Measurement & Attribution https://s34035.pcdn.co/category/measurement-attribution/ Kochava Wed, 27 Mar 2024 23:13:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://s34035.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/favicon-icon.png Measurement & Attribution https://s34035.pcdn.co/category/measurement-attribution/ 32 32 Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) Is Having a Moment https://www.kochava.com/blog/marketing-mix-modeling-mmm-is-having-a-moment/ Tue, 26 Mar 2024 19:28:29 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=52738 The post Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) Is Having a Moment appeared first on Kochava.

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Enhancements to MMM make it a powerful tool for advertisers as privacy regulations evolve

As data and user privacy concerns continue to mount, advertisers are facing unprecedented challenges in collecting, analyzing, and utilizing customer data for targeted advertising. With consumers becoming more aware of their privacy rights, regulations like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) framework have put strict limitations on data collection and usage.

It’s against this backdrop that marketing mix modeling (MMM), a practice that goes back more than half a century, is resurging as a powerful methodology to help marketers optimize their advertising strategies without overreliance on the one-to-one, device-level attribution data of last-touch attribution, the model that has dominated programmatic advertising. In this post, we explore how MMM works, the benefits of MMM, and how it has evolved to become essential for advertisers making key, data-driven decisions in a privacy-conscious world.

Marketing Mix Modeling

What Does MMM Stand For?

Known as marketing mix modeling or media mix modeling, MMM is a statistical data-analysis methodology that gives marketers a better understanding of the optimal mix of marketing strategies across media channels to positively impact sales and other key performance indicators (KPIs). MMM seeks to take into account all advertising channels—print, social, and online advertising (e.g., search, display, video) as well as offline channels.

How Does MMM Work?

Marketing mix modeling relies on aggregate data from marketing and non-marketing sources gathered over an extended period of time. Typically, a minimum of three or more months of historical data (ideally 12+ months) are necessary to reach data significance and account for seasonality shifts. This large volume of data is used to create an accurate demand model to give marketers insights into the most effective channel strategies and forecast the best omni-channel allocation of future ad spend for greatest impact and return on investment (ROI). From these insights, marketers can adjust ad spend allocation across channels and partners for future optimization.

Seems a little abstract? Let’s look at an example.

A CMO at a major fintech company wants to zoom out from granular campaign- and creative-level performance reporting to capture the bigger picture. The CMO’s goal is to understand the incrementality of ad spend across channels and overarching performance peaks and valleys throughout the year. They work with an MMM platform and after plugging in historical data are able to arrive at new recommendations for how much to spend across channel partners at different times of the year. The marketing director and UA manager now can reallocate spend across their various channel partners to drive better incrementality and reduce unwanted oversaturation on any given channel.

Collect, model, analyze, and optimize

And that’s essentially MMM—collecting and processing a lot of data, then presenting it at a high, aggregated level so marketers can glean broad insights into advertising effectiveness, transcending individual outliers and skewed averages.

A Brief History of MMM

Marketing mix modeling is not new, but a marketing approach that has been utilized for decades. MMM took root in the 1950s and ’60s when marketers recognized the need for systematic approaches to measure and predict the relative impact of various marketing activities on sales. At the time, traditional media channels, including television, radio, and print advertising, dominated the landscape, and marketers customarily relied on basic tracking methods like surveys and sales data to evaluate and model their approaches. Iconic campaigns such as “Pepsi Generation” (1963), a persuasive lifestyle-brand initiative that targeted young adults, and McDonald’s “You Deserve a Break Today” (1971), which invoked convenience and an escape from routine, incorporated early MMM principles in their analysis of the interplay of elements such as advertising, pricing, and promotions and their relative impact on sales and customer behavior.

Early MMM pioneers faced challenging limitations in the computing power and data availability needed for this more complex marketing framework. As technological advancements in the 1980s enabled highly sophisticated methods of quantifying the effects of marketing variables, MMM came to full fruition. Over the next couple decades, MMM experienced a heyday. In particular, multinational consumer goods and food and beverage companies such as Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola, with their vast marketing resources, widely deployed intricate data-driven marketing analytics.

As digital marketing evolved in the early 2000s, MMM largely took a back seat to direct-response attribution modeling, which relies on user-level interactions on websites and mobile apps. Unlike MMM aggregated data, attribution data is inherently granular—useful for marketers in focusing their efforts on specific users and customers via direct response marketing. This approach facilitates insights derived from customer-level engagements, enabling marketers to drive creative optimization, A/B tests on messaging and creatives, and other personalized marketing tactics tailored toward unique persona profiles.

In recent years, however, MMM has seen a renaissance owing to the data processing and analysis potency enabled by AI and machine learning. Companies and their marketing teams have adopted the advanced analytics and predictive insights afforded by MMM to fuel growth. At the same time, recent developments in user privacy and data use have eroded the availability of granular, user-level attribution data. As a result, marketers are relying more on aggregated data and rediscovering the potential of MMM to inform their marketing strategy. MMM enables them to optimize budgets across channels while respecting privacy policies.

How MMM Is Evolving to Help Advertisers

With the revival of marketing mix modeling, how marketers interact with it has evolved to support the dynamic needs of today’s user acquisition teams. In the fast-paced digital advertising landscape, quarterly or semiannual MMM reports are quickly outdated and lack actionability. Traditional MMM is time-consuming and laborious to manage, making it accessible only to large organizations that have the resources to maintain it in-house or the budget to outsource it.

While historically only such corporations have been able to afford fully leveraging MMM, automated data flows, cloud computing, and machine learning have made MMM more accessible, accurate, nimble, and easily updated. Cutting-edge software as a service (SaaS) next-generation MMM solutions, now accessible to companies of all sizes, have been developed to fit the needs of today’s advertisers. AIM (Always-On Incremental Measurement) by Kochava, a real-time MMM tool, maximizes the effectiveness of the marketer’s budget by providing advanced control over incrementality, channel saturation, and seasonality. AIM utilizes a sophisticated learning system that ingests new data daily and continuously updates and enriches its models. This always-on approach ensures that the insights it produces never go stale and are always ready to use—providing marketers who must make confident decisions with turnkey recommendations for optimized budget allocations.

