Mobile Marketing Glossary
A/b Testing
A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of an app against each other to determine which is most appealing to users
Acquisition Campaign
A marketing effort aims to acquire new users
Ad Exchange
An Ad Exchange is a platform where advertisers and publishers can buy and sell advertising space.
Ad Impression
An ad impression refers to each time an ad is seen
Ad Inventory
The total amount of ad space that a publisher has available for advertising.
Ad Network
A platform that serves as a broker between a group of publishers and a group of advertisers.
Ad Request
A request sent from an ad unit on an app to the ad server for an ad to be displayed
Ad Server
An ad server is a tech platform that stores and delivers advertising content to different mobile apps
Ad Unit
An ad unit is a container that is designated to display ads in an app
Advertiser
A person or company that places ads to a target audience
Application Programming Interface (API)
API is a set of commands, functions, and protocols that developers can use to build and integrate applications with each other.
App Monetization
The process of making money off the app you developed
App Store Optimization (ASO)
The act of optimizing app listing to boost it's visibility, and conversion rate in the app stores.
Attribution
The process of crediting an install or in-app events to a specific marketing campaign.
Attribution Window
A period of time in which a publisher can claim that a click or impression led to an install.
Auction
A system for buying and selling ads by offering them up for competitive bids in order to determine the best ad to display on a publisher's app
Banner
Banner ads are small advertisements usually appear at the top or bottom of the app’s screen
Banner Blindness
The tendency of users to ignore banner ads
Behavioral Targeting
A tool used to deliver different ads to users based on their interactions with the app
Bid Request
A request sent to the DSP that contains data necessary for the advertiser to bid on a specific inventory
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list involves all apps on which an advertiser does not want its advertisements to appears
Boost/Burst Campaign
A burst campaign is a mobile marketing technique used to climb the app store ranks in a very short time by driving enormous volumes of app downloads that boosts the visibility of a mobile app
Bot Farm
A bot farm is a collection of devices that are used to generate fraudulent ad impressions and clicks
Click Fraud
Click fraud is a type of ad fraud that occurs when a person, or an automated software generate clicks on paid ads with the intention of increasing revenue, or exhausting an advertiser's budget or sabotaging competitors.
Click-Through Attribution
An attribution that credits an ad campaign for an install only when an individual has clicked on an ad prior to that install.
Cohort
A cohort is a group of users who have the same usage characteristics over a certain period of time.
Cohort Analysis
Cohort analysis is the process of comparing of the behavior and metrics of different cohorts over time.
Conversion Rate
The number of an app's users that complete a desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of users.
Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking is the process of monitoring completed conversions to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing campaign.
Cost Model
Cost Model refers to how an advertiser is charged for his ads
Cost per action (CPA)
CPA refers to how much an advertiser will pay when when a user clicks his ad on an app and then completes a certain action
CPC
Cost Per Click refers to how much an advertiser will be charged every time somebody clicks on his in-app ad.
CPI
Cost Per Install refers to how much an advertiser will be charged every time somebody installs his app.
CPM
CPM (cost per mille) is the total amount an advertiser pays for every 1000 impressions on their in-app ad.
CPV
The amount of money an advertiser pays each time someone views his video ad.
Click Through Rate (CTR)
Click through rate is a metric that measures how many users click on a specific ad compared to how many view the ad.
Data Management Platform (DMP)
Data Management Platform is a tech platform used for collecting audience and customer information from any source for digital marketing purposes.
Daily Active Users (DAU)
A metric which measures the total amount of users who open the app per day.
Deep Link
A link that sends users directly to a specific location within an app instead of home screen
Demand Side Platform (DSP)
A tech platform that helps advertisers buy and manage ads
Fake Installs
An ad fraud tactic in which the fraudster uses software to simulate user behavior on a real device.
Fill Rate
Fill Rate is the ratio of the number of successfully delivered ads to the total number of ad requests made
Device fingerprinting
Device fingerprinting is a process of collecting unique identifying information available about a device, including screen resolution, operating system, location, and language settings to form a digital fingerprint ID that will be used for tracking users as they interact with mobile apps.
First-party Data
First-party data is the data that you collect directly about your own app users
Floor Cpm
The minimum CPM that the publisher does not agree to sell his inventory to the advertiser for less.
