Complete Guide Mobile - Marketing

The Complete Guide
to Mobile App Marketing

App Store Optimization 3
The best app in the world will only be successful if it has

sound App Store Optimization
User Acquisition 15
BATTLE OF THE APPS:

Growth marketing guide for app marketers
Creative Optimization 27
Creative optimization is the consistent application of a test-and-learn

strategy designed to enhance the user experience and maximize user LTV
Retention 35
User retention campaigns need to be run simultaneously with user

acquisition campaigns to maximize engagement from the start
App Retargeting 44
App retargeting involves sending your users targeted, personalized

ads for your app while they’re browsing other apps
Mobile Attribution 57
A look at what it is, how it works, and its importance for

mobile marketers
App Store Optimization
The best app in the world will only be successful
if it has sound App Store Optimization
Introduction What is ASO?
The best app in the world will only be App Store Optimization (ASO) is the process of increasing your app’s
successful if it has sound App Store visibility in the app stores so that it is in the top search results; it’s the
Optimization (ASO) that ensures that it mobile app version of search engine optimization (SEO). It’s crucial to note
reaches the right audiences. There are that instead of a one-time project, ASO should be treated as an ongoing
many components to ASO that marketers process of testing and measuring updates to app store marketing assets
need to learn about and implement, no with the goal of increasing visibility and driving more downloads.
matter if they’re taking it on themselves
or working with a vendor who specializes A sound ASO strategy depends on two core components: discoverability
in ASO. This chapter, by App Annie, shares and conversion. Targeted keywords help place your app in the top of
some of the most important aspects of ASO search queries (discoverability) and strategic app store assets like your
and great tips for getting started. icon, description and screenshots improve the chances that prospective
users will download your app (conversion).
With more than 65 percent of app downloads coming from organic

searches in an app store, ASO is the foundation every marketer needs
in order to acquire valuable new users. It’s also much more robust and
strategic than many may think, comprising research, testing strategy and
even some real creativity.
The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 4

Why does ASO matter?
The app market is one of the most competitive spaces in the world. And it’s crowded, with approximately 2 million
iOS App Store apps and 2.5 million Google Play Store apps. Between the sheer number of apps and the skyrocketing
costs of advertising, successfully acquiring and retaining users is more challenging than ever.
As an app marketer, your job is to cut through that clutter and get in front of the right audiences. Increasing exposure
for your app helps increase downloads, boost store rankings and ultimately drive revenue for your business. ASO is
crucial to your app’s long-term exposure, and particularly with the advent of iOS 11 and changes in the App Store
design, you need a strategy that will capture attention both through search and iOS 11’s new emphasis on curation.
Finally, it’s important to be aware of just how important ASO is if you’re planning on moving into other markets.
Just because your ASO strategy works in one market doesn’t mean it will in others. When you go global, you’ll have
to not only localize to take into account language and cultural differences, but come up with an ASO strategy for
specific regional or country markets.

What to look for in an ASO vendor
Vendors who specialize in ASO should have demonstrated expertise in improving discoverability. While there are
many ways a user can stumble across your app, as we explained earlier, search is one of the most common. Most
resources emphasize a keyword strategy for ASO, but it’s better to think of it as one tool in an arsenal to boost your
app’s visibility. Keeping an eye on the competition, app categorization, and dedication to improving ratings and
reviews are also key to improving ASO, so your vendor should have sound knowledge of those areas as well.
Keyword Strategy
With millions of apps available from the top app stores, choosing keywords that move the needle for your business
is no easy feat.
Your keyword strategy should neither exist in a vacuum or be static — it must be fluid and continuous, taking into
account competitor and cultural changes plus the impact on your app’s ranking, downloads and revenue.
Your ASO vendor should use these methodologies to help select the right keywords:
►► Competitor Research: Finding the best keywords means closely tracking and monitoring competitors. By
analyzing how a competitor ranks for a specific keyword, or determining which other apps rank for your app’s
keyword, the vendor can strategically select keywords to help your app rank higher.
►► Leverage User Reviews: One of the best ways to describe your app uses language from user reviews — their
words may resonate better with prospective users than the ones you had in mind. Additionally, reviews can
provide new cultural and geographic insights into certain user segments.
►► Ranking Assessment: Once you and your vendor have selected a group of keywords, it’s important to review
how these keywords will impact your ranking. In addition to monitoring keyword impact on key performance
indicators (KPIs), you and your vendor should also pay attention to other factors that affect ranking, such as
download levels and download velocity.

Keyword analysis is particularly important. Your vendor should create customized peer groups and compare across a
number of keyword metrics including ranking, traffic share, search volume and difficulty. Keeping track across these
metrics will allow them to easily identify changes in an apps’ ASO strategy.
See for example how HotelTonight gained in traffic share for the keyword “Hotels” as tracked by App Annie’s
Intelligence tool. This information helps to easily identify areas of opportunity for adjustments to be made within an
ASO strategy so you don’t miss out on being at the top of search results.
Keep Tabs on Competitors

Before selecting the categories for your app, you and your vendor should first research what your closest competitors
are doing. This will help you determine the competition in that category and show how users are searching for
similar apps. Choosing a less competitive category could improve discoverability for your app.
In addition to the primary category, Apple introduced subcategories as part of its iOS 8 release, which divides the
App Store into micro segments and allows developers to rank highly in specific fields. Yelp, for example, could be
categorized in the cluttered Social Networking category or in Food and Drink (where its competitor Foursquare is
listed). However, it’s also categorized in Travel, where it maintains a secure spot in the top 10.

App Categorization
There are two ways to be ranked in the app stores: by category and overall. Every app publisher is responsible
for choosing how to categorize its own app; it’s important to choose a category that is relevant to your app, but
also one where you stand to beat the competition. ASO experts can help ensure that you have selected the right
category.
In the iOS App Store, you can choose a primary and a secondary category. The primary is most important as it’s
where your app will be displayed in search results and the top charts.
So how should you and your vendor choose your primary category? Here are some things to keep in mind:
►► Where you believe your app naturally fits

►► How target users will search for your app
►► How competitor or similar apps categorize themselves
To improve discoverability, some publishers recategorize their apps to move into less-cluttered territory. For
instance, in April, Twitter was recategorized from Social to News, effectively moving up to a top-ranked position.
For iOS, publishers can select up to two categories for apps, and three categories for games. Remember to select
categories that will be both relevant for your app, but not ones that are overly saturated.
For Google Play Store, publishers can only choose one category for their app, so it is even more critical to choose
carefully.

How to make a good first impression
The phrase “You only have one chance to make a first impression” applies to your app as much as it does to
anything else, and a good first impression is critical when it comes to ASO. The way you merchandise your app in
the app store — choosing the words, images and videos to include — makes all the difference when it comes to
convincing users to give your app a shot. Best practices in ASO include using both visual and written elements to
tell a story about your app and let users know what they should expect post-install.
Here are a few things to keep in mind about the first impression your app makes to prospective users:
App Icons
Keep it simple, scalable, recognizable and unique. Keep testing until you find the most effective variation.
WhatsApp Messenger offers an excellent example of an effective app icon that excels in nearly all
areas: It’s simple, scalable and recognizable. The simplistic design of WhatsApp Messenger allows it
to look good at any size and on any device. And the fact that the icon reflects key elements of the
platform makes it immediately and meaningfully recognizable.