Brain connected to devices

As user privacy continues to weave itself throughout the adtech ecosystem, next-generation MMM tools will become increasingly indispensable for advertisers in determining the effectiveness of their omni-channel media strategy.

The Conclusion on Marketing Mix Modeling

Next-generation MMM is at the forefront of a marketing revolution, offering actionable recommendations for data-driven decision making in an increasingly privacy-conscious adtech landscape.

Have questions or want more information on AIM and MMM? Check out our Marketing Mix Modeling 101 ebook and explore even more helpful content in the AIM Resource Center.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on industry trends.

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Precision-Tailored Lift Measurement Solutions for Marketers https://www.kochava.com/blog/precision-tailored-lift-measurement-solutions-for-marketers/ Wed, 24 Jan 2024 17:39:58 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=52330 The post Precision-Tailored Lift Measurement Solutions for Marketers appeared first on Kochava.

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Whether you are an advertiser or a publisher, Kochava has your lift needs covered

The multifaceted realm of digital advertising technology is a tale of two entities: advertisers and publishers. While both are engaged and intertwined within the same ecosystem, each has distinct perspectives and challenges as well as goals and strategies. Let’s take a look at some of these.

Advertisers vs. Publishers

Advertiser Viewpoint

  • Values volume and overlap of impressions and influences
  • Needs to gauge overall contribution and value of publishers

Advertiser Objectives

  • Identify which platforms or mediums yield the highest conversions
  • Navigate the maze of ad spend efficiency
  • Assess the true incremental impact of campaigns

Publisher Viewpoint

  • Wants to account for every impression they serve
  • Needs effective measure for ads while respecting privacy constraints
  • Must optimize targeting strategies and ad placements continuously and dynamically

Publisher Objectives

  • Demonstrate value and contribution to advertisers
  • Maximize the value of each ad impression
  • Stay relevant and competitive in an increasingly saturated market

Both entities, while operating in the same space, have diverging viewpoints and requirements. With powerful tools for measurement and optimization tailored to each group’s distinct needs, Kochava is unique among mobile and omni-channel measurement providers in profoundly understanding this intricate dynamic.

Kochava’s Suite of Incremental Lift Products

MediaLift™

Utilizes consented device-level datasets to formulate a control group, modeling an audience likely to view a particular ad.

  • Ideal for: advertisers deciphering lift from varied media sources; publishers aiming for superior evaluation toolkit
  • Superpower: Delivers comprehensive insights 7 to 10 days post campaign, can assess wide spectrum of media, and offers integrated, cross-channel view
  • Granularity/Insights: Lift due to media on installs, post-app-install conversions and footfall visitation; insights by creative or tactic, reach, and frequency
  • Required Inputs: Exposure and conversion with timestamps, 30 days of pre-period conversions
  • Ideal Media: OOH/DOOH, CTV/OTT, linear
  • Delivery: Comprehensive study and underlying workbook
  • Feasibility: Requires higher volume of data
  • Level of Effort: More intensive at outset
Foundry graph

RDiT (Regression Discontinuity in Time)

Uses time series regression to highlight conversion impact of initial ad impression.

  • Ideal for: advertisers and publishers interacting with platforms like DSP or SAN and needing prompt, insightful feedback
  • Superpower: Offers insights within rapid 2-day turnaround, enabling profound understanding of early impressions, a critical element for shaping effective campaigns
  • Granularity/Insights: Assesses lift from first ad impression to conversions, split by various categories such as creative, campaign, ad set, and more
  • Required Inputs: Exposure and conversion with timestamps
  • Ideal Media: AdTech DSP, SANs, CTV/OTT platforms
  • Delivery: Periodic, recurring reports
  • Feasibility: Suitable for lower data volume
  • Level of Effort: Relatively low
RDiT (Regression Discontinuity in Time)

AIM (Always-On Incremental Measurement)

Leverages machine learning to build real-time dynamic models.

  • Ideal for: advertisers trying to improve their attribution signal in the wake of evolving privacy policies, as this next-gen marketing mix modeling tool uses only privacy-first data
  • Superpower: Analyzes cost curves to identify areas where marketing efficiencies can be maximized and inefficiencies minimized; measures the impact of offline media on digital sales
  • Granularity/Insights: Spend recommendations focusing on contribution of each publisher at network, publisher, and campaign level
  • Required Inputs: Daily cost and conversions by app/network/geo
  • Ideal Media: DSPs, SANs, and any platform with aligned real-time cost and conversions
  • Delivery: Interactive dashboard within UI; full reporting API
  • Feasibility: Higher initial data requirement, minimal thereafter
  • Level of Effort: Initial setup requires more effort, largely self-running thereafter
AIM (Always-On Incremental Measurement)

Always-On for Publisher’s Suite

Offers continuous (daily to intradaily) insights and adjustment modeling to neutralize prior impression biases.

  • Ideal for: publishers aspiring to pioneer in evolving CTV marketplace
  • Superpower: Crafted especially for emerging connected television (CTV) domain, guaranteeing that publishers remain at forefront of innovation
  • Granularity/Insights: Similar to RDiT but constantly updated, ensuring removal of prior-impression bias
  • Required Inputs: Exposure and conversion with timestamps
  • Ideal Media: Specifically crafted for CTV
  • Delivery: UI, integrated platform, and postback systems
  • Feasibility: Works well with lower data volume
  • Level of Effort: Generally low

Find the Best Tools for Your Needs

The modern advertising landscape is intricate, with advertisers and publishers alike requiring tools honed to their distinct challenges. Kochava, with its unique understanding of the ever-evolving AdTech landscape, offers precision tools tailored for every nuance. Whether you’re an advertiser seeking ROI clarity or a publisher aiming to showcase your value, we equip you with industry-best tools for harnessing actionable insights for optimal decisions. Welcome to the future of ad measurement and optimization!

Interested in learning more? Contact us for a free consultation and product demo.

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The Future of Attribution and the MMP of Tomorrow https://www.kochava.com/blog/the-future-of-attribution-and-the-mmp-of-tomorrow/ Tue, 25 Apr 2023 17:32:01 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=48558 The post The Future of Attribution and the MMP of Tomorrow appeared first on Kochava.

