Manually measuring and attributing each conversion on your app is time-consuming and tough. As the mobile marketing domain expands owing to its exponential growth, this task will only get more complicated.
At its core, an MMP is a third-party platform that connects the dots by getting data from various touch points in the funnel. The platform tracks user activity and attributes it to the responsible campaign or ad placement. Through advanced attribution modeling, MMPs offer the necessary information marketers need to understand user behavior, and journey and compare campaign performance.
In this post, we have shared all the information you need to know how this platform works and helps marketers. We have also shared useful information on selecting the perfect MMP for your business.
The Need for MMP
Mobile attribution is much more than merely an install. Legacy attribution platforms answer one basic question – where did the app install come from? However, today’s app marketers need to know much more –
- Which are the top and low-performing ads?
- What’s the actual return on every conversion?
- Which are the ROI-positive media sources? And more.
To procure answers to these and other questions app marketers need a perfect integration of campaign and conversion data. And integration with existing BI systems and backend tools. Moreover, they would need it customized to their business.
Thus, today’s app marketers need a partner that can –
- Accurately attribute and offer granular details of user behavior – from their first interaction to app installation, in-app behavior, and even uninstall events.
- Track unique KPIs across acquisition and re-engagement
- Enhance cost efficiency by offering insights into the cost-effectiveness of each campaign.
- Track cross-platform interactions
- Aggregate cost and other campaign data across sources and channels accurately
- Automate the partner payments to avoid errors and track, verify, and process payments on time.
- Create deep links to provide a seamless user experience
- Accurately and automatically combine attribution and campaign data to uncover granular and timely insights
- Proactively tackle mobile ad fraud and detect payment fraud, account takeover, identity theft, and more.
- Ensure that the data collection and processing are per the legal requirements. It should anonymize data and procure user consent.
Simply put, if you are an app marketer constantly testing new ad networks and channels, you need 100% attribution network coverage and MMP status.
That’s where an MMP can help.
What is MMP and How Does it Work?
An MMP, a full-form mobile attribution partner, connects campaign engagements with installs and post-install in-app actions. The platform leverages an SDK (software development kit) to combine device IDs, aggregated data, and probabilistic modeling. Our detailed post on how MMP works shares how the platform serves as a single source of truth for app marketers and publishers, allowing them to track where the user traffic is coming from. Marketers receive immediate data postback that enables them to freeze marketing decisions that impact the return on ad spend (ROAS).
Technologies Used in MMP
MMPs leverage several technologies to measure and attribute mobile events. The postbacks, we spoke about earlier, are generated through IDFA (Identifier For Advertisers), GAID (Google Advertising ID), or SKAdNetwork (StoreKit Ad Network).
Apptrove is the next-generation MMP that offers –
- SKAN solutions specific to your app’s business type, vertical, and strategy.
- Predictive analytics, incrementality, and media mix modeling.
- Dynamic install attribution technology to prevent double charging during retargeting and improve user experience.
- Solutions for rising ad channels like CTV and PC & Console.
- One-click integration with a vast network of partners to pace up your integration process.
Thus, Apptrove’s feature-rich toolkit allows mobile app marketers to track every dollar and maximize the overall marketing ROI.
Who Needs an MMP?
Investing in an MMP is the best decision an app marketer can make because they get access to real-time and accurate insights, enabling them to make data-fueled decisions for business growth.
Let’s look at the teams that will benefit from Apptrove by their side.
Teams That Benefit from Apptrove
- App Marketing Team
Apptrove allows app marketers to fuel their marketing engine and ensure full-funnel measurement and growth. As a marketer, you gain a complete overview of campaign performance across every partner and channel.
Further, you uncover hidden insights into the customer’s lifetime value. This helps in making informed decisions as to where to allocate the marketing budget.
Deep linking lets you personalize the customer journey and reach the right audience with the most relevant message.
With Apptrove you can combat app fraud by staying ahead of the evolving threats. With our one-click integration, you can also integrate with global partners (500+ partners) and data ecosystems. Apptrove streamlines collaboration amplifies your reach, and unlocks new opportunities for strengthening your partnerships. - Data Interpreters
With Apptrove, app data interpreters can bridge the gap between strategies and actionable insights.
