Webinar Recap: Learning About Source Identifiers and SKAN

While Apple’s SKAN 4.0 has been around for nearly two years, adoption of the latest version of Apple’s SKAdNetwork framework remains surprisingly low. Our 2024 App Marketer Survey found that 35% of mobile marketers are unfamiliar with SKAN 4.0 despite improving campaign measurement and conversion values.

So why the hesitancy? SKAN 4.0 has had a few teething problems since its release, including a notable bug that caused conversion value issues, leading to names like Meta rolling back to SKAN 3.0. While these have since been resolved, transitioning to SKAN 4.0 requires significant changes to conversion models, data handling, and event configurations. These changes may not seem worthwhile to marketers who are satisfied with their current setup.

Yet, despite the relatively low adoption rate, Apple seems determined to move full steam ahead with SKAN 5.0 and now the recently announced AdAttributionKit. But for mobile marketers who are hesitant to take the next step on their SKAN journey, where should they begin? Our Sales Engineer Alejandra Ugarte shared some answers with our friends at Singular in the recent 2024 iOS Acquisition Deep-Dive webinar. Here is a summary of her insights.

SKAN and the source identifier

One of the big drawbacks of working with SKAN is its limited view of performance. During the webinar, Aleksandar Cvetković, Data Scientist at Webelinx, noted that SKAN only approximates revenue at the end of a measurement period rather than the “ground truth.” Be that as it may, Alejandra is optimistic about the change from a campaign ID to a source identifier introduced by SKAN 4.0.

The source identifier allows marketers to assign a unique source identifer to their ad campaigns. Analytics and reporting tools can then easily track these campaigns, unlocking useful data for optimizing campaigns.

Alejandra said: “Something that wasn’t immediately clear to me was that each partner has a different strategy for encoding the source identifier. So, if you’re trying to report on that, you will encounter some level of variation. The different digits will mean different things to different partners. In other words, it can be challenging to pull things together into a cohesive report if you’re not communicating with each of your partners.”

Alongside the source identifier, Alejandra also noted the importance of optimizing your conversion value mapping strategy by analyzing user behavior to determine the ideal window for locking conversion data. In today’s privacy-focused environment, advertisers need to maximize every available resource, and the optimal approach will vary depending on the needs of different mobile games/mobile apps and their user bases.

What to expect from SKAN 5.0

When Apple announced SKAN 5.0 at WWDC 2023, the announcement generated excitement and confusion. What exactly will SKAN 5.0 offer in addition to what advertisers already have, and why are we already discussing SKAN 5.0 now when many mobile marketers have yet to adopt the earlier version?

According to Alejandra, SKAN 5.0 will offer insights into down-funnel activity for users targeted by UA campaigns who already have an app installed. This should allow conversion values to return without an install.

Alejandra said: “This will give us more value to our UA budgets because we’ll be able to see what new and existing users are doing after interacting with one of our ads. It was a huge miss for Apple not to include this from the start. It’s already hard to suppress existing users in SKAN, but on top of that, we weren’t getting any performance metrics on those we’d accidentally targeted after not being able to suppress them.”

Key things to remember about SKAN 4.0 and 5.0

While the adoption of SKAN 4.0 still needs to catch up, we expect SKAN 5.0 to bring more features and benefits to the table. Advertisers who do make the jump will be able to leverage the system for campaign measurement and optimization.

For now, two key things to remember about SKAN are:

• Configure your SKAN 4 conversion value mappings, and determine if it makes sense to lock windows early.
• Speak to ad partners about how they plan to use source identifiers, as each partner will likely have a different strategy.

Alejandra added: “If you’re just getting started with SKAN, I’d recommend that you start by reading up as much as possible. The more information you have, the more data you have, the more informed decisions you can make.

“It’s also best to keep things simple to begin with. You are probably not going to get it perfect on the first go, but it’s important not to beat yourself up. As you iterate, you will improve your strategy.”

Watch the full webinar to learn more about SKAN and iOS user acquisition in 2024.