desktop users to a blank page, the link must also point to the corresponding content on the web. If the content only exists in the app, it is advisable to redirect the URL to a corresponding landing page.

3. In steps 3 and 4, we define the behavior of the link on iOS and Android. Here we have the option of directing the user to our app or a website, depending on the platform. This can be helpful, for example, in cases where cross-platform development has been dispensed with and the app is only available for one platform.
4. Finally, we have the option of adding campaign information to the link. Social media meta tags can be entered in the top section if required. These are information about the link title, link description and displayed image, which are displayed when sharing. Campaign information is the classic UTM parameter, which is already known from the “Google Campaign URL Builder“.

The last step is the “Skip app preview page” option: For users who have not yet installed your app, a preview page can be displayed before they are redirected to the store. The purpose of this is to provide the user with information about the app they are to download. This makes the transition from link click to download in the store more successful, which increases the conversion rate. Of course, this only makes sense if the call to action of your link is not already “Download app now” or similar.

We have set up our campaign so that we have an app whose content we can link to. Our dynamic links behave as we have defined, depending on the platform, and in Analytics we can see who has clicked on our links, when and where. The last step is to measure the conversions, i.e. how many app installations our campaign has achieved.

If we consistently follow the procedure described above and equip all our ads and communication measures with dynamic links created in Firebase, tracking our campaign goals is easy:

1. Recording actions as events
   In order to be able to track actions, we must first make the system understand what they consist of. Firebase refers to this as “events”.
   Creating events is relatively simple for developers. Either predefined events (see Google’s documentation) or custom events can be implemented via logevent. In our case, we are lucky and the tracking of app installations is already recorded by default.
   Under the event name dynamic_link_first_open, Firebase tracks the first opening of a user after the download. The campaign parameters specified in the link and other information such as link ID and time of installation are also recorded.
2. Marking events as conversions
   Once our target event has been recorded, we can mark it as a conversion. All we need to do is toggle the slider next to the event:

All relevant key figures are now displayed in Firebase’s own Analytics, which is comparable to Google’s regular Analytics.

3. Connecting Firebase with Google Analytics
   It is of course practical that Firebase has its own Analytics area. However, it is not ideal for larger companies in particular to have to access important campaign data in several places.
   At this point, it is practical that the entire product range used comes from Google. This is because Analytics can be connected to Firebase at the touch of a button. All you need to do is go to the Firebase project settings, select Google Analytics under “Integrations” and link it to the correct account. All tracked events and conversions are then displayed in Google Analytics.
   If you want to go one step further, you can import your recorded conversions directly into Google Ads and place conversion-optimized ads there.

Capturing and tracking app installs as a conversion target with Firebase is relatively simple, as shown. It certainly helps to be aware of the requirements right from the start and to include these considerations in the app development.

The great advantage of Firebase is the fact that integration into other services from the Google universe is child’s play and that Dynamic Links is a very elegant solution for cross-platform deep linking.