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Increased complexity in advertising measurement cements the importance of the MMP

AdTech is evolving at an alarming pace, accelerated by privacy-focused initiatives that upend longstanding norms of how user and device data is transacted – making it more and more difficult for marketers to measure the true impact of their ad spend. Mobile measurement partners (MMPs) have long been entrusted as stewards of data across the AdTech ecosystem, and as measurement has become more complex, MMPs have pressed onward, innovating to adapt to the many changes and challenges that have arisen. The goal of the MMP is to provide advertisers with actionable, directional insights they can use to continue making the best decisions with their ad dollars.

Kochava has been forging the way for advertisers since 2011. With attribution science progressing toward a more complicated aggregation of smaller disparate data sets, requiring the application of complex math, we too continue to evolve into a future-proofed, MMP of tomorrow.

Complexities of modern attribution

Yes, modern attribution has become increasingly complex and will no doubt increase in complexity in the future. To really understand where attribution is headed, it’s important to look back on where it started.

Attribution used to be fairly straightforward. An impression or click occurred, and a conversion resulted, giving advertisers a simple one-to-one connection to understand which media exposure contributed to which conversion.

historic attribution model

While this type of attribution is still in use in a number of scenarios, a renaissance of privacy-focused initiatives has led to a new era of privacy-first attribution that’s no longer one-to-one, but cohort-based and anonymous by design. This is leading to an increasing number of cohorts of aggregated signals needing to be reconciled and/or balanced with record-level activities of first-party data, all while making the bigger performance picture clear and understandable for the marketer.

current attribution model

It’s no small task, but MMPs are uniquely positioned to meet this need by managing the integrations, aggregations, and complex math to give marketers the best possible insight into the performance of their spend.

Apple largely spearheaded the privacy-first attribution revolution with their introduction of the AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) framework with iOS 14. The ATT framework essentially placed traditional one-to-one advertising attribution behind a user opt-in wall. At the same time, they launched the second version of SKAdNetwork, a privacy-enhancing technology that offered an anonymous and privacy-first approach to measurement that did not require opt-in. 

In 2024, Google is set to follow with their roll-out of the Privacy Sandbox for Android, which in many ways could be likened to SKAdNetwork for Android, although there are plenty of differences. While these privacy shifts play an important role, the lack of cohesive policy and implementation make it increasingly important for advertisers to work with an MMP that can help guide them through the complex web of attribution depending on channel, platform, region, and other variables.

Cross-platform measurement is a top focus in 2023

According to a recent study by the IAB, 55% of respondents cited cross-platform measurement as their top focus for 2023.

Kochava helps marketers navigate cross-platform measurement complexities with solutions that provide turnkey attribution and data handling across the various privacy layers that exist, at the platform/OS level, the publisher/network partner level, and the government regulation level.

Kochava and Privacy-Enhancing Technologies graphic

Throughout the omni-channel marketing landscape, Kochava operates on many layers of measurement methodologies that can be applied to extract performance insights for the marketer while staying in line with the complex web of privacy-first policies.

Kochava layers of measurement and attribution

To learn about the finer details of how Kochava operates across these layers and ways you can leverage them in your omni-channel measurement strategy, contact us for an expert briefing.

Optimizing your media mix modeling insights

Media mix modeling (MMM), also called marketing mix modeling, is becoming more and more essential as user privacy enhancements challenge marketers to find new ways to arrive at the performance insights they can use to optimize their spend. With MMM, the data collected from marketing and non-marketing sources is used to build a demand model that can be analyzed to determine the impact marketing has on overall conversions and business outcomes. With these insights, marketers can adjust their spend and optimize performance from a more holistic vantage point.

Kochava recently acquired Machine Advertising, whose Always-on-Incremental Measurement (AIM) platform, is a next-generation marketing mix modeling tool. AIM maximizes the effectiveness of the marketer’s budget by providing advanced control over factors such as incrementality, channel saturation, and seasonality. 

The more traditional approaches to MMM quickly become outdated without regular updates, making it time-consuming and requiring skilled resources in order to manage. This often made MMM a laborious exercise that only large organizations had the resources to maintain in-house or the budget to outsource externally. AIM is different in that it’s a sophisticated learning system that ingests new data daily and continuously updates and enriches its models. The always-on approach ensures that the insights it produces are always accurate, up-to-date, and ready to use – providing its users with turnkey recommendations for optimized budget allocations.

This is accomplished through a top-down measurement approach that leverages aggregated and anonymized data, as opposed to the bottom-up path of an MMP that traditionally relies on granular, row-level data. AIM works further down the measurement spectrum by starting with market-level aggregated data to analyze media effectiveness and then continues down the funnel to provide more granular actions to inform budget allocation by media partner.

AIM and MMP measurement spectrum

These two methods feed into each other to help marketers improve processes and campaign performance. Utilizing AIM in conjunction with any MMP ensures that all aspects of the measurement spectrum are addressed and provides usable data to better inform buying decisions. 

As a prerequisite to the use of the AIM platform, you will need aggregated cost data by app, country, network, and day. Most MMPs offer cost aggregation tools, and the AIM platform can work with any MMP.

For marketers utilizing Kochava, Kochava Cost provides cost aggregation with data connectors to ingest cost metrics across all of your omni-channel partners. If you’re a current Kochava client and aren’t using Kochava Cost but have an interest in MMM, be sure to contact your Client Success Manager or email support@kochava.com about implementing cost measurement.

Preparing for the future of attribution

The future of attribution is already here; Kochava is continuously innovating and adapting to evolve along with the ever-changing advertising ecosystem. 

In preparation for Google’s Privacy Sandbox release in 2024 and the depreciation of MAID, Kochava is participating in Google’s beta testing. With only a year to go, advertisers should coordinate with an MMP that supports SKAdNetwork and will also be able to ensure their success on the future of Android.

Looking forward, Kochava will unify all aspects of modern attribution into one highly effective insights layer spanning omni-channel integrations, varying degrees of performance data aggregations, and juggling the complex math necessary to deliver a sensible read on your campaign outcomes.

