SPEAKER: Did you know that it takes the average shopper
at least six visits to an app or a mobile website,
searching at least three different categories,
before they check out?
I think we all know this from our own shopping behavior.
People move between websites and apps constantly,
but it's not always a seamless experience.
My biggest pet peeve is when I go and click on a website,
and it doesn't bring me automatically
to the app that I'm already signed in and have on my phone.
It drives me nuts.
Like come on, it's 2019.
I'd love if somebody could make it easier.
Well, the Google Mobile team is doing just that.
It's time for another "Under the Hood" of
app deep linking and measurement.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
PHIL MATTIA: User journeys are getting more complex,
and that means that advertisers have more and more destinations
that they need to think about serving their customers on.
LORENZO BIANCHI: The line between mobile website and apps
is blurring, and consumers today with mobile
expect fast and precise responses
to what they're trying to achieve online.
SPENCER SHIMKO: We've all had that problem where
we see something we want to do, see something
we want to download or buy, and we have to go through four
or five steps just to get there.
Sign in again.
Re-download this.
If you have the app, it should be seamless and take you
right there.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
LORENZO BIANCHI: App deep linking
is the new frontier for mobile advertising
because you can now create one campaign for both app and web.
PHIL MATTIA: App deep linking is really important
because it enables you to get traffic
that you're driving through your ads
and send it into the App Deep Link
automatically when the user has your app installed,
which will help you drive better results
and more retention for those app users.
LORENZO BIANCHI: Loyal customers download the app.
And that, in and of itself, is a very strong signal
of what the user preference is.
The app purchase journey is very personalized
and tailored to the users, where the app saves
the preferences of those users.
PHIL MATTIA: We are getting a lot smarter with the way
that we optimize app deep linking.
So we're making an enhancement to our machine
learning models this year, because we
find that if the user has the app installed and is going
into an App Deep Link, it may be possible that's actually
a higher value click.
So if an ad goes into an app where the mobile conversion
rates are higher, then our Smart Bidding algorithms
will automatically take that into account
and bid higher to capture more value for those clicks.
SPENCER SHIMKO: The final piece of this is reporting.
So one black hole that we're really,
currently dealing with as an industry is the reporting
and conversion pass back issue.
LORENZO BIANCHI: Marketers are underestimating the impact
that their campaigns have in driving in-app transactions.
It is very important that we check
that the pipes between apps and web are properly set up.
And this is the way to ensure that every transaction that
starts on the web and finishes on the app
is correctly attributed to the web campaign that
drove that transaction.
PHIL MATTIA: In order to understand whether users
are being sent to their app deep links, or their website,
or other destinations, advertisers
need to integrate with Google Analytics for Firebase
so they can accurately measure the performance
across app deep link and website services.
If they don't do this, then they're sort of flying blind.
They don't know how are users interacting
with them on these surfaces.
SPENCER SHIMKO: You cannot really be a successful marketer
unless you really understand the user journey.
PHIL MATTIA: What Google can do is help remove complexity
and be the air traffic control for your ads,
to just take the users to where they want to go.
LORENZO BIANCHI: Clients that have applied deep linking
have significantly transformed the way
they plan, they measure, and they implement mobile campaign.
And I'm super excited to be right in the middle
of that action.
SPEAKER: Here, now, are Phil and Lorenzo
to simplify mobile app deep linking for developers.
Hi, guys.
Welcome to the show.
PHIL MATTIA: Hi.
LORENZO BIANCHI: Hi.
SPEAKER: I'm going to hit you with a tough question, first.
App deep linking isn't exactly new in the industry.
Why is Google doing this now?
LORENZO BIANCHI: Yes, Katie.
So consumers today have a very sophisticated journey
on mobile, and they go across app and web seamlessly.
The reason why we're announcing deep linking today
is because we're recognizing that apps
play an important role in the consumer journey.
And what we want to do here is to maximize mobile results,
regardless of the surface that the user is [INAUDIBLE]..
SPEAKER: Totally, I go between apps and mobile sites
all the time.
And so it also allows marketers to measure that behavior too,
for the first time in Google Ads.
PHIL MATTIA: That's right.
SPEAKER: That's awesome.
So this all sounds really complicated and hard.
How much work is required for marketers
to really get this set up?
PHIL MATTIA: So all you need to do
is go talk to your developer team,
and ask them if they've set up App Links
on Android or Universal Links on iOS.
And if they have, then it just works in Google Ads.
Deep linking just works.
SPEAKER: I thought it was going to be a much longer answer
than ask your developers.
So that's great.
I'm sure they will.
Let's turn to our online audience
and see what's on their mind-- very active on Twitter, today.
Chris Maloney from ForwardPMX asks,
how do website sales increase when
pushing ads to a mobile app?
Lorenzo, I'll let you take this one.
LORENZO BIANCHI: Yeah, so actually,
here is not about website sales.
Here is about mobile sales, and what we want to do
is maximize mobile sales across app and web.
So here, we have to start looking
at the totality of mobile, not just websites.
SPEAKER: Right.
And it's the measurement, right?
So you can see all this stuff happening
and then optimize based off of that.
Phil, what business results can advertisers
expect to see from applying this deep linking?
PHIL MATTIA: More mobile conversions.
So by doing this, we've seen, on average, 2x increase
in the conversion rate for those clicks that go into deep links.
So 2x is a good number.
SPEAKER: Really?
PHIL MATTIA: Yeah.
So you're going to see good uplift in mobile conversions.
SPEAKER: It makes sense, because you go to the app.
You're logged in, and you check out right away.
PHIL MATTIA: That's right.
SPEAKER: That's awesome.
One last question, does Google have plans to enable app deep
linking from other product areas, beyond just
Search, Display, and Shopping?
Lorenzo, I'll let you take that.
LORENZO BIANCHI: Yes, we have very aggressive,
I say, plans to extend this deep linking capability
across all Google Ads products.
So right now, we're starting with Search, Display,
and Shopping.
But you can expect this to be extended
to video advertising, as well as other inventory sources
that we have.
SPEAKER: That's awesome.
Let me see if we have one last question.
Is deep linking the only key to success for web and app
marketers?
I can't imagine it's the only key to success.
PHIL MATTIA: No, there's many things.
But I would say the one other really important thing
is measurement.
Because if you're doing really great inside of your app,
but then you never see those results back in whatever tool
you're using, then it's almost like it didn't happen.
Or maybe some other team is measuring it,
but you don't know.
So measuring those results back to the campaigns
that drove them is actually a lot of what
we're doing this year with this announcement.
SPEAKER: Right.
You get to see the whole customer
journey on how they got there.
Well, thank you, guys, so much.