Why Do I Need Mobile App Tracking?

Problems with Tracking Technologies

Cookie Based Tracking Doesn't work

Traditional web technologies rely on cookie based tracking, but when a user installs a mobile application they move from a web browser where the cookie was placed to their new mobile app where no cookie was installed. As a result, web analytics platforms and even most mobile ad networks can't track installs of your applications, much less tell you where those users came from.

Server Tracking Doesn't Work

Even with common server side tracking methods there has to be some way to pass an ID from the advertiser into a tracking URL. Unfortunately, marketplaces like the Android Market and Apple iTunes Store do not allow advertisers to pass any IDs through the purchase and/or download process.

Through our research, and working with some of our top tier clients, we found some serious issues tracking installs, especially when you are promoting and advertising mobile apps with multiple mobile ad networks. Perhaps you identify with some of the problems outlined below or maybe you aren't even aware. Regardless, it is important for everyone promoting their own mobile apps to understand the need to track installs back to their referral.

Problems with Ad Networks

A Separate SDK for Every Network

To track conversions, developers need to integrate and test tracking SDKs for each ad network promoting their apps. This allows ad networks to provide some basic analytics on the performance of ads and campaigns. Based on the data, you can them pause ads, create new ones and optimize them for optimal performance. In order for ad networks to track user actions (or installs) back to a specific ad, developers must integrate the tracking SDK provided by each network. While this sounds easy, testing the app and the new SDKs is very time consuming and complicated. Once you start working with more than one ad network, you then have to integrate a second tracking SDK to optimize your campaigns. You then have to test this second integration and once fully tested, you must update the mobile app in the various marketplaces where you list the app. Needless to say, the more ad networks you work with, the more complex integrating their tracking SDKs becomes.

File Sizes Cause Extreme Latency

Ad networks want to turn your apps into potential money making opportunities which can be an excellent source of income for ad supported mobile apps. However, in order to do this ad networks include extensive publishing capabilities in their SDKs. This extra code adds significant file size to mobile apps, increasing file sizes, causing install dropoffs, and even causing compatibility issues or software conflicts that ultimately lead to a bad user experience.

Did an Ad Network Generate an Install?

If you've integrated any tracking SDKs from ad networks, chances are you have even more problems than latency. Most ad networks don't validate individual users to check for an active tracking session. What's this mean? If a user installs your mobile app without seeing or clicking on an ad, they still credit themselves for generating the install. Does that mean Ad Networks are lying? Not exactly. The real problem goes back to technology.

Ad Network Tracking Methods

Most ad networks don't have access to the user's device ID when they display an advertisement because most mobile ads are displayed on mobile websites - not web apps. Since websites don't have access to the user's device ID, they can't start a tracking session based on the user's device ID. Device ID is just one example of the information Ad Networks are unable to collect due to the nature of their technology.

Instead of finding another way to track the user, Ad Networks rely on your mobile app to notify them of an install through the SDK you integrated, but if you don't know which advertisement sent the user to your app, how does their SDK? In reality, your mobile app actually calls/loads their tracking SDK on every install, regardless of origin. On install, the tracking SDK or postback URL (server tracking without SDK) takes the package name and device ID (UID) to record the install. Remember they don't have the device ID when the tracking session was started so they just record the install without checking to see if they have an active tracking session for the user.

Crediting More than One Network for One Install

If you're working with Ad Networks, you're crediting installs when the user may have never viewed an ad. When you work with more than one ad network, this tracking issue escalates. With multiple ad network SDKs integrated, your mobile app calls every SDK to record an app install. Since none of the networks you are working with check to make sure an ad was actually displayed to the user, each network credits themselves for the install. You are now crediting multiple Ad Networks for the same install.

Problems with Tracking Performance

Relying on Click Through Rate (CTR)

Since integrating tracking SDKs provided by mobile ad networks can be complicated, many app developers decide not to. Instead they rely on click though rate (CTR) or keeping their bids within their budgets using cost per click (CPC) metric. Relying on these upstream metrics, simply can't allow you to align your campaigns and their ads with actual installs. Aligning ad performance with installs, allows you to maximize your results.

What's your Cost Per Install (CPI)?

If you're crediting multiple publishers for the same install, the ad network's performance reports will be inaccurate. This inaccuracy is reflected in two different comparisons: installs from ad network verses other ad networks, and paid installs verses organic installs. Performance of campaigns on ad networks with low volume are almost always over-reported showing high performance. Since their reports include installs generated by the campaigns with larger ad networks and even organic installs, it will appear that these ad networks provide a high ROI, when in reality, their data is inaccurate. Their recorded ROI often includes installs that were actually influenced by other ad networks and organic installs.

Ad networks credit organic installs to their own performance as well. Since they don't verify the display of an ad to the user, organic installs load their tracking SDKs and then record the install, leaving you to believe they are providing installs that you would be getting on your own.

If you are paying an ad network based on cost per install (CPI), you will certainly end up paying more than one ad network for each install. If you're instead paying an ad network based on cost per click (CPC), the reports they provide may be very misleading. Since tracking is inaccurate, you don't know real performance of your advertising campaigns and you're unable to determine accurate ROI.

How Can You Scale Mobile Advertising?

Without a system that provides holistic, cross-network insight, the only way you can scale mobile app advertising is to grow your spends with one ad network at a time. While this may seem like a simple solution, it greatly limits your opportunities. On the web you have the freedom to buy traffic from blind networks and premium networks on a whim, or test Cost Per Click campaigns and Cost Per Conversion campaigns simultaneously. That is only possible because you can track how many conversions each source is bringing you. Without Mobile App Tracking, scaling becomes very difficult.

Finding Your Own Publishers

By relying on tracking systems provided by ad networks, you're unable to start developing direct relationships with quality publishers. Many app developers and app companies already have relationships with quality publishers do not work with ad networks. With no central tracking system in place, you're unable to get these publishers involved in your mobile advertising campaigns. Through the integration with HasOffers, you can create your own affiliate program conjunction with Mobile App Tracing. Start giving your partners and publishers the tools they need to start promoting your mobile app.

Mobile App Tracking - How It Works

Mobile App Tracking from HasOffers is an all-in-one tracking solution. Simply integrate the HasOffers SDK with your mobile application, and when a user installs your application, our SDK runs and notifies our tracking servers that an install occurred. Our tracking technology actually finds an active tracking session and then associates that session with an install, accurately telling you which publisher influenced the app install. This allows you to easily advertise on multiple mobile networks with cross-channel insight. With Mobile App Tracking you have the power to optimize your marketing campaigns based on true ROI.