App Attribution: What Is It & Why It Matters ?

Have you ever wondered How do visitors come to your app store page, and from where ? What do these visitors actually do once they installed your app?

Though there are many factors contributing to the success of app promotion, the first and foremost factor for any business is no doubt the ability to measure performance and continuously improve the ad campaign, and here comes the importance of tracking users’s actions within your app. In this article we present you a quick guide to app attribution which will help you to measure the success of your ad campaign.

Attribution overview

App Attribution is the process of identifying where app users came from before they installed your app, along with tracking their in-app activities like registration and in-app purchase events. App attribution is vital as it provides you with all of this information that can be used to fine tune your marketing campaigns, optimize your ad spend while ultimately boost your ROI

Attribution methods

Both mobile attribution and traditional Attribution has the same goal, but since apps don’t support traditional tracking methods like cookies etc., other complex methods are used. The two most common methods of attribution are:

  • Unique Identifier Matching: Unique Identifier Matching is the means in which the Attribution Analytics SDK collects unique identifiers for attribution and uses them to search for clicks and impressions with matching identifier. The most commonly used identifiers are – Google Advertising Identifier (AID) and Apple Identifier for Advertisers (IFA).

  • Device fingerprinting: An attribution tool using device fingerprinting will gather the publicly available data from HTTP device headers like an IP address. This information is then analyzed to create a unique user fingerprint associated with the mobile device.


Attribution Platforms

There are many mobile analytics platforms out there, each with their own emphasis, selecting the appropriate platform can be a daunting task. That in mind, here are our top 3 picks for the best mobile app analytics platforms.

  • Appsflyer: The most popular mobile attribution platform that enables marketers to optimize their ad campaigns by providing analytics across more than 1,000 ad networks

  • Kochava: A leading mobile attribution and analytics platform, serving many large global brands.

  • Adjust: A mobile attribution and analytics company that provides app marketers with a comprehensive business intelligence platform.

Summary

App attribution gives you the ability to see everything that’s happening with your app and helps you to optimize your marketing spend. The first step is to select the appropriate attribution platform, The next step is to understand users' in-app behavior and finally making the decisions that will help you outperform competitors.