This talk for the London dojo@500 Startups in February 2016 covers common tracking pitfalls when using ads on mobile web, in-app and app-to-app and how to solve them. More in more blog article here: https://medium.com/@Daimo/3-biggest-mobile-ad-tracking-pitfalls-explained-how-to-avoid-them-c38f9b8bfb9

1. 3 biggest Mobile
Advertising & Tracking
pitfalls
… and how to avoid them.
1

2. Why should I care about MOBILE?
2
38.5%
52.4%
62.6%
67.4%
68.6%
69.9%
$19.2bn
$30.5bn
$42.0bn
$50.8bn
$58.0bn
$65.5bn
$0.0bn
$10.0bn
$20.0bn
$30.0bn
$40.0bn
$50.0bn
$60.0bn
$70.0bn
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
US Mobile Ad Spend
% of Digital Ad Spend Mobile Ad Spend (bn)
Note: includes classified, display (banners and other), rich media and video), email, lead generation, message based and search advertising; ad
spending on tablets is included. Source: eMarketer, September 2015

3. Why should I care about TRACKING?
3
• Understand the true return of your investment 💸
• Understand your customer’s journey 📲
• Enable channel-based, personalised remarketing 👲👳👮
• Make yourself (and your boss) look good* 😎
*only applicable in non-startup environments

4. We’ll look at 3 scenarios
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Mobile Web to
Mobile Web
In-App to
Mobile Web
In-App to
App Store or In-App

5. 1 Advertising on Mobile Web
5
Cookie gets
dropped
(USER does NOT
need to CLICK)
Prospect visits a website
with your banner.
Prospect goes to your
website: Cookie “fires”
again and calls-back
ad server
<2 years
!! Unless ad
blockers are used !!
• UK ad blocking grew by 82% to reach 12m active users in 12 months.
• Mobile blocking is gaining popularity: Android shows a 2.24% blocking rate, and iOS 1.33%. Source:Internet
Advertising Bureau
(IAB) UKAd Blocking
Report (2016)

6. 6
HAPPY DAYS!!!

7. 7
… if there was no Safari

8. The BIG exception: Safari (desktop & mobile)
On Safari, 3rd party cookies are blocked by default. 😱
Implications:
• User does click on your ad: Cookie will be dropped, all good 😎 .
• User does not click on your ad: Cookie will not be dropped, unless:
• i) the user has visited the ad server’s domain before e.g. by clicking on
another ad using the same ad server OR
• ii) the cookie is from the same domain as the one that’s requested (typically
a First-Party-Cookie)
8

9. The BIG exception: Safari
9
Prospect visits a website with
your banner on Safari [iOS or
desktop].
Prospecthas NOT
been to your ad-
server’sdomain
before AND does
not click.
Prospect CLICKS
on your ad OR has
previously been to
your ad-server’s
domain
Prospect goes to your
website: Cookie (only for )
“fires” again and calls-back
ad server
<2 years
1
2
2

10. Safari: 34% of world wide mobile traffic!
54%
7%
5%
17%
17%
34%
% of Worldwide Mobile Traffic by Browser
10
Estimated
Tracked /
Untracked

11. 2 ‘In-App Advertising’, sending users to
your website
11
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Prospect sees your in-app
advertising (e.g. on Facebook).
Cookie gets dropped
for In-App Browser
Session only
(only for Click,
no view-through
tracking)
Website opens in
In-App browser,
user performs
action.
Only for
session
duration!
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Estimated
leakage:
30%!

12. 12

13. 3 ‘In-App Advertising’ sending users to your
app (or download)
13

14. ‘In-App Advertising’ sending users to your
app (or download)
•No 🍪 ‼
• Instead: unique identifiers passed between publisher <->
mobile app tracking solution
I. Your mobile device’s unique ID.
Android = Google Advertising ID (Google AID or AAID)
iOS = Identifier for Advertising (IDFA or IFA)
Windows = Windows Advertising ID (Windows AID)
II. Unique Click IDs
14

15. 15
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Prospectsees your
in-app advertising
(e.g. on Facebook).
On click,
user triggers
specific
tracking link
(or there’s a
backend
connection,
e.g. with FB)
User goes directly to
app if installed or
App/Play Store
14
days
max
Mobile attribution
platformreceives
click & device ID
All following
tracked user
activity is attributed
to FB campaign
If post-back enabled, attribution platform sends info back
to publisher (for reporting and media optimization).

16. Summary & Solutions: Web to Web
At least 17% tracking leakage due to
Safari
• Serve ads from your domain (First-Party Ad
Serving) to solve problem entirely
• Consider running more prone to click ads
(direct response) before running awareness-
focused advertising (to “unlock” view-
through tracking
• if you can, try to avoid Safari, especially on
desktop.
(not mentioned: Adblockers) 16
Mobile Web to
Mobile Web

17. Summary & Solutions: App to Web
Only Post-Click & for In-App Browser
Session – at least 30% leakage
• Simplify mobile web flow to capture *some*
information about your prospect e.g. email &
follow up later
• Generate sense of urgency (limited time) &
scarcity (limited amount) to get prospects to
convert in-session
17
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In-App to
Mobile Web

18. Summary & Solutions: App to App
App to App, cookie-based tracking
doesn’t work at all from app to app. 🤖
• Use a mobile attribution solution e.g.
Adjust, Tune, AppsFlyer, Branch.io (free)
• Integrate SDK of each of your paid
networks e.g. Google Adwords SDK,
Facebook, Twitter. Mind no deduping,
different timeframes etc!
18
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1000s of £ on adver t ising?
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In-App to
App Store or In-App

19. QUESTIONS?
19

20. 20
Thank you!
Johannes Radig
🖥 growth-consultant.com
✉ ️ johannes@growth-consultant.com
@joradig