Screenshots
Maximize visibility: that means five screenshots in the iOS App Store and eight in the Google Play Store. Tell a story,
but start with the close. Your screenshots should have an engaging narrative, but make sure to show your two best
screenshots first.
Boom Beach uses compelling visuals and text to succinctly communicate the core features of the app to
prospective users.
Video
Keep them short, sweet and punchy. Choose simplicity over flash - you only have a few seconds to get your
message across. And be sure to include text as many people will likely on that page with their sound turned off.
Testing
It’s important to continuously test new designs to optimize for the highest performing creative assets. Your testing
strategy will shift based on the app store you focus on. Keep the potential of each asset in mind and prioritize
accordingly.

The Big Picture: The User Feedback Loop
and its Effect on ASO
You probably know that positive ratings and reviews affect your app’s performance in the app store, but did you
know you have more control over them than you think? Optimizing for higher ratings and reviews can improve your
app’s ranking as well as the amount of organic traffic it receives.
Here are a few things you and/or your ASO vendor can do with respect to reviews that can have significant effect
on ASO
Encourage Optimal Reviews and Ratings
An app’s initial debut rarely goes off without a hitch. There may be persistent bugs, performance issues on different
devices, or features that don’t yet exist but users would like to see. This can lead to some very low ratings and
reviews in the beginning. Don’t get discouraged — even unfavorable reviews may be rife with information on how to
update your app. As long as you’re swift and take user feedback seriously, changing public opinion can go smoothly.
Social dining app Down to Lunch launched in May 2015 and attained viral growth across the US in Spring 2016.
However, a few components within the app received negative feedback from users. For example, during initial
account setup it wasn’t immediately clear that users could invite their entire contact list to download the app. When
the team addressed this concern, Down to Lunch’s rating started to climb to a 4.0 while growing its ranking in the
competitive Social Networking category on iOS.

As another example, when Layout from Instagram on iOS released in late March 2015, 11 percent of its ratings were
1-star and 57.2 percent were 5-star. Some reviews asked for additional features or noted problems. Updates in April
and May addressed these user concerns, and by early June ratings had improved to 68 percent 5-star for the period,
with only 2.7 percent 1-star reviews.
Reactively updating is not the only way to improve ratings. Great moments in an app can also spark positive
reviews. For example, on a dating app you could ask for a rating after a successful match or first reply message. In
a game, it may make sense to prompt users after they complete a hard level or unlock a power. The quality of your
app’s first ratings and reviews can vary, but it’s very important to get honest reviews early.
Prompt Users for Direct App Feedback

Similar to prompting users to provide a rating after great moments in the app, you can also ask if they are enjoying
the app experience. Your next prompt should reflect their answer: if a user currently likes the app, ask them to
submit a review; if they’re unhappy, direct them to give feedback on ways to improve.

Gain Honest and Trusted Reviews
Reviews show potential users the pros and cons of downloading and using your app. What can be more troubling
than bad reviews are no reviews at all, and when an app goes live the review section on your app page will be
barren. Rather than waiting for an unknown user’s first impression, ask your trusted network to submit reviews
documenting their honest thoughts.
If your app has beta testers who know the ins-and-outs of the app, ask if they’re willing to submit a review. Their
experience will be more credible than a new user’s, whether or not the feedback is positive or critical. Another good
avenue is to approach professional peers whose opinions you trust — people who have made similar apps or are
experts on the app’s content — to see if they’ll download and review your app.
Diligently Improve Ratings and Reviews
Turning negative ratings and reviews into positive ones will take time and consistent action. The faster you respond
to user feedback and update your app, the happier users will be. In the end, more and higher reviews will result in
better ranks and more downloads. Knowing just how and when to gain ratings and reviews is also important: key
interactions are a great time to gain 4- and 5-star ratings.
Both the iOS and Google Play stores allow you to respond to reviews. Having a visible record of positive developer-
user interactions may factor into a prospective user’s decision to download an app.
One of the best ways to collect user feedback is through custom forums. For teams that don’t have a dedicated
engineer for that (or the additional budget), third-party software development kits like UserVoice are a good
alternative.
ASO is complex. The inputs that affect it are many and diverse, ranging as they do from keywords, to icon design,
to selecting screenshots that tell a narrative. It might be in your best interest to find an expert in ASO to help you,
but there are plenty of businesses who have dived in, and learned ASO best practices themselves — often through
trial and error and ongoing testing.
When it comes to ASO, commitment is the name of the game: you need to commit to keeping up with what your
competitors are doing, testing reviewing your approach continually, and doing everything you can to solicit positive
reviews. You also have to be comfortable with change: what works for one month might not work the next. The
mobile ecosystem evolves that quickly.

To learn more about AppAnnie, click here
To learn more about how Adjust can support your app store optimization efforts, click here

User Acquisition
BATTLE OF THE APPS:
Growth marketing guide for app marketers
Understanding the App
Introduction Lifecycle
With over 2 million apps fighting for the The lifecycle of an app comprises of three stages - Learning, Scale and
attention of users across various app Quality. The Learning stage tests the waters while tweaking the app based
stores, breaking the clutter and driving on user responses. With the aim of capturing the top spot in the app store
adoption is a daunting task for app rankings, app developers can benefit by focusing their energies on engaging
developers and marketers. marketing campaigns (covered in detail in chapter 3) during the learning
phase. Once the launch has generated initial interest amongst the target
To become the preferred app in a specific audience, app developers can look to scale the user base.
category, marketers need to build a
holistic marketing strategy that can place Leveraging a combination of incentivized and non-incentivized installs and
their app in front of the right audience. burst and sustained campaigns, app developers can achieve exponential
While acquiring a large user base is the growth. The pinnacle of the app lifecycle is when marketers can apply all
first step, building a highly engaged user the insights from the Learning and the Scaling phase to expand into newer
base should be the ultimate goal for any markets and - most importantly - build an engaged, quality user base. With
app marketer. As such, marketers should the right mix of paid channels, mail campaigns, app store optimization,
focus on driving user acquisition and and even traditional offline channels, marketers can deliver growth across
retention as a unified strategy. different stages of the lifecycle.
Launch Scale Quality & Retention (ROI, LTV)

Number of Users
Test and learn

Narrow targeting
Limited countries
High Impact Activity User quality analysis and optimization

Track and analyze Segment re-targeting
Refresh, Re-optimize, Scale Geo-expansion
Time Since App Launch
The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 16

Social Media
When considering online marketing activities, engagement through social
networking apps is a natural step. Social networks provide a platform for not
only community engagement (growing an organic user base) but also paid
promotion. Large communities serve as an audience, and they’re accessible
through intuitive setup processes[b] to kick-start marketing campaigns.
With several moving parts such as engagement, virality, content distribution
and user analytics, social media marketing helps app developers to build
stickiness for the app by not only leading with the conversation but also
listening to users. The mantra to maximizing returns from social media is
not to sell but to educate, share, inform, participate, entertain and engage
the user community., It’s important to note the limitations of social media
Winning Mobile marketing - a vast majority of mobile users spend their time on apps other
than social. App categories such as news, games and entertainment provide
avenues for marketers to engage with their target audience.
A successful app marketing strategy requires
a fundamental understanding of the target
audience and their behavior, especially on Display Ad Networks
mobile. For instance, a mid-core gamer is
more likely to spend a considerable amount An ad network enables marketers to reach a much larger and diverse
of time on other mid-core gaming apps. audience, and maximize conversions on mobile opportunities through a
Understanding mobile micro-moments wider range of apps. It is important to find the right partner who can help
is key to positioning the app in the most the app developer achieve their specific goal.
effective manner. And if launching an
app, this becomes vital for optimizing Ad networks are classified into premium networks and blind networks.
spends across channels for acquiring users Premium Networks are thought to be expensive partners and are usually
efficiently when the lifetime value of a user preferred by larger organizations. These networks display ads on premium
is still unknown. Mobile marketing efforts inventory and make the promise of relative brand safety.
are more effective - proving to be an
instant gateway to the app, with immediate Blind ad networks, on the other hand, boast of the largest number of
action that can be accurately measured. advertisers, publishers, and impressions. Choosing to partner with a blind
Apart from optimizing on the various app ad network is a great way to increase both the number of users and the
stores that you launch your app on, the value these users bring. The reason why these networks are referred to as
most effective mobile channels for user blind networks is because an advertiser cannot determine which publisher
acquisition are - social, display ad networks will promote their app.
and referrals.