If you are into data interpretation, Apptrove’s real-time analytics can transform your data into a strategic advantage. Our full-customizable reports and anti-fraud shields maximize your app’s revenue potential at every stage from acquisition to conversion.
Our full funnel measurement suite allows you to track customer touchpoints across the funnel. You can identify bottlenecks early and understand cohort behavior.
Save time by delivering reports directly to your preferred BI tool while unlocking hidden insights in raw data. Apptrove eliminates the scope of generalizations.
- Product Team
Understanding customer behavior is key to making data-driven product decisions. The product team benefits from an MMP as it offers mobile product analytics to equip them with gleaning actionable insights. This allows them to create exceptional in-app experiences that foster loyalty and drive revenue growth.
The lack of visibility with traditional product analytics leads to missed opportunities for improving engagement and retention. Apptrove allows product teams to personalize their user experience and address pain points before they impact revenue.
Further, product analytics bridges the gap between teams by offering a unified view of user behavior. It also allows teams to export real-time raw data reports to their preferred BI, product analytics platform, or cloud storage solution. This eliminates the data silos.
The granular insights shared by Apptrove can be used to segment users based on their behavior and in-app actions, thus building a foundation for improved and personalized experiences.
- Analytics Team
Apptrove allows the business intelligence and analytics teams to effortlessly stream data into their existing systems. Using predictive modeling and analytics they can examine historical data related to campaign performance, transactions, and user behavior and predict future actions.
All these insights enable them to optimize resources by nipping the poorly performing campaigns in the bud and doubling investments in the ones that contribute to revenue growth.
- Customer Retention Team
Apptrove offers in-depth insights into retention and churn rates, allowing the retention team to improve user LTV and keep the churn low. You can monitor granular data as to why users are abandoning the app, enabling you to take corrective action to improve your in-app events and experiences.
How MMP Scores over In-House Software
Choosing between in-house software and MMP is by far one of the toughest questions companies face. In this section, we have shared information that will help you make a decision.
There are various reasons why choosing an MMP is a wise choice.
- Proven Expertise
An MMP is known to have expertise in helping app marketers navigate the demanding digital marketing landscape. The features of this platform are designed to help marketers with everything they need to make their app a success.
For instance, the audience segmentation feature by Apptrove allows you to reach the right audience with the right message. You can target desired cohorts (as per acquisition source, region, and device) and suppress the least-promising users while ensuring data privacy.
On the other hand, an in-house solution is resource-intensive, involving skilled developers and tools. A company is better off diverting resources elsewhere and leaving the task to an MMP. - Continuous Updates
The mobile marketing landscape is forever changing, and apps need to be adaptable to succeed. MMPs understand this and regularly update the platform to meet changing demands, thereby ensuring compatibility with the latest technologies and methods.
A robust MMP is always one step ahead of the industry trends, thereby giving you a competitive edge.
This wouldn’t be possible with an in-house solution as the development team will need to work in shifts, studying the market dynamics and modifying features accordingly. They will find it difficult to develop a one-and-done mobile app analytics solution. - Affordability
Why would you invest in building another software when you can rely on the exceptional features of an MMP? Once you sign up for an MMP you know precisely what you will pay each month, offering you total control over your marketing expenses. There are no hidden costs
This reduces the initial outlay involved in developing an in-house software product. Other ongoing costs also need to be considered like periodic maintenance charges. Small and medium-sized businesses often work on thin margins. Hence, working with a third-party MMP can be a big perk. - Robust Data Security and Privacy
Usually, businesses are skeptical about relying on a third-party provider as they are concerned about whether or not they follow the data privacy regulations. With Apptrove you can focus on building exceptional apps, knowing that your data is secure.
We use industry-standard encryption to safeguard your information, both in transit and at rest. We adhere to international privacy standards prescribed by reputed regulatory bodies such as GDPR and CCPA.
