Temporary Attribution for Short-Term Campaign Measurement

Temporary attribution presents a new and effective way to measure short-term campaigns. In the Adjust Dashboard, you can now define a specific time frame in which to attribute or reattribute users to an ad. When that time is up, the attribution can fall back to organic or to the last attributable source. Like this, marketers and user acquisition (UA) managers can now instantly and accurately measure the impact of time-sensitive messaging on conversion and engagement.

A new level of attribution

Attribution usually matches a user to a single ad source at a time. This means that source gets credit for the install and all following events. Then, if a user is retargeted and converts from a new source, that new source is attributed for all subsequent events.

Temporary attribution works slightly differently. When a user engages with an ad and installs the app, there is a set time period in which Adjust attributes in-app activities to that ad engagement. Once that time expires, we attribute further in-app activities to the last eligible source of attribution or to Organic.

Get the most out of temporary attribution

There are a number of ways in which this new, flexible approach to attribution can be used, from re-engagement campaigns, seasonal promotions, product release promotions, and A/B testing. Explore the scenarios below to see how you can leverage temporary attribution.

Time-sensitive campaigns

Temporary attribution is a powerful tool for any short, incentivised campaign where you want to judge your ROI and engagement for the specific timeframe the campaign runs.

For example: Your eCommerce business runs a 1-day flash sale and you want to measure the sessions and revenue this campaign drives. Users’ in-app activity a week after the sale is not relevant to the campaign.

Re-engagement “cannibalization”

Temporary attribution can prevent “cannibalization” of re-engagement campaigns from regular UA sources. Cannibalization can happen when re-engagement campaigns happen very quickly at a fast cadence.

For example: Your food delivery service runs a series of micro-campaigns. These need to be measured properly, but standard attribution logic requires a user to clear both inactivity and reattribution windows. This can lead to reattributions cannibalizing other UA sources.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is the cornerstone of building new strategies, but it can be difficult to measure new campaigns, creatives, or attribution settings without skewing a user’s overall LTV.

With temporary attribution, you can run A/B tests by “resetting” the user’s attribution for a set period of time. This lets you test different strategies and campaign set-ups, without affecting the integrity of your dataset.

Ready to try out temporary attribution for yourself? Head over to our Help Center for information about how to get started.