In the world of paid promotions, there exists a dichotomy of incentivized and non-incentivized installs. Incentivized
installs tend to drive an app install in return for an offer the user is interested in. Often comprising of rewards such as
virtual currency within a mobile game or a voucher-style award, incentivized installs help achieve the goal of installs
at scale. While this might even have an immediate effect on the rankings in the app store, it doesn’t positively
impact the long-term monetization of the app. Non-incentivized installs, on the other hand, are driven by user
intent and tend to deliver users with high lifetime value (LTV). Marketers can formulate a marketing strategy unique
to their app by working closely with ad networks on targeting, creative, and tracking.
Targeting
Accessing a diverse pool of users, the targeting capabilities of an ad network help marketers identify and reach the
right audiences. Advertisers can leverage a combination of targeting methods - be it simplistic, in the form of device
or location-based targeting, or more nuanced, in the form of behavioral targeting or user interest-based targeting.
Effective targeting techniques can even lead to a successful omnichannel experience, as seen in the case of
Sephora, a top French cosmetic chain. When potential consumers are spotted in a high-street or mall, Sephora
serves contextual ads to entice them into a nearby store helping drive store traffic, ultimately driving the bottom
line. Choosing the right targeting technique is the first step in developing a compelling marketing model.

Creative
The creative asset used to communicate the value proposition and drive a user install is perhaps the most vital
element of any campaign. Building a creative that has the right mix of visuals, colors and messaging is as important
as designing the whole campaign. It’s important to try various types of creatives until you find the one that strikes
the right chord with the intended segment. There are several types of creative formats available today, each with
a unique advantage.
Banner Ads
A banner ad can be supported by all types of apps. These ads use a combination of a graphic, which
may be static or animated. With the graphic a text is used to convey a message or a specific call to
action.
Interstitial Ads
These ads are full page ads, which occupy 10 times more screen space than a typical banner ad
would. This creative is a sure way to capture the attention of the user. The timing and placement of
an interstitial ad must be carefully considered to drive maximum results. With the use of appropriate
messaging, this can be a great way to help achieve your marketing goals.

Video Ads
Video Ads have significantly changed the Ad tech industry in the last few years, delivering 5X higher
conversions when compared to non-interactive formats on mobile. To maximize the impact of video
ads on performance, marketers must adopt view-through attribution to account for the atypical
behavior of non-clickers, who prefer to directly install apps from the app store.
Today there are several formats in which a video ad can be delivered, based on the app environment
of the user. Networks such as InMobi provide a variety of ad placements that drive performance.
Full-Screen Videos
The most popular format on mobile - full-screen, landscape videos are known to drive higher conversions when
compared to non-interactive ad formats, along with the fact that the users are of high-quality.
Rewarded Videos
These are short, non-skippable video ads which reward the user with a gift in the form of virtual
goods or currency in exchange for watching the video. Relevant for apps that have in-built reward
mechanisms such as gaming apps, rewarded videos attract high-quality users by incentivizing the
video view and not the install.

Vertical Video
With a number of apps being portrait locked, a new and more intuitive type of video has emerged - Vertical Video.
Vertical video ads have been noted to have 9 times the completion rate in viewing as compared to the horizontal
format, proving to be a great asset to marketers.
360° Video
As user experiences continue to be enhanced through constant innovation, it is important for ad tech to move at a
similar pace. 360 Degree Video provides an immersive experience leading to higher engagement.
Custom end cards for the video capture the strong intent in users, delivering 2X higher engagement. While a
retail app could showcase a carousel of the latest products, an entertainment app could drive user interaction by
displaying trending content. End cards add the much needed big finish to video storytelling.
Native Ads
Providing a seamless experience within the user’s app environment such as news feed, native ads
blend in with the content and drive genuine engagement. Being highly non-intrusive in nature,
native ads deliver 3X higher conversions when compared to non-interactive formats such as banner.
By using the right creative and creative mix for the right audience, app developers are sure to see success in their
campaign.

Measurement and Optimization
Developing and deploying a marketing strategy is only the half battle. In order to truly maximize returns on paid
acquisition, it’s important to partner with the right measurement platforms. By accurately tracking impressions,
clicks and installs, measurement platforms provide app developers with insights into the performance of a campaign
on a network and across partner networks.
Tracking and attribution allows an app developer to know where their users are coming from, who their most
valuable segments are and what defines their user’s behavior. Marketers should however be aware of the right
attribution window for their paid campaigns. For instance, if a retail app observes that 75 percent of its installs
are completed within 5 days of an ad click, then an attribution window of 2 days would not only lead to poor
performance, but also misallocation of budgets across channels.
Measurement platforms help close the loop for advertisers by building vital data for optimizing campaigns. They
also help app developers understand what truly works in their marketing strategy through incrementality or A/B
tests. It is important for a marketer to try out different creatives and record the response it receives. Remember, ,
it is not only the creative but also the user segment that can be evaluated by A/B testing.

Referrals, Owned Media and Search
While paid marketing campaigns are a definite means of scaling users or acquiring high-quality users, an element
of virality can work wonders for building a dedicated, engaged user community. For instance, apps such as Uber
have constantly worked on community-based incentive schemes to drive a viral, digital ‘word of mouth’ amongst
the target audiences. Similarly, gaming apps drive referrals through current gamers to prospective, high-quality
gamers. The combination of an incentive for both the referrer and the referred is what initiates app proliferation.
Similarly, continuous updates on the app’s owned properties such as website, social media pages and blogs keep
the buzz going among the core users. While this promotes organic discovery through Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) for apps, apps can invest in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) on a pay-per-click basis to appear as top results
for select keywords outside the app store.
Influencer Marketing
An emerging area of interest for marketers is influencer marketing. With the rise of social media and blogging,
influencers have proven to be a new channel for marketing.
They hold impressive weight in the world of marketing, both online and offline, with recommendations leading to
products being sold out or generating enough interest and buzz around an app to help it go viral. For instance,
PewDiePie, the most successful gaming influencer on YouTube, released a video playing Flappy Bird, which then
went viral in the European Market.

Offline Marketing
Offline marketing is a great way to increase brand awareness and takes on several forms such as television ads,
print ads, billboards, or guerrilla marketing. With strategic planning, these ads can prove to be an invaluable asset
to your marketing effort. Mobile-first apps such as Uber have seen significant success by placing ads on billboards
near airports.
Similarly in 2015, Supercell owned Clash of Clans had an ad spot during the Super Bowl. The ad, adjudged the best
ad during the commercial break, attracted all game lovers and became the top grossing game on the Apple Store
at the time. Offline marketing offers a longterm halo-effect leading to users to download an app.

