Mobile measurement partners (MMP) are a crucial component of a business, helping mobile marketers better understand and measure their brand’s campaign performance. In order to excel with your mobile app in the market, making data-driven choices are key. Hence, user acquisition measurement will help keep track of your efforts and ensure that these pay off.
With the help of MMP attribution, app marketers can accurately analyze key metrics, such as user acquisition, installs, app engagement and conversion rates, making it easier to manage budget relocation, and to understand what medium is performing best.
Drawing from industry professionals, and relevant facts and figures, in this guide we take a deep dive into the inner workings of mobile measurement platforms and how they can benefit the app analytics side of things when it comes to your mobile app.
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What is a mobile measurement partner (MMP)?
A mobile measurement partner, or mobile attribution, provides a bigger picture of the mobile advertising campaign. Consider them the middleman between your mobile app and all the other marketing and analytics tools, who pinpoints the money-making sources, including the mediums that aren’t performing so well. This provides marketers the opportunity to tweak their marketing strategy accordingly and improve the app’s performance overall.
Mobile attribution tools typically use tracking features that give a thorough breakdown of the user journey and conversion funnel, and an impartial overview of mobile attribution, helping app marketers understand the ROI of their marketing campaigns, and how to further enhance their strategies.
MMPs use a variety of technology to measure and attribute mobile events for brand marketing campaigns on the largest platforms. Marketers are then able to see how successful their campaigns, ads, creatives and messaging were in terms of profitable action, with the ability to dissect the data into several layers and dimensions.
In essence, mobile measurement partners not only provide special access to backend data, but they also offer rich and combined data that reveals insights for further optimization and growth.
The top mobile measurement partners
Mobile measurement partners are third-party attribution platforms that help app developers and advertisers track the performance of their mobile campaigns. These partners allow advertisers to measure user acquisition, in-app events, and revenue generated from their ad campaigns, as well as provide insights into user behavior.
We’ve listed the best mobile measurement partners below.
1. Branch
Branch is a mobile measurement and deep linking platform that helps app developers drive user engagement, retention, and revenue. The platform provides deep linking solutions that allow users to transition between web and app content.
Developers can create customized onboarding experiences and personalized referral programs to increase their user retention and drive growth. Branch also provides real-time analytics and attribution data to help developers make data-driven decisions and optimize their marketing campaigns.
Overview
Branch Metrics was founded in 2014 by Alex Austin and Mada Seghete. The company was initially focused on creating a solution for deep linking on mobile devices but has since expanded its offerings to include referral tracking, user onboarding, and analytics.
Branch has raised over $330 million in funding from investors such as Founders Fund, New Enterprise Associates, and Playground Global. The company is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and has offices around the world.
Services
Branch provides its customers with the following services:
- Provides a deep linking solution that allows users to seamlessly transition between web and app content. This ensures a smooth user experience and can help increase user engagement and retention
- Referral tracking solution allows developers to create customized referral programs that incentivize users to invite their friends to use the app. This can help increase app downloads and user retention
- User onboarding that enables developers to create customized onboarding experiences for new users. This increases user engagement and retention by providing users with a personalized experience
2. Kochava
Kochava is a mobile attribution platform that helps app developers and advertisers measure the performance of their mobile campaigns.
The platform provides real-time analytics and attribution data that allows advertisers to track user acquisition, in-app events, and revenue generated from their mobile ad campaigns. Kochava also offers a range of measurement solutions that help advertisers optimize their campaigns and target the right audience.
Overview
Kochava was founded in 2011 by Charles Manning, a mobile technology veteran with over 20 years of experience in the industry. Manning founded Kochava with the mission of providing a more transparent and accurate way for advertisers to measure the performance of their mobile ad campaigns.
Since then, the company has grown rapidly and now serves some of the world’s leading app developers and advertisers. Kochava is headquartered in Sandpoint, Idaho, and has offices around the world, including in New York, San Francisco, and London.
