What is Any Click Search? How to Track Hidden Ad Attribution and ROI

Any Click Search is a new filter option in Wicked Reports' Customer LTV reporting. 

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Every ecom brand would love a 10% lift in revenue. This is achievable if you put the same thought and effort into your SMS campaigns as you do with your paid media and email campaigns.

iOS 15 and Marketing Attribution: Is Wicked Reports Tracking Affected?

You may have heard about the industry-wide shift caused by Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework and the ongoing evolution of its privacy stack.

Are you wondering how this new reality affects advertisers using Wicked Reports?

The short answer: It doesn't.

Keep reading for the long answer.

Customize Your ROI Columns: Tailor Data Views for Your Business Needs

Your unique business requires a thousand daily unique decisions. And, when you're using Wicked Reports to make your marketing decisions (like scaling, killing, or chilling ad spend), you've got a ton of data at your fingertips. Now, there is a powerful and easy way to customize how you see your data arranged using the popular Custom Columns feature.

Do you run a marketing funnel that does not involve an email opt-in step?

Most Google advertisers understand that Google click IDs (known as GCLIDs) can help power Google Ad smart bidding campaigns when they are captured and uploaded back to Google.

However, GCLIDs have recently started “disappearing” in some cases, and/or being replaced by GBRAIDs and WBRAIDs in certain instances. Why is this happening?

It all comes down to changes Google has made in the wake of Apple’s iOS14.5 software update.

**iOS 17 Update: Link Tracking Protection**
Apple has continued its privacy push with iOS 17's Link Tracking Protection (LTP) feature. When a user engages with a link in Mail or Messages, or browses in Private Mode in Safari, LTP is designed to strip tracking parameters like GBRAIDs and potentially GCLIDs from the URL, causing them to "disappear" or be modified before the user lands on your site. This reinforces the need for robust, server-side tracking solutions to ensure consistent and accurate conversion attribution. For a detailed breakdown on managing these latest changes, see our dedicated post: https://www.wickedreports.com/blog/ios-17-link-tracking-protection

In summary, if a click is coming from an iOS device, and the user has opted out of tracking, you will see either a GBRAID or WBRAID, depending on criteria you can read about below.

If your Google Ad click is coming from a NON-iOS device, you will still see GCLIDs and be able to optimize them as normal.

Here are all of Google’s resources on this change: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10417364

Bidding considerations for impacted campaigns
Campaigns using Smart Bidding will continue to set bids based on the most accurate measurement available. However, we recommend that you prepare for the above changes by closely monitoring the performance and delivery of all campaigns serving on iOS traffic and, if necessary, make adjustments to budgets and Smart Bidding CPA or ROAS targets to help you achieve your goals. For example: If you would like to increase spend, you can raise CPA targets or lower ROAS targets as needed.

Overview
When Apple’s ATT policies take effect, we will no longer send the Google click identifier (GCLID) for ads on iOS 14 traffic coming from impacted Google apps. This new ATT compliant parameter, known as “wbraid”,replaces gclid on most iOS surfaces. Advertisers should ensure that the destination websites in their advertising campaigns can receive an additional passed URL parameter and that any web attribution systems they may have can support this parameter, when needed. On non-iOS surfaces, “gclid” will continue to serve as the primary mechanism by which we attribute conversions. Please note that search is not affected by this change, and will continue to use gclid.

Q: What should my advertiser do to ensure they are prepared?
A: As a best practice, we recommend the advertiser implement One Google Tag (OGT) (gTag.js and/or Google Tag Manager).
In addition, a small percentage of advertisers may need to ensure their site is able to accept arbitrary URL parameters by following the directions here -> https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1033981

Q: How does this new parameter work?
A: Similar to GCLID, this new parameter is dropped in a 1st party cookie set by A Google Tag (including gTag.js, gtm.js, and analytics.js linked to an ads account) when a user lands on a page after clicking on an ad. This parameter helps attribute conversions back to ad campaigns but does not uniquely identify the user.

Q: Why is this new parameter ATT compliant but gclid is not?
A: This new parameter uses techniques that ensure it cannot be tied back to any one individual user. wbraid uses aggregation techniques to ensure ATT compliance. We are exploring additional techniques like deidentification, in line with Apple’s ATT policies.

Q: What is the visible impact of this change?
A: This is a backend change that advertisers will not see in the Google Ads UI (front-end). The new parameter will be dropped in a 1st party cookie by default and this parameter will be used to pass conversions to your Google measurement solutions in an ATT compliant manner. As always, advertisers can opt out of 1st party measurement all together which will disable use of GCLID as well as this new parameter. Advertisers may see this new parameter present in some URLs that originate on iOS traffic

Q: What is the difference between the “gbraid” and “wbraid” parameters?
A: Both parameters function similarly, in that they are added to the URL (in place of historical identifiers) to measure when the ATT prompt is not accepted. Both parameters also use aggregation techniques to attribute conversions. However, notable differences exist as well:

Wicked Reports is designed to follow users across devices by tracking clicks, leads, email opens, purchases, and other user action.

Wicked Reports Automation: Get Critical Multi-Touch ROI Data Delivered Automatically

Daily, weekly, or monthly delivery of your true ROI, Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), and multi-touch attribution reports is now an essential part of an efficient marketing stack. Automate delivery of reports customized for your most important campaigns directly to your inbox.

A quick, one-time setup is all it takes. Check the video below for step-by-step instructions on setting up report delivery. Look for the "Email Me This Report" button at the top of any major report in your Wicked Dashboard (ROI Reports, First Click, LTV Cohorts, etc.) to start your automated delivery.

Wicked Reports is growing! We are working our tails off to provide the best possible marketing attribution data and ROI for our customers. Watch the video below to find out how we're doing it!

Wicked Reports is excited to announce a change to Google Ads tracking inside our dashboard!