Measuring the right metrics
App advertisers should establish goals for their campaigns with the end results in mind. Defining and measuring key
downstream metrics such as cost per quality user acquisition, cost per user state change and Return on Ad Spend
(RoAS) is a must. By defining these goals, advertisers can drive optimizations and evaluate the performance of their
marketing partners.
Conclusion
Getting noticed in crowded app marketplaces and achieving scale is an ever-growing challenge for app developers.
While having a large user base is important, it is equally vital for it to be an engaged user base. Identifying and
understanding the target audience can help decide the right mix of offline and online ad spends. And, with the right
mix of paid channels, mail campaigns, app store optimization, and even traditional offline channels, if affordable,
marketers can deliver growth across different stages of the app lifecycle.
References: InMobi Apponomics, andrewchen.co, InMobi Blogs

To learn more about InMobi, click here
To learn more about how Adjust can help you determine what marketing campaigns
are bringing the most users, click here

Creative Optimization
Creative optimization is the consistent application of a
test-and-learn strategy designed to enhance the user
experience and maximize user LTV.
What is creative optimization?
Creative optimization is the consistent application of a test-and-learn strategy designed
to enhance the user experience and maximize user LTV.
Development of Implementation Definition of key Evaluation of Repetition of

beautiful creative of consistent creative KPIs performance agains development and
test and learning key KPIs, taking into testing process
processes account audience using learnings
segements
The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Creative Optimization 28

Diversity
A diverse group of creative experiences is crucial for
a successful ad campaign.
Each user deserves a unique ad experience. Having

varied experiences available provides maximum
opportunity for high performance across the board.
Vungle’s Dynamic Templates allow multiple formats

with limited creative assets.
Borrowing from Mary Meeker’s 2017 report we see

ad diversity is directly linked to conversion rate.
There are many ways to achieve a diverse creative

package, Vungle’s dynamic templates are great for
those with limited creative assets but an appetite for
innovation.
https://vungle.com/dynamictemplates/

Vertical Video
Avoid ‘Letterboxing’
Creating vertical video allows users viewing apps in a portrait orientation to experience full screen video.
Increase Performance
Many premium Publisher apps are locked in the portrait orientation. When looking to achieve high user LTV,
conversion rates for high quality sources can be key. Vertical Video allow you to ensure performance is maximized
on all sources.
Maximize user engagement

Engagement rates have shown to be higher when engaging with full screen vertical video. At Vungle we’ve seen as
high as 68% increases in conversion rate when using Vertical video compared to only landscape.

Interactivity
Interactive creative on mobile has exploded over the last 12 months. We’ve found it to be hugely impactful when
done right.
Be mobile first
Use the unique functionality of the mobile device. This can include GIRO, Parallax and Gesture controls.
Interaction means engagement

Some of our highest performing creative units are interactive. Not only do these drive higher CTRs and CVRs but
impact overall LTV significantly.

AB Testing
At Vungle we auto-optimize based on creative performance. Essentially we’re A/B testing every creative in real
time for every cohort of users we wish to serve to. However, just looking to serve the most appropriate creative
to every single user might not be enough. Manual A/B testing can allow a deeper understanding of why creative is
performing.
Tips for effective A/B tests:
►► Use a minimum sample size

►► Minimize external variables
►► Change one thing at a time
►► Don’t expect one creative to outperform every other you run in every situation
►► Monitor your downstream metrics

AB Testing
Deciding how to evaluate your creative performance can be a key piece to the Creative Optimization Puzzle.
Here’s some things to consider.
Pre vs Post Install
It can be difficult to effectively link post-install metrics to creative. Sample sizes are far smaller and often variables
such as publisher or geo, which can impact user LTV more heavily than creatives.
Or so you might assume. At Vungle we advise always considering post install metrics. Creative that’s misleading for
example can help drive conversion but seriously damage LTV. Alternatively a very high CVR on a high quality source
could give you access to those users you really want where previously you couldn’t compete. Our advice? Act on
pre-install but always monitor post.
CTR vs CVR
Many buyers consider the CTR as the primary creative evaluation metric.
If we consider creative as the funnel to the App Store then this alone would be a perfect metric for evaluation.
However, high quality experiences have the ability to educate and drive the right users to install. Consider a highly
educational video - CTR might actually reduce where click-to-install rates would increase.

To learn more about Vungle, click here
To learn more about how Adjust helps you determine which creatives are
bringing the best users to your app, click here

Retention
User retention campaigns need to be run
simultaneously with user acquisition campaigns to
maximize engagement from the start.
What is user retention?
User retention is a measurement used to determine how well users are
engaged within the app after download.
Measuring retention creates an opportunity to grow a devoted user base

and increase revenue and LTV for the app.
The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Retention 36

Why is User Retention important?
New User Retention Rate: the share of new users ►► If marketers invest in building an app and driving
that return within a 30-day window. downloads, it’s imperative they engage users as
soon as possible.
When we talk about retention strategies there are
two ways marketers can increase retention: ►► Apps which fail to engage users & sit unused
on smart phones are eventually deleted & the
►► Reengagement is finding dormant users and opportunity to engage high-value users is lost
bringing them back into the app.
According to Criteo’s State of Cross-Device Commerce
►► Retargeting is more of a sales tactic, and is very Report published last year, app users will browse more
much performance based. This process is about products, add more items to their cart, and ultimately
finding the active users, and driving them down convert at 3 times higher than web users making user
the conversion funnel within the app, usually retention as important as user acquisition for your
driving a sale, order, registration etc. mobile apps.

How Does Paid User Retention Work?
User downloads and opens your app,

1 but rarely comes back to browse or
purchase
App advertising entices the user

2
back, with a real-time relevant ad.
The user clicks on the ad, and is

3 directly deep linked to a specific
product

User retention requires customer centric
marketing seamlessly executed across all
devices, channels and platforms
Devices
Laptop Tablet
Platforms Mobile
Android Others
Marketing Channels
iOS
Search
Publisher Ecosystems Web
Apps
Native
Social
Open Web

Event Collection
It’s important for advertisers to pass the event data that allows their partners to personalize and deliver relevant
ads to the user in real time.
Sample Retail Event Data
Homepage Listing Product Basket Transaction

View View View View Confirmation
User retention rates can be improved by sending event data that informs the partner about the user’s behavior in
your app. In addition to the app open metric, passing event data (such as Product View and transaction confirmation)
across the entire path to purchase will allow for better targeting and cost efficiency of campaigns.

Which KPI’s are important to measure for
user retention?
The most common KPI’s for retention are CPA, When should marketers invest in a
Conversion Rate, and ROAS, as they relate directly
user retention strategy?
to the revenue returned from the paid campaign.
Marketers should invest in retention at the same time
CPO – Cost Per Order they start to run paid media for user acquisition. Ac-
cording to eMarketer, only 11 percent of users are
It’s important for marketers to monitor how much a still engaged with apps after one week, therefore it’s
user spent when they came back into the app. Did important for marketers to invest in user retention
they buy one product, or multiple products? What strategies in conjunction with user acquisition. It’s
was the total cart value? Once marketers know this imperative that habit forming behaviors with the
information about their users, they’re able to bucket app are established within the first week of down-
them into high value versus low value users. load. Whether it’s a push notification at the same
time every week, or a daily content refresh, think
ROAS – Return on Ad Spend about habits you can try to develop within the first
week to bring users back to the app.
Along the same lines, it’s clear marketers need to
track margins for their paid campaigns. How much
How do marketers implement deep
are marketers spending versus how much profit?
linking to help keep users engaged
For reengagement, LTV is the main KPI. LTV tells and converting?
how much each new customer is worth, and how
much a marketer should pay for each user. When ►► Implement deep linking across the app and
measuring LTV, marketers must look at the average mobile web pages per Apple’s and Android’s
revenue per user vs the churn rate (users lost during instructions.
that same period).
►► Use Adjust’s deep link solution to effectively
implement deep linking.