Services
Kochava provides its customers with the following services:
- A mobile attribution solution that allows advertisers to track user acquisition, in-app events, and revenue generated from their mobile ad campaigns. The platform provides real-time analytics and attribution data
- Their fraud detection solution helps advertisers detect and prevent fraudulent activity in their ad campaigns. The platform uses a range of techniques to identify and block fraudulent traffic
- Kochava’s audience targeting helps advertisers target the right audience for their mobile ad campaigns. The platform provides insights into user behavior and allows advertisers to create customized audience segments
3. AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer is a marketing analytics platform that helps app developers and advertisers measure the performance of their ad campaigns.
The platform offers a range of measurement and optimization solutions that help developers optimize their campaigns (and improve their overall user engagement). Notable features include fraud detection, audience segmentation, deep linking, and push notifications.
Overview
AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 by Oren Kaniel and Reshef Mann. The company has expanded its offerings to include a range of marketing analytics and optimization solutions.
AppsFlyer has raised over $300 million in funding from investors such as General Atlantic, Qumra Capital, and Goldman Sachs. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has offices around the world, including in Tel Aviv, Beijing, and Bangalore.
Services
AppsFlyer provides its customers with the following services:
- Push notification solution allows advertisers to send targeted push notifications to users based on their behavior and preferences. This can help increase user engagement and retention
- A range of analytics tools allow advertisers to track user behavior, measure user acquisition, and analyze revenue generated from their campaigns
- Provides insights into user behavior and allows advertisers to create customized audience segments based on user demographics
4. Singular
Singular is a mobile attribution platform that helps advertisers optimize their ROI by combining attribution with cost aggregation to unlock marketing performance for each campaign.
Top features of Singular include fraud prevention, audience segmentation, deep linking, and push notifications. The platform is used by some of the world’s leading mobile app developers and advertisers, including Lyft, Rovio, and LinkedIn.
Overview
Singular was founded in 2014 by Gadi Eliashiv and Eran Friedman. Singular has raised over $50 million in funding from investors such as Norwest Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Thomvest Ventures.
The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has offices around the world, including in Tel Aviv, Moscow, and Bangalore.
Services
Singular provides its customers with the following services:
- Marketing automation solution allows advertisers to automate their marketing campaigns and optimize their user engagement and retention strategies
- Singular’s creative optimization solution helps advertisers optimize their ad creatives to improve engagement and increase conversions
- Provides API access for developers and advertisers to integrate the platform with their existing workflows and systems
5. Airbridge
Airbridge is a mobile measurement platform that offers a range of optimization solutions and provides excellent customer support to its clients, with a dedicated customer success team available to answer questions and provide guidance.
Top features of Airbridge include fraud detection, audience segmentation, deep linking, and push notifications. The platform is used by some of the world’s leading mobile app developers and advertisers, including Kakao, LINE, and Coupang.
Overview
Airbridge was founded in 2018 by Ravi Mehta and Seonghoon Kim. The company is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and has offices around the world, including in San Francisco and Tokyo.
Airbridge quickly gained traction in the mobile marketing industry, and the platform has raised over $11 million in funding.
Services
Airbridge provides its customers with the following services:
- Easy to integrate with other mobile marketing tools and platforms, such as ad networks, attribution partners, and analytics providers
- In-app messaging solution allows advertisers to send targeted messages to users based on their behavior and preferences
- A/B testing enables advertisers to test different variations of their ad creatives, messaging, and targeting to optimize their campaigns and improve performance
Why do I need a mobile measurement partner?
Monitoring mobile app performance can be a complex task that usually requires advanced tools to identify the core factors that are determining the success of the app. Mobile events, such as user behavior can tell you what needs improving, testing or removing so that time and budgets are invested into analytics wisely.
When looking at app development benchmarks, the cost of just a simple app development can range between $16,000 to $32,000, with more complex development processes amounting to $72,000 and over. Furthermore, hiring a US app developer can cost approximately $150,000 a year. So, you need to know where your budget is going and how it is distributed and spent, especially when you are investing a great amount into your mobile app.
Even if your mobile app is making significant revenue, if you cannot tell which medium is generating such high conversions, or from which sources users are clicking through to your site, and who these users are, this can create an issue when trying to sustain these wins. This is where MMPs come in and make mobile marketing easier for you.
