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KEY HIGHLIGHTS

📊 Understanding conversion values with SKAdNetwork

➕ How values are incremented 64 times

🚶‍♀️ Correlation the user journey to the conversion value

#️⃣ Binary vs decimal number systems

🧮 The math behind conversion

FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW

As a recap, a conversion value is the imputed value of a user within SKAdNetwork. It is as defined by the developer. This conversion value can be incremented 64 times – and I want today to dive into how these 64 values are encoded in SKAdNetwork in the form of the method updateConversionValue().

The 64 values can be incremented based on a user’s progression through their journey – say registration can be the lowest value, and the value can increase from 0 to 63 based on purchases or events completed in the app. For instance, you can set up your conversion value system by saying a value of 1 corresponds to registration, 31 to a first purchase, and 61 to a second purchase.

The less obvious part to notice is how these values are incremented in SKAdNetwork – as a part of the call updateConversionValue(). This is updated NOT from 0 to 1 to 2 to 3, but in bits (or based on the binary numeral system (with base 2 – with 0s and 1s as the only possible digits). 

In our everyday number system (decimal), we use a base of 10 which means we have 10 digits with which we depict numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. However, the binary system uses base 2 with digits 0 and 1, which was used for programming computers because 0 = OFF and 1 = ON and that’s all computers really understand on a circuit level. 

For our purposes, it makes sense to understand binary equivalents of numbers from 0 to 63. Each place in the number corresponds to a power of 2, just as in the decimal system each place corresponds to a power of 10 starting from 0 on the right. 

In other words, 

if your conversion value is 0, the value within the binary numeral system is still 0. 
if your conversion value goes from 0 to 1, the value within the binary numeral system increments from 00 to 01 – because that is [ 0(2^1) + 1(2^0) = 1].
if your conversion value goes from 1 to 2, the value within the binary numeral system increments from 01 to 10. [1(2^1) + 0(2^0) = 2]

000000 => 0 => [0(2^0) = 0 ]  => registration
000001 => 1  => [ 0(2^1) + 1(2^0) = 1 ] => complete FTUE
000010 => 2  => [1(2^1) + 0(2^0) = 2] => level 10 
000011 => 3 => [1(2^1) + 1(2^0) = 3]  => level 40
000100 => 4 => [1(2^2) + 0(2^1) + 0(2^0) = 4] => first purchase
…
11011 => 27     => 1(2^4) + 1(2^3) + 0(2^2) + 1(2^1) + 1(2^0) => second purchase
111111 => 63 => 1(2^5)+ 1(2^4) + 1(2^3) + 1(2^2) + 1(2^1) + 1(2^0) => third purchase

Here is a full conversion table:

Decimal	Binary	Decimal	Binary	Decimal	Binary	Decimal	Binary
0	000000	16	010000	32	100000	48	110000
1	000001	17	010001	33	100001	49	110001
2	000010	18	010010	34	100010	50	110010
3	000011	19	010011	35	100011	51	110011
4	000100	20	010100	36	100100	52	110100
5	000101	21	010101	37	100101	53	110101
6	000110	22	010110	38	100110	54	110110
7	000111	23	010111	39	100111	55	110111
8	001000	24	011000	40	101000	56	111000
9	001001	25	011001	41	101001	57	111001
10	001010	26	011010	42	101010	58	111010
11	001011	27	011011	43	101011	59	111011
12	001100	28	011100	44	101100	60	111100
13	001101	29	011101	45	101101	61	111101
14	001110	30	011110	46	101110	62	111110
15	001111	31	011111	47	101111	63	111111

And of course each of these values map into different conversion events within the app. If you see the transcript for this episode, you’ll see this laid out visually for more clarity. If you’d like to dive in deeper into the basics of binary numerals, please also feel free to look at these tutorials 

Understanding Binary Numbers for Beginners 
Decimal & Binary Computer Number System – Conversion of Decimal to Binary & Binary to Decimal 
What is Binary Number System? – Conversion from Decimal to Binary

In summary, I hope this episode helps you understand how your 64 conversion values from 0 to 63 will map to how the call updateConversionValue() records values within SKAdNetwork.

A REQUEST BEFORE YOU GO

I have a very important favor to ask, which as those of you who know me know I don’t do often. If you get any pleasure or inspiration from this episode, could you PLEASE leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform – be it iTunes, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast fix. This podcast is very much a labor of love – and each episode takes many many hours to put together. When you write a review, it will not only be a great deal of encouragement to us, but it will also support getting the word out about the Mobile User Acquisition Show.

Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement are welcome, whether on podcasting platforms – or by email to shamanth at rocketshiphq.com. We read all reviews & I want to make this podcast better.

Thank you – and I look forward to seeing you with the next episode!