Andreas Naumann, fraud specialist at Adjust, considers the importance of attribution. 

Why is it important to run with an attribution provider and not just rely on something like Google Analytics? The main reason is that implementing mobile app tracking enables you to make well-informed business decisions on the mobile ad campaigns that you run.

An attribution provider like Adjust gives you a platform to discover where your users come from. Measurement solutions can then help you understand how users move through your app, and how you can compare their journey to someone else who arrived via a different source.

So what does attribution measure, and why does it matter? Mobile attribution is the science of matching two data points, such as spend to user engagement, in order to give credit for the action performed. Attribution answers the question: What happens when a user interacts (or does not interact) with a mobile advertisement pointing towards an app?

Beyond connecting the dots, mobile measurement also gives marketers much more information about what goes on in their app, such as tracking user events, uninstalls (and reinstalls), and key data on user lifetime value (LTV). Not only does this help understand user behaviour on an individual basis, but it also helps marketers identify group trends, which can be used to segment users and retarget them based on performance. Essentially, with mobile attribution, marketers get a better understanding of the source of their users, as well as how those users interact with their app.

App measurement is a vital part of the entire mobile ad ecosystem, from determining how much ad space costs, to understanding how well a campaign performs. Without app tracking, advertisers, partners and app developers wouldn’t know how much advertising costs, and how much a successful conversion pays out.

Beyond understanding the cost of ads, mobile measurement is essential for optimization. By tracking user events (essentially when a user performs an action in-app) and understanding how users behave, app developers can improve almost any aspect of an app, from creatives to spend. Measurement solutions also tend to offer a package of additional features, which can add value to an app business’s offering, depending on their needs.

Because of our sole focus on market-leading mobile attribution, Adjust has built one of the best products on the market. Not only is our attribution 100 per cent accurate, but we also host powerful features that give you strong protection, better user understanding, and transparency. These include Adjust’s Fraud Prevention Suite, an industry-first solution for preventing mobile ad fraud, and Lifecycle Tracking, which provides you with the full picture of a user’s lifetime, from beginning to end.