What are the advantages of mobile measurement platforms?
Mobile measurement platforms are useful for marketers that want to monitor performance on multiple ad networks. They enable users to get a deeper understanding of how their campaigns are playing out across networks, with the ability to compare each of them as well.
The data that MMPs deliver that are usually not accessible in various ad networks are, for example, customer life value (CLV), ROI, conversion rates and third-party MMP attribution tools. When your mobile app enters the competitive market and starts to achieve high growth and visibility, you want to go beyond the generic analytics tools and partner with MMPs that will help provide more insights into the mediums and sources of each and every install.
MMPs surpass the limitations monitoring tools by allowing marketers to attribute the click sources to an app install, including any in-app events that occur after the app has been downloaded. MMPs also verify the performance of each publisher, saving time and resources, and knowing which are the best performing platforms to invest more in.
Evaluate and optimize your campaigns, and compare cross-platform performance to ensure long term success of your marketing efforts when working with mobile measurement platforms.
Understanding now how MMPs work will be worth it in order to make the right decision when choosing the partner for your mobile app. So, let us take a look at the process of MMP marketing.
How does MMP advertising work?
MMP advertising uses technological advances and certifications to provide insightful performance and attribution data that are essential for app growth. Mobile measurement partners typically offer a Software Development Kit (SDK), which is to be installed into your mobile app in order to link any engagement activity, including app installs and other in-app events.
The SDK attributes key performance metrics to the source and medium, and to the marketing campaign they originate from, allowing marketers to get a granular insight into where users are coming from, how they interacted with the app, and which creatives won them over.
Here are some of the several core capabilities that a typical MMP includes:
- Measuring and reporting on performance across multiple channels, including mobile apps, SMS, referrals, ad networks, and email, with the help of an open integration method
- Monitoring and analyzing specific ROI metrics throughout customer journey, with mobile attribution
- Preventing ad fraud and investing ad budgets wisely, identifying real users with fraud detection methods
- Segmenting audiences with effective tools in order to draw actionable insights from the data
In essence, mobile measurement partners provide marketers the ability to get a deeper understanding of their campaign performance on all platforms as well as cross-platform data that will inform the further growth of their mobile app. The key features include accurate attribution, customer lifetime values, and more.
How do I choose a mobile measurement partner?
Now that we understand how an MMP works, and the core capabilities they include to help mobile marketers excel in their campaigns, let us dive into how exactly to choose the best MMP.
When making your decision on the top mobile measurement partner to work with, there are key factors to keep in mind along the selection process.
Data security and privacy
These features are important and need to be prioritized with any vendor that has access to your customer’s data. Marketers must make sure the MMP is an independent and impartial referee that isn’t misusing your data whilst measuring attribution.
Fraud detection and prevention
A well-established mobile measurement platform will offer extensive market intelligence when it comes to detecting and blocking ad fraud, or any fraudulent activity for that matter.
An impartial platform will be dedicated to maintaining a fraud-free monitoring system, removing the invalid sources and mediums. This will ensure you receive genuine ROI metrics that you can work with to improve your campaign performance.
Data accuracy
The absence of comprehensive data and multi-touch attribution (MTA) will lead to limited insight into your customer journey, and, therefore, to most likely inaccurate decisions around your campaign. That is why accurate, real-time data and cross-channel attribution are essential features for a top MMP.
The right MMP will be able to deliver a wide range of valuable, clear insights that are easily accessible and to maintain.
User experience
Mobile measurement technology can be very complex to set up and maintain in order to create a stable and accurate platform with a pleasant user experience. And any decision you make for your business, including the kind of MMP you choose to partner with, will be highly impactful in the longer term.
So, a solid mobile measurement platform that comes with a loyal customer base and full-fledged resources will support the growth of your mobile apps, including its needs.
Below we have compiled a list of the top mobile measurement partners. Consider the criteria that we have presented above when selecting the platform for your business, and see how they take your mobile app to further heights with the best players out there.
