Did you know that…
By the end of this year, adults will spend 43 more minutes per day on smartphones than on TVs.
The average American spends five hours and 24 minutes on their mobile device each day and checks it every 10 minutes on average.
At least 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device in the last six months.
As smartphones have become an integral part of consumers’ lives, businesses have shifted their focus toward mobile marketing strategies. Since good marketing strategies rely on good data, the need for mobile attribution — a method that enables businesses to attribute conversions and user actions to specific marketing sources — will inevitably rise. In the context of large enterprises, the complexity of marketing campaigns, the scale of data needed, and the nuances of privacy compliance make mobile attribution challenging yet indispensable.
Understanding mobile attribution
Mobile attribution tracks and analyzes user interactions on mobile marketing channels to determine which campaigns, channels, or touchpoints contribute to conversions. For large enterprises, the scope of mobile attribution extends beyond simple click tracking; it encompasses a multi-dimensional analysis of user behavior across various touchpoints, devices, and channels.
Key components of mobile attribution:
- User touchpoints: Enterprises must consider the diverse behaviors users exhibit throughout their journey, such as app installs, in-app purchases, and interactions with push notifications. Comprehensive mobile attribution should account for each touchpoint’s influence on the user’s decision-making process.
- Multi-channel analysis: Large businesses use a combination of marketing channels, including social media, email, in-app advertising, offline advertising, and mobile ads. Mobile attribution accurately attributes conversions across these diverse channels so marketers gain a holistic view of campaign metrics and performance — and then invest in the right optimization strategies.
- Cross-device tracking: Users frequently switch between devices throughout their customer journey. Enterprise-grade mobile attribution data should include cross-device tracking to understand how users move across platforms and devices, ensuring a seamless and personalized experience.
Challenges in enterprise-grade mobile attribution
While mobile attribution is crucial for large enterprises, implementing it at scale comes with its own set of challenges.
- Data volume and complexity: Large enterprises generate massive amounts of data from various sources, making it challenging to consolidate and analyze. Enterprise analytics tools and mobile attribution providers must be equipped to efficiently handle and process this extensive data.
- Privacy and compliance: As privacy concerns rise and regulations like GDPR and CCPA become more stringent, enterprises must navigate the extremely complex landscape of data privacy. Mobile app attribution solutions must adhere to these data collection regulations while providing actionable insights.
- Demise of third-party identifiers: The demise of third-party identifiers, cookies, and changes within the Apple ads ecosystem (i.e., SKAdNetwork) presents a challenge for enterprises that rely on these methods for mobile attribution.
- Integration with existing systems: Enterprises often have a multitude of existing systems, including customer relationship management (CRM), analytics, and marketing automation tools. Integrating mobile attribution seamlessly with these systems as well as being able to easily export data into the often-customized data analytics tools enterprises use is vital for a unified view of customer interactions.
- Fragmentation: As digital usage explodes and consumers interact with brands in new and different ways, everything changes, from how end users use technology to the tools enterprises need to understand modern, complex behaviors. This fragmentation makes mobile attribution challenging — unless you have the right measurement partner.
- Business complexity: Most enterprises handle multiple brands, extensive campaigns, different markets, various internal decision makers, and so much more. The size and scale are staggering, so it’s important to have mobile attribution and measurement tools that are easy to use and internally available to everyone who needs them.
Choosing the right mobile attribution tools
Selecting the appropriate mobile attribution solution is a critical decision for large enterprises. Here are some specific needs and challenges that enterprises should consider:
- Scalability: The chosen mobile attribution platform should scale alongside the enterprise’s growth. It should handle increasing data volumes and provide insights that remain actionable as the business expands.
- Customization and flexibility: Enterprises have unique app marketing strategies and goals. A robust mobile attribution solution should be customizable to accommodate the specific requirements and nuances of the enterprise’s marketing ecosystem.
- Operational efficiency: Enterprises should be able to drive revenue and save costs with easy workflows, scalability, strategic support, and expertise to help navigate complex policy changes and evolving digital strategies. That way, businesses never have to choose between performance and compliance.
- Smarter investments: You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Brands need visibility into all cross-channel marketing efforts, so they can have consistent data to help direct spend and efforts for the highest ROI.
- Data exporting: While dashboards and visualizations are important, most enterprises benefit from being able to export data into the more functional and customized analysis tools they already use.
Which attribution model is best for enterprises?