Freemium
A pricing strategy where most features of a mobile app are free, but money is charged for premium features
Frequency Cap
A frequency cap is a limit to the number of times an ad is seen by a user in a specific period of time
Marketing Funnel
The marketing funnel is a tool that helps you visualize the user journey a prospect takes as they become familiar with your app, from awareness to conversion
GAID
A unique identifier used for advertising on Android devices
Geofencing
Geofencing is the capability to use GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi or cellular data to pinpoint a device’s location with the aim to target the mobile devices of people who have entered a virtual barrier around a defined region with some kind of advertising or promotional communication
Geo targeting
A tool used to deliver different ads to users based on their geographic location
IDFA
A unique identifier used for advertising on IOS devices
In-App Purchase (IAP)
In-app purchase is the process of buying digital content, additional features, and items from a mobile application
Incentivized Install
Incentivized install is when users get a reward to install an app.
Interstitial
An interstitial ad is a full-screen ad that covers the entire interface of the user's screen and is displayed at the transition points like loading the app or completing a level in a game.
Install To Action (ITA)
A ratio of the number of installs of an app compared to the number of users that successfully complete a post-install event, such as making a purchase.
Last-touch Attribution
Last Touch Attribution is a model that gives full conversion credits to the last interaction someone did before converting
Lifetime Value (LTV)
Customer lifetime value is how much total revenue you can expect from your average user during the entire time they spend as active users of your app.
Limit Ad Tracking (LAT)
Limit Ad Tracking is a privacy option that prevents advertisers from tracking users by their device-specific Identifier for Advertising (IDFA)
Monthly Active Users (MAU)
A metric which measures the total amount of users who open the app per month.
Mean Time To Install (MTTI)
The average time interval between when the ad was first clicked, to the time when the app was first opened.
Ad Mediation
Mobile ad mediation is a mobile app monetization solution that facilitates app developers to connect with multiple mobile ad networks with a single SDK integration instead of integrating with each network's SDK.
Mobile Ad Fraud
Mobile Ad fraud is the process of generating deceitful interactions such as impressions, clicks, or app installs for the sole purpose of earning money
Native Ad
A Native Ad is an ad that appears on an app, and is designed to look like as the content the user is viewing instead of like a traditional advertisement.
Native App
Native App is the one that is built for one specific platform or operating system such as Apple iOS, Android.
Net Promoter Score (NBS)
A metric that measures the likelihood of a user to recommend your app to others. The score is obtained by asking one question: “How likely is it that you would recommend [app] to a friend?” The answer is a number from 0 to 10.
Offer Wall
An in-app ad format that gives users rewards in exchange for completing offers
Onboarding
App onboarding is the process of getting users familiar with an app interface by using tutorials or a guided tour within the app.
Organic Acquisition
Organic acquisition is the acquiring of users without spending money on paid channels
Organic Uplift
An organic uplift is a measure that would show how many organic installs were acquired after a paid campaign.
Paid Acquisition
Paid acquisition is the act of spending money on ad promotions to acquire new users.
Postbacks
A postback is a URL which is triggered to notify an ad network when a particular action or event is completed within an app.
Post-install Event (PIE)
Any in-app event that happens while a user is engaging with an app after installing it.
Real-time Bidding (RTB)
Real-time bidding is a type of programmatic buying of individual ad impressions in real time instead of pre-procured inventory
Retargeting
Retargeting is a marketing practice which involves displaying ads to users who have previously used your mobile app.
Return On Investment (ROI)
ROI measures how much revenue is being generated compared with how much is being spent on a given campaign
Rewarded Video
A rewarded video is a type of ad that rewards users for watching ad video in exchange for in-app rewards.
Rich Media
An ad format with which users can interact
Software Development Kit (SDK)
SDK is a set of tools that can be used to develop apps for a specific platform.
SDK Spoofing
SDK spoofing is a type of mobile ad fraud which is when fraudsters send simulated ad click, install, and engagement signals to an attribution server through malware
Second-party Data
Second-party data is data that another business gathered directly about its audience and then provides access to through data partenship or sells it directly to another company
Second-price Auction
In the second-price auction, bidders set the price which they are willing to pay for an impression. However, Instead of having to pay the full price, the winning bidder pays the price offered by the second-highest bidder plus $0.01
Self-attributing Networks(SAN)
Self-Attributing Network is an ad network that perform attribution on its traffic independently of 3rd party tracking services
Spending Cap
The maximum amount of money that an advertiser willing to spend on a given campaign.
Supply Side Platform (ssp)
A supply-side platform is a tech platform that publishers use to manage, and control their advertising space
View-through Attribution
An attribution that credits an ad campaign for an install if users viewed an ad without clicking on it prior to that install
View Through Rate (VTR)
View-Through Rate is the percentage of the total number of users who watched a video ad completely out of all the users who skipped it.