Kochava modern attribution solutions

Helping today’s marketers prepare for tomorrow

MMPs are no longer last-touch measurement houses. For years, Kochava has been supporting fractional attribution, hosting the data that brands use to drive their own in-house media mix modeling, and performing one-off incrementality studies. The policy changes across major players have forced the industry to adapt, and as an MMP that prioritizes innovation, we’re ready to accept the challenge and help marketers thrive. 

Stay up-to-date on the latest in AdTech and news from Kochava by subscribing to our newsletter.

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Influencer Marketing and Campaign Measurement https://www.kochava.com/blog/influencer-marketing-and-campaign-measurement/ Mon, 16 Jan 2023 16:38:08 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=47967 The post Influencer Marketing and Campaign Measurement appeared first on Kochava.

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Audience Size Does Matter, but Not in the Way You Think.

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which brands work with individuals who have a significant following on social media or other online platforms to promote their products or services. The most valuable commodity in this dynamic is not the influencer, but their fan base. Built over time through common interests, content, or humor, these audiences are loyal and often consider the influencer as a trusted source of information. This relationship is continually fostered through perceived authenticity, expertise, and relevance. These factors are the driving force behind a brand’s campaign reach. By targeting a specific audience through an influencer, they can increase brand awareness, build credibility, and boost conversions.

Types of influencers

Influencers are commonly split into four tiers by follower count. Those tiers are: mega, macro, micro, and nano. Choosing the right kind of influencer will help a brand effectively reach and engage with its target audience. On the other hand, choosing the wrong influencer can be detrimental to a brand’s reputation and may not deliver on the campaign’s objectives or goals. A recent study conducted by IZEA found that 62% of people would be more likely to trust a sponsored post from a social media influencer than an A-list celebrity. This emphasizes the importance of choosing an influencer that best represents your brand’s interests.

Mega: 1 million+ followers

Mega influencers are often celebrities or people who’ve become celebrities due to their presence on social media.

Macro: 100,000 – 1 million followers

Macro influencers are slightly better equipped to engage with followers than mega influencers and yet still boast broad audience reach.

Micro: 10,000 – 100,000 followers

Micro-influencers have smaller audiences which offer even more opportunities to engage with fans. This group of influencers usually has more narrowly defined niches than mega and macro influencers.

Nano: >1,000 followers 

Nano influencers have the lowest counts of the bunch. Despite this, they’re highly authentic, and their content is usually the most targeted to a specific niche. Their engagement rates with followers tend to be the highest of all the influencer types.

Niches

Influencer niches have highly specialized pieces of content curated by the influencer for their audience. Typically, the smaller the influencer is, the higher the chances are their social platform or online identity is heavily invested in a niche. These specialized spaces can vary widely, and there are influencers in virtually every niche imaginable. When it comes to selecting a face for your brand’s campaign, it’s important to choose one that is relevant to your target audience, their interests, and the products or services you offer. 

Common niches include:

influencer niches

Marketing strategies

You’ve picked an influencer that perfectly matches your campaign goals; now what? Your campaign will launch to a pre-built audience, it’s no doubt that they’ll see your content, but how do you engage them? Luckily, this unique form of marketing includes equally unique opportunities for engagement. Here are some tried and true campaign ideas:

  • Sponsored social/blogs
  • Social media takeovers
  • Giveaways & gifts
  • Brand ambassadors

Influencers and mobile apps

When looking to quantify the impact of influencers on driving installs and engagement with your mobile app(s), mobile analytics and attribution take center stage. As a mobile measurement partner (MMP), Kochava offers a host of tools to capture influencer-driven user acquisition and reengagement across any channel. SmartLinks is a flexible deep linking solution that enables marketers to create and distribute measurable linking experiences through links, quick response (QR) codes, and custom landing pages that influencers can easily integrate into their content. Kochava’s attribution and data science modeling are tried-and-true methods for calculating the true influence of social influencers. With the use of these techniques, what was formerly an intangible marketing tactic is now quantifiable.

To measure the effectiveness of an influencer marketing campaign, it’s important to establish clear goals and metrics beforehand. Some common metrics to consider include: 

  • Reach: How many people have viewed the influencer’s content?
  • Engagement: How many people liked, commented, or shared the influencer’s content?
  • Conversion rate: How many people who interacted with the influencer’s content engaged in the desired action (e.g., purchase, newsletter subscription)?
  • Return on investment (ROI): How much revenue was generated from the campaign compared to its overall cost?

These are the questions that should serve as indicators of the performance quality of your brand’s campaign. An influencer’s large reach may be enticing at first glance, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a high conversion rate. Compare that to the rate of engagement and ROI, and you should have a comprehensive understanding of the quality of your campaigns.

Quality over quantity

It’s also important to consider the quality of the engagement rather than just the quantity. For example, if an influencer has a high number of followers, but their content doesn’t receive many likes or comments, it may not be as effective as an influencer with fewer followers but higher engagement. 

There are several tools available that help track and measure the success of an influencer marketing campaign, such as social media analytics tools and marketing automation software. It’s important to choose the right tools and metrics for your specific campaign goals and objectives.

The future of influencer marketing

As social media is fluid in nature, it’s difficult to predict the exact future of influencer marketing, as it will largely depend on various factors such as technological advances, changes in consumer behavior, and shifts in the marketing landscape. However, some trends that are likely to continue or emerge in the future of influencer marketing include 

  • Micro-influencers
  • Authenticity & transparency
  • Social media integration

Overall, it’s likely that influencer marketing will continue to evolve and change in the future, but the importance of authenticity and genuine relationships with followers will likely remain a constant.

Get Started with Influencer Marketing

Learn everything you need to know about influencer marketing with our free eBook.

Download eBook

The post Influencer Marketing and Campaign Measurement appeared first on Kochava.

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Finding the Right OTT and CTV Activation Partners https://www.kochava.com/blog/finding-the-right-ott-and-ctv-activation-partners/ Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:30:00 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=47738 The post Finding the Right OTT and CTV Activation Partners appeared first on Kochava.

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Explore the largest selection of partners in the industry with Kochava

Marketers everywhere are hearing the call to advertise on over-the-top (OTT) and connected TV (CTV). Targeting and addressability on advanced TV platforms is far superior to traditional linear TV and new technological advances allow for performance marketing measurement.