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, it’s crucial to evaluate each method’s effectiveness and precision when considering the optimal attribution method. You need accurate data to make well-informed business decisions. While traditional methods like install touch have seen past success, they no longer suffice. And, although multi-touch attribution can be beneficial, as device identifiers go away, without a clear idea of who an individual is and how they interact with a brand across platforms and over a period of time, multi-touch attribution breaks and is generally unreliable.
Branch prefers last-touch attribution because it aligns with the evolving priorities of modern mobile marketers. This approach offers a clearer perspective on which campaigns truly drive conversions beyond mere installations. It also ensures that credit is rightfully attributed to touchpoints directly responsible for conversions, encompassing more valuable actions like conversions, revenue, retention, engagement, and lifetime value.
Successful implementations of enterprise-grade mobile attribution
To illustrate the practical impact of enterprise-grade mobile attribution and marketing analytics, we’ll explore a few case studies where large businesses have effectively leveraged mobile attribution solutions.
Banking
Nubank is one of the world’s largest digital banking platforms. It partners with Branch as its mobile measurement partner (MMP) and leverages Branch’s attribution flexibility to test multiple ad networks and measure ad spend and campaign results. This allows the Nubank team to understand their true impact, make timely campaign optimizations, and double down on their highest performing network. Learn more.
E-commerce
Beyond deep linking, email, and smart banners, Tokopedia — Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platform — also leverages Branch’s attribution model for insights into pre-install user experiences. Unlike legacy attribution providers, Branch’s attribution gives the Tokopedia team a full view of the user journey across platforms and devices, which allows them to optimize budget allocation, prioritize channels, and maximize ROI. Learn more.
Food and beverage
The Chefz, a premium food and sweets delivery platform, eliminated attribution blindspots to grow app revenue by 650%. By implementing Branch deep links across all of its campaigns, The Chefz gained holistic visibility into its key performance metrics in real time via the Branch Dashboard. Learn more.
Gaming
Baazi Games uses Branch for a cross-platform, cross-device, and cross-channel view of its attribution data from paid, owned, and earned channels — a truly holistic view of marketing campaigns. Learn more.
The future of enterprise-grade mobile attribution
As technology continues to advance, the future of enterprise-grade mobile attribution holds exciting possibilities.
With users seamlessly transitioning between devices, mobile attribution will likely see significant advancements in cross-device tracking technologies. Overall, advancements will empower enterprises to gain deeper insights into user behavior and improve the accuracy of mobile attribution. By responsibly and ethically leveraging these technologies, and partnering with industry experts like Branch, enterprises can optimize their marketing strategies and ad campaigns, enhance user experiences, and drive business growth in the dynamic landscape of mobile attribution.
These advancements will provide enterprises with a more refined understanding of user journeys across various touchpoints, with in-depth insights into user acquisition, ROAS, LTV, KPIs, conversion rates, and many more metrics to guide decision making in new and exciting ways.
Challenges in cross-device tracking
Advancements in cross-device tracking will also pose challenges in terms of user privacy and data security. Enterprises will need to prioritize user consent, transparency, and data protection measures to mitigate associated privacy risks.
Beyond evolving capabilities and privacy concerns, the impending demise of third-party cookies, accelerated by platform updates and privacy regulations, will fundamentally alter the landscape of digital advertising and attribution. Third-party cookies have long been a cornerstone of digital marketing, enabling cross-site tracking and attribution across various platforms and devices. However, their deprecation presents a challenge for enterprises reliant on these cookies for mobile attribution.
Strategies for the future
In a post-cookie world, enterprises will need to adopt alternative methods to track and attribute user actions on mobile devices.
- First-party data will become increasingly valuable because it allows for direct tracking of user interactions within owned properties like mobile apps and websites.
- Investing in robust customer relationship management (CRM) systems and measurement tools will be essential for capturing and analyzing first-party data effectively.
The convergence of privacy and security considerations with post-cookie changes will necessitate a paradigm shift in enterprise-grade mobile attribution strategies. Enterprises that prioritize user privacy, invest in first-party data capabilities, and leverage attribution and measurement solutions will be well-positioned to thrive in this evolving landscape.
Enterprises need mobile attribution
Enterprise-grade mobile attribution is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity for large businesses navigating the complex landscape of mobile marketing. By understanding the challenges, choosing the right solutions, and embracing future obstacles head-on, enterprises can unlock actionable insights that drive informed decision making. As technology evolves, the future of mobile attribution promises even greater precision, personalization, and effectiveness in measuring the impact of mobile marketing efforts for large enterprises.
Learn more about Branch’s enterprise attribution solutions, or request a demo today!