Best Practices for User Retention
►► Reengage users to increase monetization and bring ►► Determine how people are using your app and
them back into the app after a period of inactivity. what features are most valuable to them and build
Over 80% of users become dormant within 7 days, a strategy around this data. Provide friction-free
so it’s crucial to capitalize on the strong intent they access across web and app. For example, unify the
have after downloading your app within this period. mobile web and app experiences. Make the app
mirror the web page, so users already know how to
►► Creating a simple and easy-to-navigate user navigate and search for products.
experience is crucial for retention in that first
impression phase after a user has downloaded your ►► Think about the level of information required to
app. Simple examples to do this include honouring convert. Can you simplify the inputs using touch-
image zoom gestures, showcasing products users optimized keyboards for cellphone numbers or
expect to find on the homepage, allowing save email addresses. Try to limit the number of fields
features, and rewarding returning users. and personal information required to sign up
(particularly before they can get familiar with the
►► Make the value of your app easy for the user to features of your app). Can you disable auto-correct
understand, and continue to refresh content and input fields during the conversion, especially if you
features to update the look and feel. Perform A/B are asking for personal information?
tests often, and continue to monitor data so that
you are updating the app as users are coming back.
►► Personalize the app experience for the user.

Include their name, provide discounts on their
birthday, and make them feel as though you are
communicating directly with them. Show them
products they have previously viewed, or products
that may complement a recent purchase.

To learn more about Criteo, click here
To learn more about how Adjust can make your user retention campaigns
more efficient, click here

Introduction to App Retargeting
App retargeting involves sending your users targeted, personalized
ads for your app while they’re browsing other apps
Introduction
With the number of apps available now
estimated at 2.6 million - and continuing
to grow - app developers and marketers
know that employing a sophisticated user
acquisition strategy is paramount when
competing for user attention and installs.
However, many are still left frustrated
when only a small percentage of acquired
users remain active seven days post-install,
and an even smaller percentage eventually App retargeting and
converts into purchasing customers. Once
converted, the long-term question is how
to keep them spending.
its benefits
For apps that have established a large user App retargeting involves sending your users targeted, personalized ads for
base, the focus is now shifting towards your app while they’re browsing other apps.
user retention and increasing user LTV by
converting more users to paying customers, ●● 70% of users drop off within the first seven days of installing an app,
a proven way to get more bang for one’s leading to a loss of 95% users within the first 90 days. From this
buck. We are seeing more and more app statistic, it is evident that mobile app marketers have a lot to gain by
marketers and developers strategically re-engaging inactive users. App retargeting is about creating a more
allocate a growing portion of their sustainable, long-term-focused growth strategy.
advertising budget into re-engaging users
and pushing them through the conversion ●● It is 6-7 times cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire
funnel, with some excellent results. a new one.
In this chapter, we will provide an ●● App retargeting enables you to increase user lifetime value (LTV).
introduction to app retargeting - outlining
how it works, the best practices within the ●● You can apply retargeting at any stage of the user funnel; to get users
industry, and the primary challenges and who paid to pay again, to finally convert that non-payer, or to inform
benefits involved. your users of new promotions.
The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing – App Retargeting 45

What is the user journey of app
retargeting?
The user journey begins with the user downloading and recording their first session in your app. Then, in partnership
with your attribution provider, you can collect data on the user’s in-app activity - what products they looked at,
which level they reached, or how far they made it through the subscription funnel. You can then segment users
based on this data and decide how you would like to target each user group.
To prevent a user from becoming inactive or to encourage them to follow through with another in-app event (i.e.
complete registration or finish tutorial), Remerge will serve up your targeted ad within another app’s ad space. This
highly personalized, dynamic ad will contain a call to action specifically tailored to that user’s position within your
funnel. Once they click, they’ll be directed to the specific point in your app where they left off.

The dynamic product ad seen above is an example of a tailored creative to bring a user back into an e-commerce
app. When the user views a specific product such as a pair of shoes, but doesn’t complete a transaction, their
device ID is paired with one or multiple viewed products which can be used to make a targeted ad. Clicking on the
ad will bring them back into a specific section of the shopping app, i.e. the check-out (as opposed to the main app
page), making the experience as smooth as possible. Effective retargeting ads speak more to the user, targeting
them where they left off, so it is advisable not to recycle user acquisition banners for your retargeting campaigns.

Where do we need to move the users?
For some apps, igniting that first major step (getting the user back into the app) would be the goal of their
retargeting campaign, whereas others may need to push users through the app a bit further to finally convert (mid
funnel). Other times, the goal is simply to make sure that those in the lower funnel (often the most valuable) don’t
fall out. Understanding where your user is in the funnel is critical for segmentation - retargeting should always
start out with something simple to benchmark performance before moving on to more intricate or granular setups.

How app retargeting works
The App World
In order to begin the app retargeting process, an app publisher must work with an attribution provider, such as
Adjust. Postback data (also known as callback data) from the attribution provider can then be used to segment users
based on the main goals of the campaign. The app retargeting platform then leverages the data through premium
supply partners (seen here on the right) to serve ads to users in other apps where they are already spending time.

Challenges and best practices of retargeting
The Real Value of Retargeting vs. User Acquisition
Challenge
Many app developers are hesitant to spend more on retargeting users after they have already invested so much in
acquiring them. Why, they ask, is it worth paying for the same user twice?
Best Practice
If your goal is to increase retention: The answer lies in the rate and speed at which acquired users are lost. As
previously mentioned, 70% of users drop off within the first seven days of installing an app, leading to a loss of
95% users within the first 90 days. By shifting the focus and devoting at least 20-30% of the marketing budget to
retargeting, you can significantly lower their churn rate and ensure that high-paying, highly active users remain
engaged.
If your goal is to increase your conversion rate to first purchase: If the objective of your UA campaigns is to
acquire users towards a first purchase or subscription (typical KPIs would be cost per first purchase or ROAS),
then typically the majority of your installs won’t result in such an event (typical conversion rates from install to
first purchase or subscription are way below 1%). By retargeting your users, you can significantly increase their
conversion rates to first purchase or subscription, thus yielding more paying customers from their installer’s base.
If your goal is to increase your conversion rate to additional purchases: as UA is typically focused on and limited
to the beginning of a user’s lifetime cycle, retargeting goes way beyond that phase and helps marketers increase
their returns from long-term valuable users. By retargeting previous purchasers, you can positively influence their
organic conversion rate to additional purchases, thereby increasing the number of conversions. This generates
significantly more revenues from existing customers (typical KPIs are CPA or ROAS).

The best time to start retargeting users
Challenge
When is the best time to start retargeting? Is there an industry benchmark?
Best Practice
App marketers often want to know what others within the same industry or
vertical are doing. However, these insights - often mislabeled as benchmarks
- are not necessarily a good base upon which to measure the success of your
retargeting campaigns. Each app is unique and varied in terms of events,
demographics, geography, churn points, etc. We find that the best results arise
when the app is considered according to its specific context and KPIs.
It’s always the right time to retarget, but it depends on where in the funnel your
target audience is in and the time of their activity. To start retargeting, first ask
these questions:
●● What are my user segments?
●● What is the conversion goal for each segment?
●● What is the organic or baseline performance (read: organic conversion rate)

of each segment to this conversion goal?
Once you understand your baseline performance, you will better see how “When the interval between the first and
retargeting will impact your KPIs. Identify a number of segments to target second session approaches 7 days, there
and begin with a simple retargeting strategy (starting simple is recommended). is a 60% chance that a user will never
return” – Localytics
Examples of targets per segment include converting first-time buyers to make
their first purchase and driving previous purchasers to spend more and make
additional orders.