Additionally, major streaming services that have long ascribed to the subscription video on demand (SVOD) model, are hybridizing their services to introduce ad-supported, lower-priced tiers. This means more ad inventory supply is becoming available, and to fill those slots, platforms and publishers should be lowering their rates to increase demand. 

What better time to explore advanced TV advertising, right?

People watching OTT and CTV platforms

But with so many OTT and CTV growth partners to choose from, it can be hard to determine which  will work best for your advertising strategy and budget. This blog aims to provide you with insights into the many OTT and CTV platforms available and the different opportunities they provide so that you have all of the knowledge you need to choose the right partner.

OTT and CTV buying

It’s important to clarify the different ways ad space is bought and sold on OTT and CTV platforms. Not all platforms approach ad buying the same way and understanding how they work can help you decide which option is right for your marketing needs and budget.

There are two main types of OTT buying: programmatic and direct. Under the direct category, there are platform-direct and publisher-direct, each with their own nuances, so let’s define them.

Programmatic OTT buying

Programmatic buying is the automated, real-time buying and selling of ad space within streaming platforms or on a specific device. Ad placement can be automated with programmatic bidding because of direct relationships between inventory exchanges and other OTT advertising platforms. 

Programmatic buying is typically based on a cost-per-impression (CPI) or cost-per-action (CPA) pricing model. However, it can also use an effective cost-per-mille (eCPM) model because the price for programmatic buying varies so much. Some advertisers are willing to pay more if they want a specific impression.

It is one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways for advertisers to enter the OTT space. Advertisers can target audiences viewing OTT content across multiple services, platforms, and devices, whereas with direct buying, the reach will be limited to a specific publisher or platform. 

Many programmatic OTT platforms support sequential messaging and impression retargeting. For example, a video ad could be delivered on a CTV device, and then the same user could be subsequently retargeted with a mobile display ad featuring a specific call to action. This multi- channel, cross-device targeting can be highly effective in driving conversions.

Direct OTT buying

Direct OTT buying is when advertisers work directly with platforms or publishers to purchase ad space. The price of the ad space is negotiated as well as the placement of the ad, when it will appear, and the length of the campaign.

Unlike programmatic, direct buying is usually fixed because prices are the same regardless of the ad exposure and guarantees ad impressions. Because of this, direct buying is based on a cost-per-mille (CPM) pricing mode, not an eCPM. However, some partners are offering performance-based models based on CPI and CPA, reducing the risk to the advertiser, since they only pay on performance.

Platform-direct buying is when advertisers go directly to major connected TV platforms such as Roku, and Vizio, and buy inventory through the platform’s own exchange. While this is a straightforward way to buy ad space, it limits the campaign to that specific platform and doesn’t allow for cross-platform advertising.

Publisher-direct is when advertisers go directly to the publisher platform like Hulu, Sling,

Paramount+, or Crackle. This allows for more control over ad inventory. However, as with platform direct buying, publisher direct buying limits the advertiser’s campaign to that specific publisher’s streaming service, even if the ad may appear across other platforms and devices where users are streaming.

Programmatic OTT and Direct OTT buying

Campaign activation with OTT and CTV advertising partners

Now that you have an idea of what type of partner you want to use in your next OTT and CTV advertising campaign, you will need to decide how you want to measure that campaign. Choosing a mobile measurement partner (MMP) can be an effective option. An MMP has the knowledge and experience to provide accurate measurement across every campaign, channel, and platform – helping to incorporate your OTT and CTV efforts into the mix with your other omni-channel initiatives. 

Kochava supports the largest footprint of programmatic, platform-direct, and publisher-direct integrations for OTT and CTV campaign activation. 

With so many partners, Kochava won’t hold you back in the way of limited integrations. You have the freedom to drive growth your way and measure it all within one platform.

If you’re already a Kochava customer, contact your client success manager or email support@kochava.com for assistance activating a campaign with any of these partners. If you aren’t a Kochava customer, get in touch with us for a free consultation here.

Attributing cross-screen performance

Think about the call-to-action and conversion goals associated with your performance marketing campaigns on OTT and CTV. Do you want viewers to download your mobile app, visit your website, or download your streaming app through a CTV platform? Whatever the answer is, it’s vital that your measurement partner for OTT and CTV campaigns can support same-screen and cross-screen attribution. An ad for a streaming service may drive the user to download the channel app on the CTV device where they see the ad. Another ad may drive the user to download a mobile app and place an order, or visit a website and perform an action. Kochava attribution supports these different user journey flows from ad through to conversion. 

If your brand or service is present across a host of connected devices, Kochava IdentityLink® can connect the dots between mobile apps, websites, CTV devices and beyond for a complete view into all user touch points.

Kochava IdentityLink devices and households

Are you a publisher or platform offering OTT and CTV inventory?

If you’re an OTT and CTV growth partner, you can seamlessly allow advertisers to measure campaigns run on your inventory with the Kochava Publisher’s Suite. With premium integrations, the Kochava Publisher Suite enables performance marketers to measure campaigns outcomes the way they measure their social and programmatic campaigns. Kochava for Publishers allow you to:

  • Connect the dots between ad delivery and business outcomes
  • Gain premium CPM, CPI, and CPA rates
  • Get credit for conversion your inventory is driving 
  • Allow advertisers to visualize your traffic alongside other channels

Learn more about Kochava publisher tools here.

Getting started

There hasn’t been a better time to break into the advanced TV space. Before you can begin, though, it’s important to find the right OTT/CTV partner to ensure a successful campaign. No matter what type of platform you choose, Kocahva has an extensive roster of integration partners to choose from. 

When it comes to measuring those campaigns, Kochava provides insights across any channel or partner you are using. Ready to get started? Request a free demo here.

The post Finding the Right OTT and CTV Activation Partners appeared first on Kochava.

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Trim Ad Budgets Without Sacrificing Quality Customer Growth https://www.kochava.com/blog/trim-ad-budgets-without-sacrificing-quality-customer-growth/ Mon, 19 Dec 2022 21:27:18 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=47570 The post Trim Ad Budgets Without Sacrificing Quality Customer Growth appeared first on Kochava.

