Mobile Attribution Platforms: What Are They and Why You Need One

If you have an app, you may be familiar with mobile attribution, which, much like monitoring analytics for your website, tracks in-app analytics so that you can learn how your customers find your app, as well as what they do once they get there. 

Also known as a Mobile Measurement Partner (or MMP), these platforms give you better insight so that you can make more informed decisions about where to spend your advertising budget and which marketing activities are going to deliver the best results.  

‍

Mobile Attribution Platforms & Google Analytics

No matter what you're doing, you should absolutely be using Google Analytics. It is one of the best free analytics resources a business can have on hand, and as Google advances their integration of Google Firebase it will become increasingly important. However, but this does not mean it should be the only tool in your toolbox. 

Mobile attribution platforms hold an important and irreplaceable place in the tracking of user journeys and behaviour. Like tracking the journey from desktop to mobile app, MMP's can help you see more information about how a user reaches your app, in order for you to make more informed decisions, in real-time.

With mobile attribution platforms, you can not only learn how users come to your app, but you can map the way they interact with your app. This can then be compared to users who come from a different source, allowing you to deduce the best possible route, based on hard data, to gain the maximum impact against your goals. 

‍

Mobile Attribution Platform Comparison: Branch.io & Appsflyer

While there are a number of mobile attribution platforms on the market (Kovacha, Adjust, Localytics), two of the most popular are Branch.io and Appsflyer. We have compared these below to help give you a better understanding of what these platforms offer and which may be best to suit your app analytics needs. Ultimately, it's important to realise that the best platform is the one that best suits the need of your business. Both Branch and AppsFlyer have similarities that would suit all businesses, while also having their own particular focuses on in-app analytics tracking. 

‍

AppsFlyer

‍AppsFlyer, is a fantastic tool for understanding performance relative to ad spending. The AppsFlyer mobile attribution platform allows you to track events - installs, opens and purchases - to uncover the cost of users converting in your app, so that you can tell what is most effective at driving sign-ups to your app. AppsFlyer is especially strong in the Mobile Gaming sector.

‍

Branch.io

‍Branch.io, on the other hand, focusses on all of the product and marketing activities that lead users to your app - social, ads, email and others. This means that you can understand which channel is better for driving your sign-ups. Branch also offers in-app content analytics, which allows you to figure out what content gets your users attention. Branch is especially strong in measuring Desktop to Mobile user journeys

Both offer data streams to better store, track and interpret your data, and both have fraud protection to safeguard your advertising budget against advanced fraud attempts.  When used effectively, your mobile attribution platform can inform your strategy, leading you to optimal results faster, with less budget spent.