Incrementality
Challenge
When including retargeting into the marketing strategy, how can one keep a clean view of how much paid installs
contribute? And how can one make sure that retargeting doesn’t ‘steal’ organic conversions?
Best Practice
An incremental uplift test can measure the true value delivered by your retargeting campaigns. The setup includes
an A/B test where a control group is not exposed to advertisements and its user behavior can be considered organic.
The exposed group’s behavior is then measured against the defined organic behavior, resulting in a percentage
contribution of retargeting ad spend on increased number of conversions and/or revenue.
●● Early funnel KPIs (a.k.a. top of funnel): Incremental App Opens – a higher ratio of users come back to the app
compared to the organic conversion rate.
●● Mid funnel KPIs: Finishing a tutorial, trial or register.
●● Late funnel KPIs: Incremental purchase or subscription conversions – a higher ratio of purchase events per
unique user versus organic behavior.
Best measured by Incremental ROAS - With an incremental ROAS of 100%, every dollar spent on advertisement gets
you a dollar back of additional revenue. Any incremental ROAS above 100% indicates that your retargeting efforts
generate more in incremental revenue than your advertising budget you invest into.
Incremental ROAS can be calculated by dividing the difference in ad-generated revenue and organic-generated
revenue by the total budget. For example, an organic control group produces $10,000 in revenue, whereas the test
group exposed to ads creates $20,000 in revenue at a budget of $5,000. This means that you just drove $10,000
in incremental revenues at a cost of $5,000!

The incremental ROAS calculation:
($20,000 - $10,000) / $5,000 = 200% incremental ROAS. Generally, any figure above 100% speaks to the value
that retargeting ads provide your company.
Consider your users’ LTV when defining targets
Unlike user acquisition, retargeting efforts are measured with different KPIs per funnel stage.
A high incremental ROAS at an early-funnel event is an unrealistic expectation for a retargeting campaign. Take a
food delivery app for example. The goal is to get a user to order their first meal. The investment cost of re-engaging
this user and driving their first order could possibly exceed the cost of one dish, resulting in a negative return.
However, a retargeted user is very likely to reorder a pizza within the next six months.
The initial 30% incremental ROAS can easily surpass 100%.
Choosing the LTV of your user by asking “What would this customer spend in their lifetime?” will give you the bigger
picture of how retargeting can benefit your app in the long run.

Creative Formats
●● Native Ads - the least intrusive of all ad formats, native ads blend in within an app by following the form in
which content is displayed. This ad format minimizes the disruption of the user while increasing the context of
the content. This includes sponsored content where ads appear as posts in the user’s social media home feed.
●● Static Ads - as the name suggests, static ads (ie. fixed), contain non-changing images. Static interstitials are
designed for both mobile and tablet users, with a varying range of formats, such as square and horizontal. The
placement of a static ad, such as ‘horizontal on the top’, is usually up to the publisher. Static ads support .png,
.jpg. and .gif formats.
●● Video Ads - similarly displayed as static ads, but with video content.
●● Playables - highly engaging, yet low commitment for the user, playable ads give users a taste and experience
of your app within the ad placement. An example could be playing a game level.
●● Dynamic Programmatic Ads - the most sophisticated ad format, the call-to-action can change based on
every user who sees the ad. With a defined ad template, publishers would create a set of assets which can be
dynamically combined based on the user’s journey.
A note on scalability and engagement

Depending on the goal and focus, static, video, and native ads are always the more scalable options. Where
customization and user engagement is a larger focus, a budget and time investment on dynamic ads or playables
is recommended.

Measuring performance and success
Challenge
Measuring marketing success and ROI is key for the long-term sustainability of your acquisition and retargeting
efforts. Questions such as “which KPIs should I be looking at?” and “how do I know if my retargeting campaign
was a success?” are common challenges.
Best practice
It is important to evaluate whether the expected lifetime value of the retargeted users is higher than the cost of
re-engaging them. For tracking conversions, relevant KPIs include return on ad spend (ROAS), cost per app open
and cost per app event.
To understand your post re-engagement performance and develop a more sustainable, long term strategy,
cohort analysis can be beneficial: instead of microscopically analyzing a single user’s behavior, group them into
behavioural segments to better identify patterns within the lifecycle. Cohort analyses can be done based on time
spans or by campaign.
Conclusion
App retargeting is a powerful way to maintain or reestablish your users’ interest and to get them back into your
app. With targeted messaging and tailored CTAs, app retargeting can effectively drive new interactions. With
proven results at a cost lower than that of acquiring new users, retargeting makes a great addition to your overall
marketing strategy.

To learn more about Remerge, click here
To learn more about how Adjust helps you determine which creatives are
bringing the best users to your app, click here

Mobile Attribution
A look at what it is, how it works, and its importance for
mobile marketers
Introduction
Mobile attribution plays an incredibly important role in
successful app marketing.
Mobile marketers who have set up their mobile attribution

efforts properly are able to analyze their marketing
performance in full. They can see when, where and why
users enter their app. They can see who they are and how
they behave within the app. And they can find out who
spends in the app, who doesn’t spend in an app and who
leaves.
However, defining what mobile attribution is and

understanding what it includes remains difficult for many
marketers. The most obvious reason for this is that mobile
attribution is a big and challenging task for marketers to
manage.
And there are a few main reasons why that’s the case.
Understanding the technological side of attribution can
be difficult, especially for someone from a non-technical
background. But equally, knowing what needs to be
attributed and what to do with attributed data once it is
gathered can be equally as difficult as understanding the
technical challenges of mobile attribution.
Breaking down the major attribution challenges and

presenting them in a readable format, we hope that this
resource will demystify mobile attribution.
Mobile attribution can’t be mastered overnight. But with the

help of this guide, we hope to make the major challenges a
little easier to overcome.
The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Mobile Attribution 58

Chapter 1
Mobile attribution: An introduction
What is mobile attribution? And just why is it so important?
Mobile attribution, also known as mobile app tracking, is the process of understanding what happens when a user
interacts, or does not interact, with a mobile advert pointing towards an app.
Successful mobile app tracking covers the entirety of the conversion funnel. It finds out whether a user does or
doesn’t react upon seeing an advert; it will figure out if a user installs your app after seeing an advert; it will also
determine how a user behaves after installing.
Attribution can also identify other key information about the user base too, whether it be helping advertisers
and marketers to understand individual users from a demographic perspective, identify groups that do (or don’t)
respond to creatives and determine how they behave in-app by tracking key events (such as an in-app purchase or
an advert view), all in order to help identify important cohorts.
In short, mobile attribution should provide a holistic overview of how users behave from the moment they see an
ad, to the end of their interactions with it.
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Why is attribution important for
a modern mobile marketer?
1. Learn where your users are coming from
On a surface level, attribution links interaction with ads to installation. As such, it’s the definitive touch point for all
involved in the app to know where a user has originated from.
2. Find your best performing campaigns

Because of this, attribution helps mobile marketers determine campaign success and helps marketers discover the
formula for repeatable performance. It also can be used to compare different campaigns to see which perform best.
3. Optimize everything
This leads into optimization. By getting a better understanding of how users behave when interacting with different
ads and campaigns, app developers and mobile marketers can improve almost every aspect of app, such as user
experience, creatives and spend.
4. Understand your ROI better

Attribution is the dominant figure in determining app advertising success. Without it, all members of the mobile ad
ecosystem (that is, advertisers, partners and app creators) wouldn’t be able to see the costs involved. However, with
attribution fully engaged, you can understand where investment makes the most return.