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Discover your media partner’s bottom line value with Incremental Intent

Tumultuous markets, supply-chain bottlenecks, and global instability are causing economic headaches for the industry’s biggest and smallest companies. Despite global advertising spend being predicted to exceed one trillion US dollars by 2026, marketers around the globe are facing an unprecedented challenge: trim ad spend, in some cases by as much as 50%, across the board. Doing this without decimating quality customer acquisition may seem impossible; in fact, the IAB’s 2023 Outlook Survey says that 13% of marketers are no longer budgeting for the long term, and 63% are approaching media planning with a higher frequency of evaluations and re-forecasting due to downward budget pressure and market dynamism. But what if it wasn’t an impossible scenario? What if you could cut user acquisition budgets without losing quality customer growth at an equal magnitude?

Our team of expert analysts has helped marketing teams at the largest Fortune 500 companies take a scalpel to their omni-channel media mix. By applying our proprietary data and incrementality analysis, we help identify and eliminate areas of excess spending while retaining quality customer growth during a period of high inflation. 

The impossible is now possible with Incremental Intent – a Kochava Foundry™ Insights Pack.

WHAT ARE INSIGHTS PACKS?

Insights Packs dispatch a Foundry expert to analyze your unique marketing mix and write a custom report just for you. Receive your analysis as quickly as one business day, including an executive summary with recommended actions, a workbook, and the supporting data used in the analysis. These cost-effective packs require no obligation or commitment to future services and offer a full money-back guarantee if the recommendations do not result in improvements in your performance marketing.

To request more details on ordering an Insights Pack, contact your Client Success Manager or email Support@Kochava.com.

Lead with Intent

Incremental Intent provides an additional layer of visibility into performance and cost, measuring the likeliness a user would have become a customer if the winning attribution had not occurred. It suggests budget allocation improvements that increase your reach for every advertising dollar. 

As a marketer, you know that not every install or customer claimed by a network was impacted by their advertising. With this Insight Pack, you can calculate the offset and optimize your spend toward maximal advertising impact. 

Let’s further explore this concept below. You can also watch Grant Simmons, VP of Kochava Foundry, unpack the power of incremental intent in this video.

How do you decide which network gets the chopping block?

Historically, budget cuts are determined by comparing customer acquisition cost (CAC) between networks. Brands may choose to cut the costs associated with the highest CAC, eliminating that source(s) entirely. Considering this, let’s play out a scenario.

You’ve just been told your ad budget is getting cut, so you compare Network A, and Network B. Network A has a lower CAC of $20, while Network B has a higher CAC of $25. Following simple logic, you would cut Network B and move on with your life. But that decision is not fully informed.

ad budget table

What about the customers from Network B? How much loss of potential revenue are you facing because of your decision? Without that information, your networks with lower CACs in actuality may be costing you more than you think.

Reduce costs while sustaining growth

Incremental Intent’s sophisticated approach involves three main concepts; proximity, intent, and causality. This makes it possible to determine between users that engage with your ad and are likely to become customers versus users that trigger a non-causal conversion.

Proximity x Intent = Causality

Audiences are grouped into two categories: proximity and intent.

smartphone timer
Proximity This correlates to the time from a user’s ad interaction to a conversion response. Incremental Intent analyzes customer groupings across proximity bands to determine reaction rates.
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Intent This corresponds to the user’s interaction with the ad and whether it prompted a conversion response.

Proximity x Intent = Ad Responsiveness

By calculating these dimensions, incremental intent can determine the responsiveness of a user to your ad. Depending on your brand’s markers for success, you can adjust your budget, strategies, etc., accordingly with recommended actions from the Kochava Foundry Insight Pack.

Determining your brand’s quality

Knowing the user’s responsiveness to your ads is only important if your brand has defined its quality. Quality should be unique to the services and skills your brand provides. For example, if your brand is a streaming service, your quality might be “episodes watched.” 

CLTV of high-medium low value customer segment graph

Once your quality is defined, spend can be modified to target more or less of the customers that meet those criteria for quality.

Customer cohorts

The combination of incrementality, quality, proximity and intent produces a range of customer cohorts, helping you clearly see the type of customers your different media partners deliver. Using these cohorts, marketers can identify with what partners and channels they should decrease, maintain, or increase their marketing budget.

Customer cohorts graph
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Influenced Customers within this segment are the highest-performing. This segment demonstrates high quality, proximity & intent, and incrementality. Ad dollars are best spent here.
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Testers Customers within this segment need to be treated with ads to trigger a conversion. This segment shows high incrementality, proximity & intent but suffers in quality.
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Search Customers within this segment are compelled by upper/lower-funnel ads or protected keywords. While this segment can be high-performing, it’s typically over-attributed.
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Organic Customers within this segment have triggered a conversion with your brand without the influence of paid media. With the Incremental Intent tool, your brand can retain organic customers during budget cuts.
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Incentivized Customers within this segment are part of generated traffic. Avoid paying a premium price for traffic by utilizing the Incremental Intent tool.
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Bots This segment contains bad actors and bot farms. Their purpose ranges from generating clicks and impressions to artificially inflating advertising revenue.

Save your bacon with Incremental Intent

Incremental Intent identifies key segments across every network to minimize user loss and increase spend efficiency.

To order the Incremental Intent Insights Pack from Kochava Foundry, contact your Client Success Manager or email Support@Kochava.com.

The post Trim Ad Budgets Without Sacrificing Quality Customer Growth appeared first on Kochava.

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The 5 Pitfalls of Seasonal Marketing https://www.kochava.com/blog/the-5-pitfalls-of-seasonal-marketing/ Tue, 13 Dec 2022 16:15:46 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=47484 The post The 5 Pitfalls of Seasonal Marketing appeared first on Kochava.

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Effective marketing happens all year long

The change of seasons brings with it different holidays, temperatures, activities, and, for a marketer, new opportunities to capture unique audiences. But this is easier said than done. As you formulate your seasonal marketing strategy for the upcoming year, you might be missing the mark on some key approaches.

In this blog, we will highlight five potential pitfalls you might encounter as you prepare your marketing strategy for the new year and ways to course correct before another season goes by.

