"--" for crossDeviceConversions since yesterday

[Alex]

We started getting "--" for CrossDeviceConversions field in various performance reports (for example CriteriaPerformanceReport) since yesterday. Only for few accounts. We fixed it by mapping "--" to 0. Is it a new behaviour, or is something broken?

[Shwetha Vastrad (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Alex, 

Could you provide the report definition being used along with the clientCustomerId of the accounts where you are getting CrossDeviceConversions as "--"? Please use Reply privately to author when responding. 

Thanks, 
Shwetha, AdWords API Team.

[Zweitze]

I can confirm we got the same problem, since Friday Oct 27  03:30 CEST. This happens on about 40% of our accounts (we have hundreds).

This is our report definition:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<reportDefinition>
   <selector xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201702">
       <fields>CampaignId</fields>
       <fields>Date</fields>
       <fields>Device</fields>
       <fields>AdNetworkType2</fields>
       <fields>Conversions</fields>
       <fields>ViewThroughConversions</fields>
       <fields>ConversionValue</fields>
       <fields>CrossDeviceConversions</fields>
       <fields>AllConversions</fields>
       <fields>AllConversionValue</fields>
       <predicates>
           <field>CampaignStatus</field>
           <operator>IN</operator>
           <values>ENABLED</values>
           <values>PAUSED</values>
           <values>REMOVED</values>
       </predicates>
       <dateRange>
           <min>20170903</min>
           <max>20171030</max>
       </dateRange>
   </selector>
   <reportName xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201702">Campaign conversions 03-09-2017...30-10-2017</reportName>
   <reportType xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201702">CAMPAIGN_PERFORMANCE_REPORT</reportType>
   <dateRangeType xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201702">CUSTOM_DATE</dateRangeType>
   <downloadFormat xmlns="https://adwords.google.com/api/adwords/cm/v201702">GZIPPED_XML</downloadFormat>
</reportDefinition>

That report gives about 70KB, starting with...:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes'?>
<report>
<table>
<columns><column name='campaignID' display='Campaign ID'/><column name='day' display='Day'/><column name='device' display='Device'/><column name='networkWithSearchPartners' display='Network (with search partners)'/><column name='conversions' display='Conversions'/><column name='viewThroughConv' display='View-through conv.'/><column name='totalConvValue' display='Total conv. value'/><column name='crossDeviceConv' display='Cross-device conv.'/><column name='allConv' display='All conv.'/><column name='allConvValue' display='All conv. value'/>
</columns>
<row campaignID='293873187' day='2017-09-17' device='Computers' networkWithSearchPartners='Google search' conversions='0.00' viewThroughConv='0' totalConvValue='0.00' crossDeviceConv='--' allConv='1.00' allConvValue='10.00'/>
<row campaignID='293873187' day='2017-09-26' device='Mobile devices with full browsers' networkWithSearchPartners='Google search' conversions='0.00' viewThroughConv='0' totalConvValue='0.00' crossDeviceConv='--' allConv='2.00' allConvValue='20.00'/>
<row campaignID='293873187' day='2017-10-11' device='Computers' networkWithSearchPartners='Google search' conversions='0.00' viewThroughConv='0' totalConvValue='0.00' crossDeviceConv='--' allConv='2.00' allConvValue='20.00'/>
<row campaignID='293873187' day='2017-10-12' device='Mobile devices with full browsers' networkWithSearchPartners='Google search' conversions='0.00' viewThroughConv='0' totalConvValue='0.00' crossDeviceConv='--' allConv='4.00' allConvValue='40.00'/>


The Customer Id of the account for this particular output is 520-317-8822
Thanks in advance!

[Zweitze]

Looking further into this, I noticed that it does not always happen (!)

Sometimes the report does go through. A possible explanation is that only some API-servers have this new behavior, while others still have the old behavior. Unfortunately, the .NET library we are using does not expose the response headers of the reply, so I can't offer more information.

Am I right to assume this is a problem that will be fixed on Google's end, and we don't have to update our software to anticipate on this new 'feature'?

[Michael Cloonan (AdWords API Team)]

Hello,

I have reached out to our engineering team to take a look. Hopefully we will be able to revert to the previous behavior so '--' is not returned. I will update here when I have more information.

Regards,

Mike, AdWords API Team

[Michael Cloonan (AdWords API Team)]

Hello,

This change to return '--' under some circumstances is intentional. This value indicates that there is not enough information to calculate a value yet.

Regards,

Mike, AdWords API Team

[Zweitze]

Wow... I didn't expect this decision. Good I started anticipating on this anyway.

I hope one day someone writes a blog about this decision - why CrossDeviceConversions is important enough to introduce this breaking change, out of regular API releases, and introducing that in deprecated versions as well. And I really do want to know why, anticipating such situations is a big part of my job.

But no hurry, I have more stressing tasks now!

[Michael Cloonan (AdWords API Team)]

Hello,

I'm going to get in contact with some of the people responsible for the decision to try to make sure that we improve the rollout plan for changes like this in the future. I sincerely apologize for this change with no notice, I was surprised by it as well.

Regards,

Mike, AdWords API Team