The Next Phase of Mobile App Attribution

Mobile advertising attribution measures user behavior post-ad exposure. There are millions of mobile apps being downloaded every day but the tracking mechanism (click to installation to after use) is a challenge for everyone. Marketers may assume that consumers head to an app store to find new apps and according to a study by Google a good portion do. In fact, 40% of smartphone users browse for apps in app stores.  App stores are not the only way to discover apps, though. We as digital marketing consultants worry more about the rest of the 60%. Amid all this euphoria of app-economy, marketers & app owners are focusing too much attention on the CPA kind of measurement parameter; instead, they should map business goals with the origin of app download.

What is mobile app marketing attribution?

When it comes to mobile advertising, attribution refers to mapping user events (from installing an app, repeat app launch, level completion, registrations, ad-clicks to in-app purchase) with marketing activity. However, attribution modeling becomes particularly complex because key activity platforms (Google Play & iStore) give limited flexibility to build a linear attribution tracking. Our colleagues from the Web Marketing department remind us of the good old days when we used to put :

• Cookies: Leave a small piece of code on the user’s device & let it send you all kind of information, linking it to the source of traffic.
• Conversion Tracking Code: Put a piece of code on the conversion page & map it with the source of traffic.
• Custom Parameters to URL: Send all kind of information about the source of traffic thru URL parameters & store it along with lead.
• Event Tracking: Track actions that take place on the website/landing pages, define some of them as conversions & link them to the source of traffic.

BAM! The attribution loop is complete. Therefore, digital marketers are well versed with the conventional attribution model. But talking about the new mobile app attribution there are some common challenges faced by the marketers. Although there is no standard method of mobile app attribution still there are two methodologies commonly used:

• Unique identifier matcher: There is a unique id that matches the unique identifiers right from the time when the user clicks on the ad till the installs that app. Every touchpoint is measured here.
• Device Fingerprinting: It pulls most of the information from your phone not 100% information though and helps in tracking the user engagement. So when an app is installed all the data points are collected through which fingerprint is generated. The last click with a matching fingerprint is then used to attribute the install.

Though the mobile app attribution model is complex and challenging yet we have solutions too. So let’s talk and share our views on the same.