1. Your timing is off

As the saying goes, timing is everything. And when it comes to marketing, nothing is more important than the timing of your campaigns. Sending out marketing materials too early or too late can have a major impact on the success of your campaigns. If you start too far in advance, your audience might not be ready to purchase your product or service. However, if you wait too long your audience may already be on to the next thing. Finding a good middle ground is key, but that balance looks different for every business.

The vertical your business falls under could help you determine the timing of your seasonal marketing campaigns. For example, tax apps would focus their ad spend between the months of January and April to acquire new customers or reengage past customers, but would spend very little, if anything, during the rest of the year.

On the other hand, ecommerce apps spend a majority of their budget during the holiday season between October and December when many people are buying gifts. While the holiday’s are a very lucrative time for many businesses, marketers are spending a premium on ad space. You could discover that another time of the year is better suited for your marketing spend. Don’t compete at premium rates if you don’t have to.

2. You’re using limited marketing channels

You want your campaigns to stand out but they might not be making the impact you’re hoping for. With seasonal marketing, there’s an influx of advertisements on a variety of platforms. If you’re not utilizing a range of marketing channels, your campaigns might be getting lost in the chaos, and you might not be reaching the audiences you’re hoping to target.

Paid digital marketing on platforms like Google and Facebook is a common and effective strategy. In fact, 68% of marketers say that paid advertising is “very important” to their marketing strategy. However, it shouldn’t be the only channel you advertise on. Other platforms you can utilize include:

  • Social media
  • Websites/blogging
  • Video/podcasts

Most marketers leverage three or four channels so if you’re only advertising on one or two channels, consider adding another one to the mix. Over-the-top (OTT) and connected TV (CTV) have seen dramatic growth in the past few years with millions of viewers across multiple streaming services and a predicted $210 billion media revenue by 2026. While advertising on OTT and CTV platforms might seem daunting, it has proven to be a very effective channel. If you want to explore this ad platform, there are plenty of solutions and tools that can help get you started.

Adding more channels to your seasonal marketing media mix will extend the reach of your advertising and allow you to target different audiences across more platforms.

3. Your communication is inconsistent

Even though you might be focusing much of your ad spend during a specific season, you shouldn’t be focusing all of your advertising during this time. When you don’t communicate with your audience regularly, they tend to drop off and could forget about your business entirely. It costs more to acquire new customers than it does to keep the ones you have. 

You should be reengaging current customers throughout the year to avoid high churn rates and low retention. If there isn’t room in your budget for paid advertising, consider bolstering your own media strategy during the off season. Email, social media, website, and push notifications are just a few marketing channels that could prove to be cost effective and successful.

4. You don’t really know your customers

If you don’t know your customers wants and needs, how can you capture their attention? And if you can’t capture their attention, how can you get them to convert? Understanding your customers is vital to any successful marketing campaign, especially when you’re spending a lot of money during a high selling season.

finance apps user journey

Work on the relationships you have with your customers to gain direct insights into their experience with your product or service. You can do this by:

  • Sending out customer surveys
  • Asking for feedback or product reviews
  • Gathering social media engagement data (eg, likes, comments, shares)
  • Creating robust customer profiles

With this information, you can better understand what your customers find important and what areas in your business process you can improve. From there you can create marketing campaigns that speak to your customers at a more personal level, making them feel seen and valued.

5. You’re not measuring your campaigns

The last thing, and probably the most important, is measurement. If you’re not measuring your marketing efforts or if you’re not using the measurement data you gather to influence your marketing initiatives, you’re probably not getting the campaign results you want.

An easy and effective way to get started with campaign measurement is to work with a mobile measurement partner (MMP) who can help you track, organize, and visualize your data for a unified view of campaign performance across all of your channels, platforms, and partners.

MMPs can help optimize your campaigns even more by ensuring that your attribution data is accurate. Seasonal marketing can be a pricy time for advertising so you want to make sure that any impression, click, or conversion is attributed to the right campaign. MMP platforms like Kochava, allow you to configure your attribution windows so that you’re only paying for conversions truly driven by your campaign partners.

Let us help you avoid these seasonal marketing pitfalls

While the seasons come and go, your marketing shouldn’t. Effective seasonal marketing happens all year long. Avoid these pitfalls and many more by working with us. We can help you identify areas in your campaign strategy that need improvement and provide you with the tools and solutions to maximize your marketing efforts. 

If you want more tips on optimizing your holiday marketing, learn more on our blog.

Get started with Kochava. Contact us or email support@kochava.com. Happy marketing!

The post The 5 Pitfalls of Seasonal Marketing appeared first on Kochava.

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Helping IDT Save Big on User Acquisition Costs https://www.kochava.com/blog/idt-user-acquisition-costs/ Thu, 19 May 2022 22:15:20 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=44228 The post Helping IDT Save Big on User Acquisition Costs appeared first on Kochava.

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CASE STUDY

Helping IDT Save Big on User Acquisition Costs

VERTICAL: Finance and Communication   |   SOLUTION: Measurement & Attribution

TAKEAWAYS
idt case study takeaway
idt case study takeaway
idt

Founded in 1990, IDT helps families and friends share and stay connected across borders. Their BOSS Revolution apps have millions of downloads and enable users to make calls across the globe for free or at great rates and send money with
low fees worldwide.

Challenge

To understand how their mobile marketing campaigns drive new user acquisition (UA), the BOSS Revolution marketing team relies on a mobile measurement partner (MMP). An MMP’s role is to capture their omni-channel marketing data and attribute app installs across their various paid media partners, which informs the cost-per-install (CPI) payouts the team makes to each partner. Due to fluctuations in how customers use their mobile apps, their team needed to ensure that the MMP would deduplicate returning users who may have uninstalled the app for a period of time or went dormant over an extended timeframe.

