“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”.
This is a go-to mantra for every marketer. If you’re not measuring or monitoring your campaigns then you’re most likely throwing your hard-earned money down the drain.
When it comes to launching a digital campaign, one of the top perks that marketers love is the ability and freedom to track their campaign at each step. The ability to track what’s working, what’s converting, the return on investment on ad campaigns, how to optimize the campaign, or change the approach for meeting the desired outcomes.
That’s where marketing attribution tools come in handy.
Marketing attribution tools makes the complex landscape of digital marketing less daunting by helping the marketers to analyze their overall marketing campaigns by tracking the TG at every step of the buyer’s journey.
The marketing attribution tool collects data on customer touchpoints typically by using the cookies, tags, or UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) code. After collecting the data, the tool uses it for attribution analysis which then determines the roles of each point of the buyer’s journey to the final conversion.
Morden or newly developed attribution tools mainly use a multi-touch attribution model which gives a broader perspective on the overall customer journey instead of just providing the data of first-or-last touch attribution model, singular or limited touchpoints.
Running an online ad campaign without the right digital marketing attribution software puts you at a constant risk of your marketing efforts going to waste.
How to evaluate/ select the right attribution tools for your business?
Measuring and monitoring the digital ad campaign is the inevitable necessity, but figuring out the most suitable suite to do the task is where the real pain begins because you’d be eventually spending to measure your spendings on your campaigns. Result matters, and so is money.
While every business or niche has its market and different requirements, there are a few universally helpful points to look out for while selecting the right attribution tool for your business:
1. The number of integrations the attribution tool has: The more the integrations, the better.
2. The variety of the covered devices by the tool: Depending on your business model and requirements, you would want to prioritize specialized tools that cover particular devices (mobile, TV, desktop, etc.) over generalized ones, or multichannel attribution tools.
3. Features and functionality: Are the features of that tool aligning with your end goal? A few commonly looked at features in an attribution tool are- Omni-channel/multichannel reporting, separate reporting for each channel, identification of high-value leads, etc.
4. Usability of the tool: You wouldn’t want the tool to behave like a rocket-science right? Look for a tool that is easy to learn, easy to maintain, and with good back-end support from the team.
5. The security of your data: The tool will have the end-users’ data, and any compromise with that sensitive data might have some serious consequences. Make sure to read the terms and conditions of the tools, and how it works.
Advertisers ought to spend time considering all these factors before choosing a digital marketing attribution software so that they can reap the full benefits out of their marketing efforts.
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Top 5 marketing attribution tools
Now that we have a basic understanding of a marketing attribution tool, let’s have a look at the top 5 app attribution tools that we have listed based on their popularity and their features and will let you decide which one suits you best.
1. AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer is a leading mobile attribution tracking platform that helps marketers track their app- installs. AppsFlyer will help you optimize your app-install campaigns and attribute conversions to the channels you’re promoting your product on, including apps stores, Facebook & Google ads, TV, email, or organic traffic. It acts as a hybrid that connects app installs and performance back to the marketing campaigns. It is one of the best attribution tools to track ap installs out there.
Top features:
- Measures and attributes Omni-Channel Engagement in a mobile.
- Integrates in real-time with leading ad networks.
- Comprehensive ad spends data to keep a track of every penny you’re spending across channels.
- Enables a multi-layered approach for 360-degree protection from mobile fraud.
- Provides universal deep linking to help brands boost conversions by creating better user journeys across every digital touchpoint.
- Syncs the overall attribution data with the internal data platforms on request, i.e Excel, BI Systems, Analytics platforms.
Pricing:
AppsFlyer is a paid marketing attribution tool, and the pricing of the tool varies according to the plans. You can take the free-trial version of AppsFlyer and then upgrade your plan.
Find the pricing detail of AppsFlyer from the following table. The pricing of AppsFlyer has been taken from the official website of AppsFlyer, please check the website before taking any plan.
| Zero | Growth | Enterprise |
| Free | 6¢ / conversion | Custom |
AppsFlyer User Ratings (based on reviews across the internet):
- Ease of use- 8.5/10
- Quality of Support- 8.7/10
- Ease of Setup- 7.7/10
Conclusion: If you’re a large or medium-sized enterprise with a heavy monthly budget and looking to track your app install campaigns from one centralized dashboard then AppsFlyer might be the best attribution tools to track ap installs for your business.
