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Ask HN: How do I know where my mobile downloads are coming from?

4 points by peterstark ↗ HN
Hi everyone,

Last month, my company launched its first mobile app. The team has been promoting the app all over the place (FB, Twitter, forums, email, Ads, PR, etc). As a result, we have grown to a few thousand users, which is awesome.

The problem is that we have no idea where our users are coming from. We don't know what our most effective marketing channels are. We don't know which marketing campaigns are most effective in bringing users.

How do you deal with this problem? Please list the pros and cons.

Thanks!

18 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 53.9 ms ] thread
farren
I've been using a sort of ghetto hack, so I'm not sure if you want to copy me.

When users land on any of my marketing pages, I cookie them in safari. Then when they open my mobile app, I send them to safari, check if the cookie exists, and then redirect them back to the app. This lets me tie installs back to link clicks.

peterstark
Haha. I've been several apps use that approach before. It is a terrible user experience to flash open the browser each time the app opens. This is not something I can do for my app.
PhotonCannonR
Oh wow, that's actually kind of a clever hack. How quickly can you redirect back to the app? Is there a tutorial on something like this (my Google-fu failed me here)?
germancoder
I question the accuracy because w3.org actually mentions that cookies work differently on mobile devices vs. web. However, if you're only targeting smart phones with full web browsing capabilities like the iPhone or Android (or Win7???) then it should be ok.

Source: http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/#d0e1925

germancoder
Thanks though for sharing this solution. I'll stick around to see if anything new pops up.
PhotonCannonR
Doesn't stuff like Google Analytics do this? At least that's what we use for our websites to track conversions. Don't know if you can do the same for mobile apps...

http://www.google.com/analytics/features/mobile.html

PhotonCannonR
Looked a little deeper. Seems like it might only work for Android then.

"If you're an Android developer, Analytics also gives you the tools to monitor the success of mobile ads for your app. You can track activity from a click on your ad to the Android Market to app download. It's a simple way to determine what marketing efforts are most effective for you."

Nothing about iOS conversions on their page.

PhotonCannonR
BTW, best of luck to you Peter on launching your app!
jamesBB
Might look into this for Android. But my app barely makes any money from Android vs. iOS
kliu0910
Hi Peter,

I have several friends who are experiencing the same pain as you.

As a result, I built a free service (Yozio, http://yoz.io) to solve this specific problem.

How it works:

1) Promote your app using Yozio's tracking links. (e.g. yoz.io/aBcDE)

2) When a visitor clicks on a Yozio tracking link, he is redirected to your app store landing page.

3) When the same visitor installs your app, Yozio is notified and tracks the install back to the original click.

We are getting a lot of great feedback. Please give us a try and let us know what you think.

Regards, Kevin

peterstark
Nice! The product looks pretty good. I think we can use this. Can you send me an invite code?
witchdoctor
Seems interesting, definitely going to check it out. Good luck to you all! I'll pm you some feedback.
jamesBB
Can I also get an invite code? Thanks man.
googleIO
Filled out your survey. Good luck guys!
justDance83
I see that it only takes 2 lines of code. Does that mean you need to download an SDK to make it work too? Slightly off topic, does anyone know of a good way to auto update SDKs for Objective C? Thanks. Also Kevin, I filled out your survey, please message me an invite code.
witchdoctor
The site looks good, but how accurate is the tracking?