Smartphones and tablets are here to stay and they’re clearly here to dominate the world.  Maybe phones haven’t become self-aware terminating machines [yet] but access to smart phones, and therefore mobile broadband, is reaching far beyond that of the lowly desktop computer that revolutionized our lives not so long ago.

If you’re too young to remember what life was like before there was a computer in every house, ask your parents what software they used to write their term papers in school or how they learned to type.   Then sit down, grab a hot chocolate and get ready to learn about the joys of handwriting or the pain of replacing typewriter ribbons, or the advent of the “backspace” button.

If you’ve been living in a cave, you should know a similar shift is upon us and maybe one day our kids will ask how we browsed the Internet without a touchscreen, or how we bought goods we now get delivered directly to our door.  In which, we’ll return with the stories of the amazing physical keyboard and mighty retail electronics store.

To get an idea of where we’re at, lets look at the facts:

1. 80% of the world has mobile access
2. 4 out of 5 broadband connections will be mobile by 2015
3. Mobile E-Commerce revenue will reach 540 billion dollars by 2015
4. Facebook now has more mobile users than desktop users
5. Mobile devices accounted for 48% of time spent shopping in Q1 2013
6. US Consumers Spent 1 billion dollars on mobile purchase of apparel in Q1 2013

These numbers continue to grow and they are truly staggering.  However, these numbers could also be terrifying if you’re a performance marketer and haven’t spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this pending revolution.   The good news for the procrastinators in attendance: I’m going to answer some of your questions and offer up a solution to your problems.  If you have additional questions or want me to dive into more technical details please feel free to comment below.

Why is mobile tracking different than desktop tracking?

Fundamentally, the tracking principles are the same; but when you dive into the details, things get strange.  There are many minor technical differences (which, in aggregate turn into a larger issue), but the global “why” is simple – mobile tracking is still in its infancy and finding its way.  This is very similar to web design circa 1998; do you remember seeing “Internet Explorer required to access this website”?  Over time browsers matured, web standards emerged and here we are today – the web has been nearly banished of midi files, animated gifs (except for the funny ones) and website hit counters. Moreover, mobile operating system developers like Google (Android), Apple (iOS) and Microsoft (Windows Mobile) are under pressure to restrict app access for privacy.   Hence, Apple’s announcement to deprecate mac address access in iOS7.  This means, if you’re not keeping your tracking methods up-to-date, a gap in the analytics that drive your business will occur and eventually lead to lost revenue and lost/angry publishers if you’re on the advertising side.

What’s the difference between mobile web and mobile app?

To a smartphone, a mobile website and mobile app (even under the same company) live in separate domains.   For example, your iPhone doesn’t know that the eBay mobile application and eBay mobile website are the same company.  In other words, the browser and app data can’t be shared.  This also means seamless tracking will not work from app to web, web to app download or from app to app download unless the device itself is identified and tracked from the server. To complicate this more, Android and iOS have different methods to track devices, but as we’ve seen with the deprecation of UDID and IDFA this is evolving and devolving quickly.   In fact, apple is now rejecting all apps that use UDID as a tracking identifier and in some cases rejecting html5 cookie tracking.  This is why it’s important to partner with a tracking provider that is constantly staying ahead of advancements in the industry and understands the nuances of scaling a tracking solution.

What is CPI?

CPI or cost per install is how app advertisers pay for a mobile application installs and can be thought about as a traditional CPA or cost per acquisition.  With CPA, advertisers will pay a user acquisition to a member subscription, E-Commerce transaction, etc.   However, with CPI, this payout occurs when a user taps through a marketing medium, downloads an app, and starts an application where an install is tracked.   The crucial tracking disconnect occurs when a user goes from mobile web/app to an app download because of the domain differences I mentioned earlier.  This matter is complicated even more when it comes to app upgrades, which can sometimes double track installs.  Once again, this is why it’s so important to partner with a tracking provider that is an expert in the industry.

What is Mobile Event Tracking?

So you’ve been there – You’re playing Temple Run and you just can’t level up without a stockpile of resurrection wings.   Time to buy some coins!  No?  Ok, lets look at a handful of different concepts that drive the need for mobile event tracking.

1. Track when users are doing in app purchases (buy more coins!)
2. Adding items to a cart within a shopping app
3. Logging in with Facebook, Twitter or other social feature
4. Purchasing a new filter for a photo app.

User actions or events within mobile apps drive usage and monetization (or eventual monetization).  Which means, all of these events must be tracked to optimize your campaigns or create compelling payouts for affiliates. The key to great event tracking is a simple SDK (software development kit) or implementation process for mobile devices so developers can simply add registration points for crucial events.

What options do I have?

Some performance marketing services have separated their offerings into two explicit services – mobile and desktop.  This means reporting will be separated in two systems and billed on two different models.  Next there are services that only offer mobile performance tracking, so if you’re also running traffic to desktop then you need another service to handle tracking.  The Result:  two silos of stats that make it difficult for you to make critical business decisions.   Should I mention that this isn’t ideal?  It’s not. We take a different approach.  Our team has decades of collective experience in the shoes of the advertiser, publisher and as SAAS providers.   This means we’re empathetic to the needs of each group that makes up the performance marketing circle of life.  We ensure the metrics you need in real-time are available in one simple interface on your desktop or through your mobile device when you’re on the go.

So Mobile Performance Marketing is really a piece of CAKE, right?