2. Branch
Branch is one of the top mobile attribution tools that supports cross-channel and cross-platform attribution with contextual deep links. Branch provides a holistic view of various user touch points and ensures that links take the user to the right place on the website or native app.
One of the best things about Branch is that it helps brands determine the effectiveness of their marketing efforts- both paid and organic.
Top Features:
- Enables contextual deep-linking which stores contextual information about the user behavior that helps brands build personalized features to increase the retention time on the app.
- People-based attribution gives brands the power to connect touchpoints from every channel with conversion on any platform.
- Provides Influencer Analytics which can help brands build and measure referrals- without any promo codes.
- Content Analytics gives an overview of the content’s performance and helps in building personalized feed for users.
- Fraud Protection and prevent wasted spends.
- Surface the app content in Google when searched and tracks the performance of the same.
Pricing:
Branch is a paid marketing attribution tool, and the pricing of the tool varies according to the plans. You can take the free-trial version of Branch and then upgrade your plan.
Find the pricing detail of Branch from the following table. The pricing of Branch has been taken from the official website of Branch, please check the website before taking any plan.
| Launch | Enterprise |
| Freemium (Overage fee of $5 (per additional 1k MAUs) applied for each product line) | Custom |
Branch User Ratings (based on reviews across the internet):
- Ease of use- 8.5/10
- Quality of Support- 8.2/10
- Ease of Setup- 7.7/10
Conclusion– If you are a business owner, startup, mid-market, or enterprise looking to supercharge the growth of your app from various linking platforms then Branch is the best tool for you.
3. Sizmek Ad Suite
Sizmek Ad suite is a multichannel marketing attribution tool that is used to create, distribute, customize, measure, and optimize ad campaigns. Sizmek offers multiple options for creating ad creatives and helps the brands collect data of each individual’s buying patterns and deliver the right messages at the right time on the right content platforms.
Top Features:
- Allows the creative teams to build ads on the platform with the help of HTML5 ad builder.
- Enables the brand to maintain ownership of their campaign data and gain valuable custom insights for campaign optimization and media planning.
- Enables video campaign measurement across desktop, mobile, and connected TV.
- Provides real-time optimization to the media and creative strategies.
Pricing:
The pricing of Sizmek ad suite is quote-based, where both SMB and enterprise pricing depend on the number of users that are going to be involved in it.
To get your quote, contact the company on its official website.
Conclusion: If you’re an SMB or an enterprise looking for a hub multi-channel attribution tool that will allow you to have control of every bit of your campaign from designing the ad creatives to having an insight on your campaigns, consumers, content, creative, and cost, then Sizmek is the best tool for you.
4. Neilson DAR
Neilson Digital Ad Ratings is a comprehensive attribution tool that allows you to build reports on audience profile and gross rating point metrics for the campaigns running across all digital screens; Computer, Mobile, Connected devices, etc.
Top Features:
- It provides thorough reporting on the audience, reach, frequency, and GRP for every campaign with a breakdown report based on demographic (age and gender), publisher, and placement.
- It’s the first digital advertising solution that provides a true cross-platform view of your digital audience across digital screens as well as TV.
- Applies multiple audience qualifiers and provides creative type breakouts, and invalid traffic filtration.
Pricing:
The pricing of Neilson DAR ad suite is quote-based, where both SMB and enterprise pricing depend on the number of users that are going to be involved in it.
To get your quote, contact the company on its official website.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for a comprehensive tool to measure your audience demographics and understand the trends of how the audience builds over the life of the campaign then Nielsen DAR may be the best best attribution software for you.
5. VAST
VAST stands for video ad-serving template that provides a holistic way for advertising data to be fetched from ad servers and delivered to the video layers, independent of any technology.
Here’s the compiled data of all the platforms considering the points that we have discussed and our clients’ preferences:
You can weigh the pros and cons of each of these app attribution tools and decide for yourself which aligns with your requirements and preferences best.