Chapter 2
The User Journey of Attribution
What do vendors do? What about partners?
And how are attribution tools implemented?
The attribution process is somewhat simple, beginning with an SDK installation and ending with advertising data
being delivered to you. However, the tech behind it is considerable. In this section, we’ll look at the journey an app
marketer makes from beginning to end, and how Adjust features at each step.

What do attribution vendors provide?
Attribution vendors like Adjust provide app businesses with attribution platforms or services among many other
distinct features. But when talking about attribution itself (not including analytics, or fraud prevention) there are two
distinct pillars that uphold one attribution solution. Let’s take a look at them:
1. Tracking
Attribution begins with an SDK installed onto an application. With that, data can begin to be brought onto the
servers on the vendor’s side, which is then stored, aggregated, and sent to...
2. A dashboard
Once there is enough data to show, it needs to be displayed. As such, a dashboard which can display interactive data
needs to be a top priority of attribution providers, both in terms of looks and functionality.

What are attribution providers actually able
to track?
Mobile attribution requires a concerted effort to connect Once a user is tracked, though, there are plenty of other
advertising campaigns to an app while consistently things that need to be synced before the success of a
measuring key information across each part of the mobile install campaign can be measured.
structure.
Top of the list is to work with an analytics provider to
This means using tracking methodologies to identify measure when a user enters an app from a campaign
individual users who interact with adverts. As we’ve and to track how they behave within it. One can do this
already mentioned, device identifiers, such as Apple’s by logging usage and tracking the completion of certain
Identifier For Advertisers (IDFA) and Google’s GPS events.
ADID, allow app developers to tag taps to users with a
consistent ID – helping to attribute the install. This helps marketers to identify the users that are most
valuable and segment them accordingly. Crucially, it
Developers can also leverage a technique called also helps in-house marketers to determine the traffic
fingerprinting. By briefly redirecting users past a server source they came from, the creative that attracted them
and back to the store, each user can be assigned a and which in-app moments forced crucial interactions.
“fingerprint” which can be compared to an identical This will help businesses to run increasingly effective
fingerprint taken in the app. marketing and advertising campaigns on mobile in the
future.
App developers most typically work with a service
provider, called measurement platforms, which
implement these techniques for them.

63
How to implement a measurement tool
It’s time to look at how a marketer has to integrate a measurement tool to allow them to track performance.
A properly integrated measurement tool will give the marketer a dashboard to track the performance of advertising
campaigns, how much revenue is being generated in-app, and other custom events the marketer tells the tool to
track (e.g. account sign ups).
But before a marketer can do any of that the development team has to implement the tool within the app first. And
though the process is relatively straightforward, it’s important for marketers to ensure it is done methodically to get
the most value from tracking performance.

How does a marketing team start
implementing a measurement tool?
Before adding a measurement SDK to an app, it’s app will probably need to track when a customer adds a
important for the marketing team to take a step back valid payment method to their account, a game seeking
and work out what exactly needs to be measured first. to expand its audience might need to track how many
times players share their in-game process.
There will be a number of metrics that practically every
marketing team will need to measure. Most measurement They must also consider carefully how much they need
tools will contain features such as conversion tracking, to track. The temptation would be to track everything
session measurement and KPI tracking (such as custom possible, but the sheer size of most mobile app user
in-app events) to ensure that the tool tracks the most bases means this could quickly become difficult to
basic stats necessary for successful attribution. analyze. So marketers need to make sure they hone in
on the most important metrics for their apps to ensure
However, marketers must also consider what specific in- they stay focused.
app events they wish to track. While a takeaway delivery

How is a measurement tool
implemented into an app?
Measurement tools are integrated by integrating an • Create custom events. Usually done from the
SDK into an app. Once the SDK is in the app’s code tracking dashboard during the SDK integration,
base, initialized and linked back to the app ID, the creating custom events and ensuring that a
marketer can then begin to track performance within corresponding piece of code (often called a token)
the application. is also added to the SDK which is necessary to
measure specific events.
To implement a tool successfully, a marketer will need
to make sure that their development team does the • Add the SDK to the app. Depending on which tool
following: is used, the development team will have to spend
some time integrating the tracking SDK into the app.
• Discover the app’s store ID. Before an app can be adjust’s open source SDK typically takes about five
tracked properly, the measurement platform must minutes to integrate to provide basic functionality,
be given the app’s unique store ID. This ID can but other providers may take different lengths of
normally be found in the dashboard for each app time to do so.
store. In the best case scenario, the measurement
platform then generates a distinct and private Once those three things are done, the marketer
measurement ID that acts as a “password” for the should have a good starting point for using their
app. This measurement ID is requisite for the SDK measurement platform.
integration.

I
And how exactly is a measurement tool

used effectively?
The key way to use a measurement tool effectively is to make sure that it is providing accurate information
in a timely manner.
In practice, this means using features within the tool to full effect. There are a number of different features that
providers will offer, but a few key tools and features in measurement platforms to use include:
• The dashboard. Providing information on a range of metrics in a manageable format, the web dashboard for a
tracking tool is essentially the app marketing control center. Reporting intelligence and allowing for marketers
to create new features (e.g. in-app events), the dashboard is the central hub for any tracking provider.
• Tracking URLs for advertisers. Most tracking tools help marketers to generate tracking URLs for their mobile
advertising campaigns. Creating URLs is essential for anyone wanting to keep track of advertising performance
and is done for most campaigns.
• Callbacks (or webhooks). These provide data in real time (or

at regular short intervals) to ensure that marketers keep up
to date with performance. Callbacks can be used to measure
how things are going at any particular moment (e.g. how is
an advertising campaign performing), but can also be used
to provide feedback or rewards to users when certain actions
take place (e.g. providing a reward to a user who watches
an advert). These need to be configured properly, though,
so marketers should talk to their business intelligence or
development teams.
Before a measurement tool really comes into their own, the

marketer must ensure that tracking URLs are in place with their
media partners and that the dashboard is available to monitor,
analyze and react in real-time to what is occurring in-app. By
doing that, the marketer ensures their app has a stronger basis
on which to succeed in the long run.

Anything else that a marketer needs to
know before running a tracking tool?
It’s essential to make sure that any tracking tool implemented into an app is fully tested before launch. If the tool
is incorrectly configured, it could fail to track correctly or it could cause technical problems within the app (such as
posting too many events and reducing performance). This means it is essential for the marketer to make sure the
tool is properly tested before it launches.
Furthermore, it’s important to improve on a tool’s implementation as it is being used. The information a marketer
needs to track may change as the app’s feature set does, or analysis might reveal that certain events that are being
tracked are not important to the overall health of the app’s marketing effort.
This means that a marketer using a tracking tool should regularly review its use to ensure that it is providing enough
value in the long run.

Chapter 3
The Mobile Attribution Challenge
Why is attribution hard? What does a mobile marketer really
want to track? And data, privacy and more.

