Measuring conversions: How to display the profitability of mobile advertising

How can we still figure out the profitability of a campaign if we can’t measure these conversions directly?

Google Analytics and in-app advertising

For the past two years it has been common knowledge that Google Analytics is unable to measure conversions which have originated from in-app advertising. There are two known reasons for this.

Reason 1: Google Analytics is incapable of receiving a referral from apps and even some mobile websites. Because of this, traffic from apps and some of these mobile websites are registered as ‘direct traffic’.

Reason 2: Many users that have seen a mobile advertisement, don’t necessarily click on the banner right away.Instead, they visit the advertiser directly via a browser or via (Google) search.

In the case of search, the users click on either organic results or search engine ads, resulting in the conversion being attributed to either one of these channels. Along with this, it often occurs that this process takes place on a ‘second screen’. A tablet, desktop PC or laptop for example. The user is engaged through the mobile device, but decides to visit the advertiser later on a larger screen.

What if there are no tracking solutions, how can you still show the mobile campaign’s effectiveness?

Isua Botman from Targetoo Mobile Marketing offers advice for dealing with such issues or challenges: "With some of the recent in-app campaigns we’ve ran, including those for Unibet, de Mandemakers Groep and the Persgroep, there were no alternative tracking solutions available.

"However, we still managed to prove the effectiveness of the campaigns. How? By switching our mobile campaign off for a few days and switching it back on. Almost instantly after we switched off the campaign, we could see a major drop in traffic and conversions based on their analytics data’.

Analysis of SEO and SEA

To demonstrate the success of in-app campaigns, Targetoo analysed organic and paid search for each of these campaigns. In the graphs below, the results of organic search and paid search are displayed along with the amount of impressions generated by Targetoo.

1. Organic

2.AdWords

3. Impressions and clicks Targetoo

The campaign shown here was active from 27 May until 13 June. Targetoo paused the campaign between 3 and 8 June. From 9 June the campaign continues and a lot more impressions are being delivered.

During the campaign we can see constant results of both SEO (1) and SEA (2).

However, when we temporarily pause the campaign, we can see a significant impact and decrease in conversions coming from organic and paid search. When the campaign continues on 9 June we can see a clear increase in conversions coming from organic and paid search. This indicates that the effect of an in-app campaign most definitely has its impact on conversions and visitors to the advertiser. The impact of an in-app campaign is therefore not only to be judged by direct conversions and clicks on the banner, but also by looking at the impact it has on the overall performances of SEO and SEA.

Isua Botman, founder of Targetoo added: ‘These are the best moments, when we compare data afterwards and notice the correlation between the campaign and the results."

It's important to note that Unibet, de Mandemakersgroep and the Persgroep all made the same conclusion as Targetoo. These statistics can be requested from Targetoo if desired.

Remon Pepers, managing director, Targetoo