Why Mobile Marketing Platforms matter and how to use them

Hari Jimenez
Nov 17
3 min read

Introduction: Why Mobile Marketing Platform Attribution Matters

Picture this scenario...

You invest $50,000 in advertising for your new app...

There’s a surge in installs — but you’re clueless about whether those installs originated from:

Facebook Ads
Google Ads
And it is all attributed to organic traffic

This is the nightmare of marketing without attribution.

Attribution is what tells you which campaigns, creatives, or channels are driving actual users. Without it, you’re flying blind, wasting money, and guessing what works.

The good news? Setting up proper attribution doesn’t have to be complicated. By the end of this guide, you’ll understand the basics of app attribution and know exactly which tools to use to get started.

Step 1: Choose the Right Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP)

A Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) is your app’s analytics backbone.

It tracks installs, in-app activity, and conversions across all marketing channels, giving you one unified view of performance.

If you run ads across multiple platforms — Meta, Google, TikTok, Apple Search Ads — an MMP tells you which source actually drove a specific install, trials, purchases, and more.

Two top-tier MMPs that dominate the industry are:

Adjust
Appsflyer

Both serve as your “single source of truth” for marketing performance. Choosing one depends on your budget, tech stack, and data needs

And if you aren't sure, just pick an MMP and test it out.

Mini Takeaway: Your MMP is your truth source. Without it, campaign optimization becomes guesswork.

Step 2: Understanding Adjust MMP Attribution Reporting

In my experience, Adjust provides one of the most comprehensive platforms for mobile attribution. Here’s what you’ll find inside:

Datascape: Your all-in-one visualization hub for measuring event attribution and campaign impact, and in it you'll find:
- All Reports: Create custom reports for any app, campaign, or metric. This is a marketer’s favorite spot for detailed analysis.
- Insight: An add-on tool that helps you measure the incremental value of your marketing — essentially showing what would (or wouldn’t) happen without campaigns.
- Dashboard: Pre-built reports for User Acquisition, Monetization, SKAN, Cohorts, and more.

Dashboard - Prebuilt Reports Definitions

User Acquisition: shows how you are attracting new users through paid or organic marketing.
Monetization: how you are generating revenue from ads, subscriptions, or in-app purchases.
SKAN (SKAdNetwork): data report hub for Apple’s privacy-centric framework for measuring ad performance.
Cohorts: Groups of users segmented by shared characteristics like when they installed the app or what date they purchased.
Protection: a place where you can set rules and filters for data coming from different app stores and channels.

Mini Takeaway: Adjust’s “All Reports” is your go-to for custom, channel-level insights — helping you identify which efforts are paying off.

Step 3: Understanding Appsflyer MMP

Appsflyer is another leading MMP trusted by marketers worldwide for its flexibility and powerful dashboards.

It comes with many more pre-built dashboards than Adjust, which is more of a customizable tool. I’ll highlight the key features of the dashboards that matter most on Appsflyer.

Key Features

My Dashboards: A collection of pre-built reports that Appsflyer provides to all users, you will need to make sure you configure your SDK and settings to see any data.

Marketing Overview: Provides a high-level snapshot of all campaigns, installs, and revenue.
Single Source of Truth (SSOT): Unifies data from SKAN (Apple) and probabilistic attribution into one clear measurement system, it is a potential solution solving the “data discrepancy” problem between SKAN and AEM/ADC data..
Performance Analysis: Deep-dive into specific channels, creatives, and user journeys.

Useful Concepts

Activity View: Shows installs, sessions, and other in-app activity metrics over time.
Owned Media: Refers to channels you control directly — like email, push notifications, or organic reach.

Mini Takeaway: Appsflyer’s “My Dashboards” helps you see your entire marketing funnel in one place — ideal for tracking renewals, subscriptions, and user lifetime value.

Conclusion: Turn Data into Direction

Mobile Marketing Platform Attribution is your marketing GPS. Once you know where your installs and conversions come from, you can stop guessing and start scaling with confidence.

Whether you choose Adjust, Appsflyer, or a different MMP, the most important step is to pick one. Even a basic setup gives you visibility into what’s driving real results.

Attribution tells you where your users are coming from.
MMPs are essential for measuring installs and post-install events accurately.
Adjust offers deep customization for data reporting.
Appsflyer provides unified, cross-platform dashboards that simplify analysis.
Setting up attribution early ensures you don’t waste ad spend and can confidently scale campaigns.