Mobile app tracking can be tricky to do well. This is because of the nature of mobile. While the web is built upon
cookies as a tracking standard, helping to unify the ecosystem and making conversion tracking relatively simple,
phones are fragmented in comparison.
There are many reasons for this, but one example often pointed to is cross-environment measurement (which
is when a user interacts with a mobile web advert for a mobile app) is so complicated because of the lack of a
universal tracking standard. Other issues, such as mobile fraud, and privacy measures, mean that connections
often become trickier to make as the industry changes. And since attribution is all about making connections
between interaction and install, there’s a lot on the line if there’s a failure to connect.
Why is Attribution Hard?

As mentioned in the opening section, the major problem in the mobile
attribution landscape is the lack of a uniform tracking method.
Unlike the web, there is no single accepted standard for tracking

across the app economy. Without a single system like the cookie to
build a tracking ecosystem upon, companies across the ecosystem
have had to create a variety of tools and tracking methodologies to
attempt to solve the problem.
This has helped to some extent, but it has also led to the fragmentation
of mobile app tracking. This means that attribution can become the
cause of controversy, with different methods of solving the problems
failing to align or clashing with one another.
Add to that the fact that app stores are often black boxes that
marketers cannot see into – thus meaning that they can’t see what
happens easily to a user who interacts with an advert – and attribution
can become difficult quickly.

Is that the only issue with mobile attribution?
No, there are other challenges which can make life difficult Furthermore, there are other challenges in the ecosystem
for marketers. The first we’ll talk about is the scope of that make it increasingly difficult for marketers to attribute.
what mobile attribution entails. User privacy is one such issue, with efforts by app stores to
scramble or zero device IDs on request, making it difficult
Rather than simply tracking mobile advertising spend, (and arguably unethical) to measure aggregate user
mobile app attribution is meant to examine what users do behavior.
across the entire funnel. In essence, this means that any
user who installs an app (whether organically or through And then there is the challenge of attributing installs when
marketing) should be traceable through the whole of their there isn’t a clear digital footprint. Although most mobile
life cycle: when they enter the app, what they do there and companies prefer performance advertising options for
when they leave. advertising apps, it’s increasingly common for companies
to pursue TV, outdoor or traditional media campaigns.
This means that marketers have to work out how to These might have a positive effect on installs, but
meaningfully track all that, but also work out ways to attributing them is hard.
analyze it effectively. With potentially thousands of
individuals using an app every day, the marketer has to In short, attribution can quickly become a many-headed
combine the challenge of individually attributing users with hydra that is difficult to battle – particularly when a
the challenge of analyzing them within broader cohorts – company’s attribution needs begin to evolve with their
otherwise attribution becomes unmanageable. business.

How can businesses begin to solve their
attribution problems?
The most important way companies can begin to tackle the attribution problem is by admitting that they have one.
However advanced a company’s attribution efforts are, there is always room to improve and iterate – meaning that
it’s important to take the problem by the horns.
To do this practically, businesses attributing mobile app

installs need to do the following things:
• Understand what the company’s make sure that the whole team is
attribution strategy is at the focused on solving problems.
present time and how attribution
is being managed from a practical • Know what is going on in the broader
perspective. attribution space to understand
where challenges are and to begin
• Determine where there are gaps or formulating strategies.
problems within attribution efforts
and begin to find tools or solutions to • Make sure that everyone is aware
solve those problems. of attribution across the business
to create a connected approach to
• Think carefully about what needs dealing with the problem.
to be tracked (and what doesn’t) to
By doing that, and by following our advice, marketers should then be able to begin
getting around the attribution challenge.
What do I want to track? How do I leverage the tool KPIs to consider

Data privacy
One of the big advantages for any mobile app marketer in their day-to-day working life is their access to user data.
Mobile marketers can, in most app businesses, tap into deep insights about their users and user behaviour to guide
acquisition efforts or improve performance within the app (e.g. by boosting retention).
Along with this data collection comes a responsibility though. Maintaining the privacy of individual users and staying
within the law is an essential part of successful mobile marketing, and one which Adjust takes seriously.
Why do consumers
worry about their
privacy?
Consumers worry about the privacy of their devices
because they don’t want to feel as if they are being
spied on. Smartphones are personal devices that
are particular to a single user, which means that
owners get understandably defensive if that privacy
is breached. Questions are constantly raised about
the nature of trading privacy for services, and
increasingly users are become aware of the trade-
offs, and the ways to safeguard their data.

What kinds of laws affect data tracking and
collection by mobile app marketers?
The answer to that question isn’t simple. Data privacy Furthermore, companies who breach these requirements
laws differ from country to country, meaning there is could be in line for hefty fines. Whether they operate
no one size fits all approach to resolving the problem. in the EU or sell into it, companies could be fined 20
million Euros or 4 percent of their annual turnover if
However, a good example of data privacy laws currently they fail to comply when the law is introduced.
in the process of being enacted is the EU’s General Data
Protection Regulation – which comes into force in 2018. So although these laws do not apply outside of the EU,
they’re a good example of the legal environment that
Applicable across all member states, the law will force mobile app marketers must increasingly place their app
any company that “monitors the behaviour” of EU tracking efforts in.
citizens to seek consent from users to keep their data,
to process that data lawfully between their business and
data centres, to uphold the data rights of the subject
being tracked and more.

How can an app marketer ensure that
they safeguard user privacy in a way that
complies with the law?
The first way to comply with data protection laws is to read up on them. The GDPR is a good place to start, as the
European approach ensures that you’re compliant across a continent and it is considered ‘gold standard’ across the
world.
From there, it’s important for marketers to make maintaining user privacy a priority across the business. Ensuring
that everyone across the app marketing supply chain, including the development teams and even external partners
such as server providers, is up to speed with the regulations will ensure that user privacy is properly safeguarded.
Finally, app marketers should be aiming to adopt a pro-user approach to privacy to ensure that they are trusted
with private data. Simple to read terms and conditions that explain what happens to user data, respecting when a
user flags that they do not want to be tracked and ensuring that only necessary information is tracked will build user
confidence – turning privacy into less of an issue for users in the long term.

To learn how Adjust can help you measure your marketing spend,
click here to schedule a demo

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Complete Guide Mobile - Marketing

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The Complete Guide

to Mobile App Marketing

The best app in the world will only be successful if it has

BATTLE OF THE APPS:

Creative optimization is the consistent application of a test-and-learn

User retention campaigns need to be run simultaneously with user

App retargeting involves sending your users targeted, personalized

A look at what it is, how it works, and its importance for

With more than 65 percent of app downloads coming from organic

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 4

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 5

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 6

Keep Tabs on Competitors

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 7

►► Where you believe your app naturally fits

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 8

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 9

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 10

Encourage Optimal Reviews and Ratings

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 11

Prompt Users for Direct App Feedback

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 12

Diligently Improve Ratings and Reviews

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 13

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - App Store Optimization 14

Launch Scale Quality & Retention (ROI, LTV)

Test and learn

High Impact Activity User quality analysis and optimization

Time Since App Launch

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 16

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 17

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 18

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 19

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 20

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 21

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 22

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 23

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 24

References: InMobi Apponomics, andrewchen.co, InMobi Blogs

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 25

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - User Acquisition 26

Development of Implementation Definition of key Evaluation of Repetition of

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Creative Optimization 28

Each user deserves a unique ad experience. Having

Vungle’s Dynamic Templates allow multiple formats

Borrowing from Mary Meeker’s 2017 report we see

There are many ways to achieve a diverse creative

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Creative Optimization 29

Maximize user engagement

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Creative Optimization 30

Interaction means engagement

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Creative Optimization 31

Tips for effective A/B tests:

►► Use a minimum sample size

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Creative Optimization 32

Pre vs Post Install

The Complete Guide to Mobile App Marketing - Creative Optimization 33