Case Study IDT V

Solution

While cross-comparing multiple MMP offerings, the BOSS Revolution team chose to implement Kochava due to its support for lifetime install deduplication regardless of their chosen data retention range.
Other MMPs only offered install deduplication in line with data retention, which was limited to 90 days to a 1-year maximum. The resulting percentage of BOSS Revolution’s users that would be reattributed (a.k.a. their buyback rate) was estimated to be anywhere between 15-30%. Based on their average CPI and projected growth, use of the other MMPs would mean facing additional ad spend costs to the tune of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.

mobile marketing campaigns

Impact

Implementing Kochava as their MMP, BOSS Revolution benefited from lifetime install deduplication. By ensuring they would never pay CPI twice for the same user device, their team was able to save 15-30% of their UA budget, ensuring every ad dollar went toward driving true growth.

Mark Franklin

“Our goal is driving net new growth, so it’s essential that we’re not buying back users we already acquired. It gives us great peace of mind knowing this is built right into the Kochava attribution system.”

— Mark Franklin, Director of Digital Marketing, IDT Corporation

Contact Kochava today to see how we can help.

This use case is one example of the impact of Kochava solutions for publishers. Kochava makes no guarantee of individual results.

The post Helping IDT Save Big on User Acquisition Costs appeared first on Kochava.

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Dating App Increases Engagement with Omni-Channel Attribution https://www.kochava.com/blog/dating-app-increases-engagement-with-omni-channel-attribution-case-study/ Thu, 28 Apr 2022 15:57:19 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=43886 The post Dating App Increases Engagement with Omni-Channel Attribution appeared first on Kochava.

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CASE STUDY

Dating App Increases Engagement with Omni-Channel Attribution

VERTICAL: SOCIAL   |   SOLUTION: ATTRIBUTION & MEASUREMENT

TAKEAWAYS
LL Takeaway
LL Takeaway

L&L Creative’s app, GoFlirt, is a dating app that makes it easy to meet new people by connecting with other users nearby. Simply swipe on profiles, see other users who have viewed your profile and chat with anyone at any time.

Challenge

L&L Creative wanted to understand which ad networks were driving the highest quality GoFlirt app installs and better optimize their ad spend to those high-performing networks.

Solution

L&L Creative integrated Kochava Free App Analytics® (FAA) into their GoFlirt app and gained omni-channel measurement and attribution data across their paid media sources. Within the Kochava dashboard, L&L Creative can seamlessly measure campaigns with thousands of different ad networks and publishers with their top attributed networks including Google Ads and Twitter. The performance data captured from these networks can be segmented by geo location, campaign attributes (eg. ad group, creative, keyword, etc.), user retention, post-install engagement, device type and operating system, and many other segmentation filters. The ability to understand user engagement across any cohort of these segmentations enables the L&L Creative team to understand what strategies lead to flirtatious engagement in their app.

LL CaseStudyIMG

Impact

With Kochava as their single source of truth, L&L Creative has a complete view into which ad network partners and marketing strategies drive the most app installers, allowing them to focus their ad spend accordingly. The ability to view all of their media partners in one dashboard helps L&L Creative optimize their user acquisition and increase app installs, with Kochava measuring over 40k installs for attribution in just 30 days.

Contact Kochava today to see how we can help.

This use case is one example of the impact of Kochava solutions for advertisers. Kochava makes no guarantee of individual results.

The post Dating App Increases Engagement with Omni-Channel Attribution appeared first on Kochava.

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Why Mobile App Analytics is Important to Your Business https://www.kochava.com/blog/why-mobile-app-analytics-is-important-to-your-business/ Tue, 25 Jan 2022 15:56:23 +0000 https://www.kochava.com/?p=43283 The post Why Mobile App Analytics is Important to Your Business appeared first on Kochava.

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Monitoring user data is essential for every marketer who wants to compete in the mobile ad industry and track their company’s growth. Free mobile app analytics tools are already being used by many organizations to increase user engagement and traffic. In this blog, we’ll cover all of the essential components of mobile analytics, including how they function, their benefits, and why they’re vital for app engagement and success.

A smartphone with graphs and charts.

What is mobile application analytics?

Analytics for mobile applications is a data visualization tool that helps you keep track of your app’s performance. Using these analytics, you’ll be able to better understand your user’s, improve your app engagement, and achieve your desired outcomes and business goals. Without this data, you could be swayed by assumptions and end up making poor business decisions.

How does it work?

Mobile app analytics consists of user-generated data. Every click and action taken by a user is turned into statistics like app installs, content  views, in-app purchases and can be split by attributes like geo region, language, age, device type, interests, and the amount of time spent using the app.

For example, if you have a mobile eCommerce app, your metrics would be focused on the abandoned checkout process, user-generated inquiries, and overall revenue numbers.

Why is mobile app analytics a necessity?

It’s not a smart idea to keep track of your market presence only by looking at app store ratings and downloads. These metrics and feedback do not capture the full scope of the app experience. 

To get a clear picture of how your app is being used, you need to know how many people have downloaded it and how often they are using it. You need to have a specialized mobile app analytics platform on board to optimize the brand’s value and growth. 

Incorporating business-relevant mobile analytics into your software development process will accelerate the application’s success. These analytics can help your company make better data-driven decisions.

Benefits of mobile application analytics tracking

Optimize Return On Investment (ROI)

The primary objective of the majority of marketers  is to maximize revenue and return on investment. However, gaining sufficient exposure in the app store is a significant hurdle. This is where app analytics may assist you in developing a robust App Store Optimization (ASO) plan that will finally improve your ranking and ROI.

Provide Customized Solutions

Your brand may better understand client preferences by focusing on the correct app analytics. Customization and sales funnel improvement may be achieved by analyzing user behavior and data in the application. You have the opportunity to provide users with solutions that are tailored precisely to their needs.

Gather Reliable Information

Analyzing mobile apps gives you access to real-time information about what your app users want and need. You’ll learn about the most popular features and functions of your app.  Accurately gathering data will help in resolving app issues, scheduling upgrades, and making suitable app improvements.

Enhance Advertising Efforts

If you employ the right app analytics, your marketing team will be able to identify new customers and contribute to product-specific campaign optimizations. Marketing campaigns may target specific groups at the interpersonal level, allowing you to maximize your return on investment.

To provide your clients with enticing services via your app, you must first understand their needs. With mobile app analytics, you’ll be able to increase consumer loyalty to its core.

The post Why Mobile App Analytics is Important to Your Business appeared first on Kochava.

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