Moreover, MMPs are well-versed in the evolving cybersecurity threats and have built-in features to handle critical data. Thus, you can be confident that there will be no data breaches. - Exceptional Customer Service
Apptrove is dedicated to helping its clients succeed. Hence, they offer a dedicated account manager who is an expert in offering prompt assistance, invaluable insights, and tailored solutions to your problems.
Moreover, our team’s round-the-clock availability ensures that you navigate the complexities of mobile measurement effortlessly.
Top Considerations When Making a Decision
Here are a few considerations when choosing between an MMP and an in-house solution.
- Size of the Business
Smaller and medium-sized companies will find to profitable and feasible to invest in an MMP while large businesses may have the resources to build an in-house solution. - Long-Term Strategy
If your business aspires to be agile and quickly adapt to the changing trends of the mobile domain, you must count on the expertise of a mobile measurement partner. - Level of Data Sensitivity
Businesses with increased data sensitivity and privacy concerns may opt for an in-house solution. However, choosing a robust MMP that’s better equipped to maintain strict control of sensitive data, use industry-standard encryption, and adhere to regulations can help achieve this goal.
Checklist Before Integrating an App with MMP
Opting for an MMP is a profitable business decision when it comes to mobile app tracking and optimizing mobile app performance.
Before making a decision and integrating your app with an MMP, check for these features along with their significance.
So, when you talk to prospective MMP brands, here are a few questions that you must ask before making up your mind.
- How user-friendly and comprehensive is the dashboard?
The MMP you choose must offer accurate and granular insights, thus allowing you to allocate budget wisely and optimize your app performance. You and your team will be using the MMP daily; hence, you need to ensure that the platform you choose should have a highly intuitive and user-friendly interface. - Does the MMP offer advanced cross-device and channel attribution?
In today’s era of multi-channel mobile advertising, an app marketer needs to accurately measure their campaign performance. For this, you need an MMP that attributes, collects, and organizes app data, thus delivering a unified view of the campaign performance.
Make sure the MMP you choose can measure and attribute the impact of a marketing campaign across multiple channels and devices. This will help you maximize ROI and allocate resources effectively. - Does it have advanced deep link capabilities?
Customer experience is a multi-faceted journey as the funnel passes through mobile web, SMS, emails, social media, QR codes, and more. Each engagement is unique and hence you need an MMP with an exclusive deep linking suite that enables you to create seamless experiences.
Hence, you need to opt for a platform that offers dynamic deep links for each campaign and partner. It should also offer advanced retargeting unilinks for experiences across platforms and channels. - How robust are its integration capabilities with ad networks and major SRNs?
Complex customer journeys mean complex mobile measurements with a variety of tools. Hence, you need an MMP that possesses extensive integration capabilities.
The MMP you choose should easily integrate with your CRM, existing ad networks, analytics tools, and any other platform you are using. This will not just save you time and effort but also ensure a smooth data flow across your entire tech stack.
For instance, check if your MMP has SKAdNetwork integrations as this will allow you to attribute SKAN campaigns accurately.
Here’s a quick checklist of integrations that you choose MMP should offer.
- Does it offer robust iOS14+ measurement?
The MMP you invest in should allow easy Applescape tracking while keeping privacy at the forefront of your tracking efforts. Make sure you go for a platform that gives you a clear picture of the performance without delays or data duplication.
For instance, with Apptrove’s real-time SKAN Analytics, you can map user journeys and identify bottlenecks in the conversion funnel. Its dedicated dashboard for SKAN Analytics allows you to measure KPIs, optimize ad spend, and compare channel performance.
Thus, you can track activity across each touchpoint, from impressions to installs, thus ensuring accurate iOS app attribution. - What fraud detection and protection features does the MMP offer?
The MMP you choose should ensure data security from the first click. It should be equipped with anti-fraud shields that detect fraudulent behavior and ensure you pay for authentic conversions.
Apptrove offers customizable anti-fraud shields for partners and channels, thereby securing your data. It also offers additional validation rules to tackle new-age fraud tactics. With our automated email alert, you can track all campaign and partner KPIs effectively. - Does the MMP adhere to the regulatory requirements?
Handling end-user data responsibly and prioritizing user trust is critical to your app’s reputation and success. Hence, you must opt for a privacy-forward MMP that adheres to international privacy standards, thus keeping your data safe wherever you operate.
