Adjust

Overview

Adjust operates as a mobile measurement partner (MMP) that provides a suite of analytics and attribution tools for mobile app developers and marketers. Established in 2012, the platform helps businesses understand the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns by accurately attributing app installs and in-app events to specific sources. This includes tracking user acquisition channels, ad networks, and creative performance across various platforms and devices. Adjust's core offering focuses on delivering granular data insights into the entire user journey, from initial exposure to an ad through in-app engagement and retention.

The platform is designed for organizations that require detailed performance measurement for their mobile applications. This includes app publishers, e-commerce companies, gaming studios, and any business relying on mobile user acquisition and engagement. Adjust is particularly valuable for those managing large-scale, multi-channel marketing efforts, as it centralizes data from numerous sources to provide a unified view of campaign performance. Its capabilities extend beyond basic attribution to include advanced analytics for audience segmentation, helping marketers identify and target specific user groups based on their behavior and demographics. For example, a gaming company might use Adjust to segment players by their in-game spending habits and tailor future marketing messages accordingly.

A significant component of Adjust's platform is its fraud prevention suite. Mobile ad fraud can inflate campaign costs and distort performance metrics, leading to misinformed marketing decisions. Adjust employs various mechanisms to detect and prevent different types of fraud, such as click injection, install hijacking, and bot activity, aiming to ensure that marketing budgets are spent on legitimate user acquisitions. The system analyzes real-time data to identify suspicious patterns and anomalies, flagging potential fraudulent activities before they impact campaign results. This proactive approach helps maintain data integrity and provides a more accurate representation of return on ad spend. For instance, the company's Adjust Fraud Prevention Suite documentation details its methods for identifying fraudulent installs.

Adjust also supports compliance with data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, offering features that help clients manage user consent and data access requests. This is critical for businesses operating in regions with strict data protection laws, as it minimizes compliance risks while still enabling essential analytics. The platform's comprehensive SDKs support integration across major mobile operating systems and development frameworks, including iOS, Android, Unity, and React Native, allowing developers to implement tracking with minimal overhead. The availability of a developer API reference also facilitates custom data integration and workflow automation for advanced users.

Key features

• Mobile Measurement: Tracks app installs, in-app events, and user interactions across various channels and campaigns to provide a comprehensive view of mobile performance.
• Attribution: Determines the source of app installs and user engagement events, crediting specific marketing channels, ad networks, and campaigns.
• Analytics: Offers detailed dashboards and reporting tools for analyzing user behavior, campaign performance, lifetime value (LTV), and retention rates.
• Fraud Prevention: Utilizes advanced algorithms and machine learning to detect and block various types of mobile ad fraud, including click injection, install hijacking, and bot activity.
• Audience Segmentation: Enables marketers to segment their user base based on demographics, behavior, engagement levels, and other custom criteria for targeted marketing efforts.
• Deep Linking: Facilitates seamless user experiences by directing users to specific content within an app from external links, improving conversion rates and engagement.
• SKAdNetwork Support: Provides tools and reporting for Apple's SKAdNetwork framework, enabling privacy-centric attribution on iOS devices.
• Subscription Tracking: Monitors subscription events and revenue within apps, helping businesses understand the performance of their subscription models.
• Reporting APIs: Offers various APIs for exporting raw data, aggregated reports, and managing configurations, allowing for integration with internal BI systems.

Pricing

Adjust operates on a custom enterprise pricing model, which means there are no publicly listed fixed tiers. Pricing is generally determined based on factors such as the volume of monthly attributed installs (MAI), the specific features and modules required (e.g., fraud prevention, audience builder), and the level of support desired. Businesses interested in using Adjust typically need to contact their sales team for a personalized quote tailored to their specific needs and scale of operations. This approach allows for flexibility in accommodating different business sizes and complex use cases, from growing startups to large enterprises with extensive marketing budgets.

For specific pricing information and to discuss tailored solutions, prospective clients are advised to visit the Adjust pricing page and contact their sales team directly.

Common integrations

Adjust offers a wide array of integrations with various ad networks, marketing platforms, and analytics tools to streamline mobile marketing operations. Key integration categories include:

• Ad Networks: Integration with major ad networks like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, and numerous others allows for seamless data exchange for campaign tracking and optimization. Adjust documentation provides guides for Facebook Ads integration and Google Ads integration.
• Mediation Platforms: Connecting with mobile ad mediation platforms helps consolidate ad revenue and performance data.
• Marketing Automation Platforms: Integrations with platforms like Braze or Salesforce Marketing Cloud enable personalized user engagement based on attribution data.
• Business Intelligence (BI) Tools: Data can be exported to BI tools such as Tableau, Looker, or Power BI for further analysis and custom reporting.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: Syncing with CRM platforms helps enrich customer profiles with mobile engagement data.
• Cloud Storage: Direct integration with cloud storage solutions like Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage for raw data export.
• Payment Gateways: While specific payment gateway integrations are not always direct, Adjust can track in-app purchase events, which are often processed through gateways like Stripe Payments or Google Play Billing.

Alternatives

• AppsFlyer: A mobile attribution and marketing analytics platform offering similar features, including fraud protection and deep linking.
• Branch: Focuses on deep linking, mobile measurement, and user acquisition across different channels.
• Kochava: Provides mobile attribution, analytics, and fraud prevention, emphasizing data-driven marketing decisions.

Getting started

To integrate the Adjust SDK into a mobile application, developers typically add the SDK to their project and then initialize it with their unique app token. The following example demonstrates a basic integration for an Android application using Kotlin, which is a primary language for Android development.

import com.adjust.sdk.Adjust
import com.adjust.sdk.AdjustConfig
import android.app.Application

class MyApplication : Application() {

    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()

        val appToken = "{YourAppToken}" // Replace with your actual Adjust app token
        val environment = AdjustConfig.ENVIRONMENT_SANDBOX // Use ENVIRONMENT_PRODUCTION for live apps

        val config = AdjustConfig(this, appToken, environment)

        // Optional: Set a log level for debugging
        // config.setLogLevel(AdjustConfig.LogLevel.VERBOSE)

        Adjust.onCreate(config)
    }

    // Optional: Implement onResume and onPause to track session lifecycle
    override fun onResume() {
        super.onResume()
        Adjust.onResume()
    }

    override fun onPause() {
        super.onPause()
        Adjust.onPause()
    }
}

For iOS applications, the integration process involves adding the Adjust SDK via Swift Package Manager or Cocoapods and then initializing it in the AppDelegate. The Adjust iOS SDK integration guide provides detailed instructions for both Swift and Objective-C. After initialization, developers can track specific in-app events, such as purchases, registrations, or content views, by creating and tracking Adjust event objects. This allows for granular measurement of user engagement and conversions within the app.