MMP and mobile app attribution: why is it needed and when without it
MMP is a mobile measurement partner that brings installations from different sources into one picture. I’ll explain how it differs from regular analytics, why you can’t do without it on mobile, and in what cases you don’t need it.
On the Internet, the question “where did a person come from” is resolved by itself. On a mobile phone, between clicking on an ad and the first launch of the application, there is a store that the source does not transmit, and all the usual logic breaks down.
MMP exists for the sake of one gap: advertising knows about the click, the application knows about the launch, but there is no one to connect them with each other.
1. Where exactly is the source lost?
The user journey on a mobile device looks like this: saw an ad, clicked it, went to the app store, installed it, launched it. There are five steps, and the data about them is in three different places.
The advertising account sees impressions and clicks. The store console sees the installation. Analytics inside the application sees the first launch and everything subsequent. None of the systems sees the entire chain, and the store located in the middle does not transmit the source to the outside.
MMP is built into the application and takes on the role of a connecting link: it receives data from advertising platforms and from the application and compares them.
2. Why is the amount in the offices greater than reality?
A classic situation: three advertising offices reported a total of three thousand installations, and the store had one and a half of them.
The reason is not deception. Each account counts an install for itself if a user within its attribution window saw or clicked on its advertisement. With several active sources, the same person ends up in several reports at once.
MMP solves this by becoming the sole arbiter: it sees all touches and awards the installation to one source according to general rules. What exactly the rules are is a matter of configuration, but the rule is the same for everyone.
3. Attribution window
The period during which the installation is still credited to the source after a click or impression. Platforms use different default values, and this is the second reason for the discrepancies.
| What can be configured | What does it affect? |
|---|---|
| Window after click | Most attribution |
| Window after show | The controversial part: the person did not click the ad. |
| Priority of click over impression | Who will get the installation for both touches? |
| Rule for equal touches | Usually last click |
The second line is the source of most disputes with sites. Impression attribution is generous with reach channels and easily attributes installs to them that would have happened without them. Narrowing this window is the first thing to do when reports are suspiciously good.
4. Deep links: half the point
The advertisement showed a specific product, the person clicked, installed the application, and ended up on the main screen. Then he must remember what he was looking for and find it again. Some people simply close the application at this step.
Deep link opens the desired screen immediately. Technically, this is a separate setting, and it is most often done later than the main integration - but in vain: it has a stronger effect on the conversion from install to target action than the choice of advertising channel.
5. When MMP is not needed
The honest answer, which is rarely heard: in many cases.
- One source of attraction. There is no one to argue with; the reports from the account and the store console are enough.
- Small budget. The cost of an attribution error is lower than the cost of a subscription.
- Organics as the main channel. Then you need to work with ASO, and not with attribution of paid traffic.
The threshold at which MMP pays for itself usually occurs with a third paid source: this is where the discrepancies cease to be an error and begin to influence budget decisions.
6. Russian specifics
Russian app stores add another source of installations to the picture with their own statistics and rules. You have to check discrepancies not with one console, but with several, and reconciliation becomes a mandatory procedure, and not a one-time setup.
What to do with promotion within the store and how to calculate the conversion per install - in analysis ASO in RuStore.
7. Regular reconciliation
A configured MMP does not mean correct data forever. An application update, an SDK change, a new platform - any of these events can quietly break the transfer.
A simple habit: once a month, check the number of installs in MMP with the store console. A discrepancy of a few percent is normal, a multiple is a reason to look for a breakdown, and not to explain it by the peculiarities of the calculation.
8. Summary
MMP closes the gap between advertising and the application, which is not closed by anything else in mobile. It is needed when there are several paid sources and the budget is significant; with one channel this is extra money.
Two places where results are most often lost: too wide a view-through attribution window and unconfigured deep links. Both cost less than changing your advertising strategy and deliver more.
Related materials: acquisition and ASO for applications, channel attribution, RuStore.