Apptrove constantly invests in industry-leading data privacy practices and strives to adhere to privacy standards like GDPR, CCPA, and more. - How prompt is their customer service?
An ideal mobile measurement partner should offer the necessary support and guidance needed to track customers along the user journey. Select a platform that is known for its quick response time and problem-solving capabilities.
When you onboard with Apptrove, a dedicated account manager will listen to your issues and craft a fitting solution to manage them. We also offer 24/7 support to help you with your app management and measurement needs.
With Apptrove you can level up your app marketing as it offers these and more features to propel your campaigns.
Summing Up
Selecting a suitable MMP for your app can be an overwhelming experience. The right MMP will have an intuitive analytics platform and impeccable anti-fraud features that can help you make quick and smart decisions. It offers real-time analytics on both aggregated and cohort data on the dashboard, offering complete user-level visibility.
If you are looking for a perfect mobile measurement partner to optimize your campaigns, talk to our team. Apptrove can help your app grow at scale while assuring that your user data is protected. Talk to our sales team now to take control of your mobile marketing efforts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an MMP?
An MMP is a third-party platform that attributes, collects, and organizes app data and delivers a comprehensive view of the campaign performance.
Modern apps generate huge volumes of data across various ad networks. Hence, it can be pretty overwhelming for app marketers to point to the channel, media source, publisher, or campaign that is generating the most/ least conversions.
In such cases, an MMP (full form, a mobile measurement partner) offers an unbiased view of the attribution, allowing marketers to offer credit to the most effective channel.
Thus, an MMP allows app marketers to measure their ROI on marketing efforts and allocate their resources wisely.
How does an MMP work?
An MMP usually offers an SDK (software development kit) code that can be integrated in the app. The SDK attributes installs and post-install events to the most deserving acquisition source or campaign, thereby offering granular performance insights to marketers.
Once you connect with the MMP, it allows you to track campaign performance through events, such as installs, to determine where users come from.
Why do I need an MMP?
All app marketers managing campaigns or paying a third party to deliver installs, traffic, or any in-app action need an MMP to accurately attribute the conversions.
To ensure that your money is being spent on the most effective channels, an MMP offers important insights into which source is driving the most conversions. The platform offers an unbiased view of the performance, allowing you to make an informed and profitable decision.
You need an MMP as it –
1. Allows you to track data that’s otherwise inaccessible in ad networks.
2. To save time aggregating, collecting, organizing, and reporting data across platforms.
3. To improve your return on ad spend (ROAS).
4. To get a grip on fraud by leveraging real-time monitoring, machine learning, attribution modeling, blacklisting, and data validation achieved by an MMP.
5. To overcome the in-built limitations of Google and Apple analytics – these platforms do not offer accurate attribution to the source.
How to choose an MMP?
When choosing an MMP you need to consider factors like ease of integration, number of partner integrations, lightweight SDK, easy-to-use dashboard, fraud protection capabilities, customer support, and more. Though each of these factors is critical in saving your time and resources, we would give increased weightage to the platform’s security features.
Apptrove, for instance, offers anti-fraud shields that detect abnormal user behavior and install rates, allowing app marketers to pay for authentic conversions only. Our automated email alerts allow effective tracking of campaigns and partner KPIs.
Will an MMP reduce my churn rate?
Of course! An MMP not only reduces churn rates but also contributes to mobile user acquisition strategies.
The platform offers necessary granular data for optimizing the app marketing strategy, thus contributing to more app installs and user engagement. It tracks user engagement metrics like the interaction with app features, frequency of app use, and length of sessions, all of which are critical for understanding the reasons for churn and employing the right efforts to set it right.
Can an MMP be easily integrated into my existing marketing tools?
Yes! Apptrove can be effortlessly integrated with other measurement platforms, email platforms, CRMs, data management platforms (DMPs), and more.
How is an MMP different from the traditional analytics tools?
An MMP offers granular insights into app attribution using campaign performance and user behavior metrics. On the other hand, traditional platforms track website interactions, like website traffic and user behavior on web pages.
