Why you cant use UTM tags and cookies to attribute traffic on mobile -> and why a device ID based approach is effective.

FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

I’m going to talk about attribution on mobile and specifically why the approaches to attribution that work on the web don’t typically work on mobile. So a client of mine asked why wouldn’t you just use a URL and add UTM parameters at the end and be done with it. Just the way you would do it on the web. 

Good question Right? For context this particular developer had been running campaigns on Facebook ads. They’ve been tracking performance. We Facebook SDK and they wanted to expand into new channels and that’s when I said you got to use attribution. And their response really was why can’t we just attribute the same way that we’re doing on the web.

Now, here’s the distinction. On the web, if you want to track multiple sources of traffic you would depend what are called UTM parameters. For instance if your website is called let’s say that website.com, you’re going to say http://website.com?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=newusers&utm_campaign=blackfriday

You should reach out to them and talk to Them to ascertain which one is the best fit for you? In your analytics system, right? The different UTM parameters get passed into a cookie and this data gets recorded by analytics systems. Now, here’s how mobile is different. The primary reason is that you cannot have cookies on mobile you are not able to track cookies via on mobile devices basically, right? 

So for instance if you had URL that was like, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/appname/idNUMBER?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=newusers&utm_campaign=blackfriday and a user clicked on this link or clicked on an ad that had this particular link embedded. She would go to the app store and then install the app unlike a user’s flow through a web browser. There’s no way for cookies to basically record the source campaign medium while a user goes from URL to an app store to an app just because the App Store is what has been popularly called a walled garden this essentially makes it impossible for the UTM parameters that you record at at impression time and the click time to be persistent during install or during a post install event or behavior. 

How do you solve this problem? You cannot use cookies. You cannot use the approach that works on the web. The solution is to use attribution systems or mobile measurement partners that use device identifiers to basically attribute users. Now. This is an approach that’s very different from what happens on the web and yet this is what’s going to work for mobile, right? 

Now here’s why this is important. Each mobile device has a unique device identifier 

IDFA for iOS devices Android IDs for Android devices and by tracking and matching a device identifier from before and install to after an install. Each installed can be traced back to its source. Each purchase can be traced back to its source each whatever event you want to try can be traced back to its source. Here’s how this would work in practice an advertiser sets up a unique attribution link or sets up an ad in a system like Facebook that directs a user to the iTunes store or the Google Play Store whenever the user clicks on this particular ad or clicks on the link the attribution system records, the user’s device ID, which could be an IDFA or Android ID now the attribution system tracks this. Let’s say the user clicks on this ad goes to the iTunes Store installs the app then install and opens the app. The first time the user opens the app the mobile measurement Partners SDK gets initialized and the moment that happens the attribution SDK records the device ID of the user that has installed an open the app, right? So your attribution system says, oh this was User who clicked on this link and this is the exact same user who is installing this particular app and three days from now if the user makes a purchase 

then this is the exact same user that’s actually making a purchase as well. 

And therefore the attribution system says, oh this user saw this particular ad in this particular campaign made up made an install and made a purchase and therefore we know what the user funder looks like. And of course the end result is very similar to what you would have on the web because you have different sources, different media and campaigns and you’re able to evaluate which one drove how many installs which one drove how many purchases and you basically are able to compare which source is performing better than the other. 

And eventually even though the end result is similar to what you would have on the wed. The approach you’re taking on mobile is very distinct and how you get started with attribution. You have to integrate the SDK of an attribution provider or the mobile measurement or a mobile measurement partner some of the more prominent ones as of the time of this recording our Adjust, Appsflyer, Kochava, Singula. You should reach out to them and talk to them to ascertain which is the best fit for you.

A REQUEST BEFORE YOU GO

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