At a glance: Get started with collaboration measurement by learning its fundamental concepts and setup procedure.
On-site and off-site campaign measurement
DCP measures on-site campaigns differently from off-site campaigns. While on-site campaigns run on one of the collaborator’s platforms, off-site campaigns run on third-party platforms, such as Facebook, Google Ads, and other SRNs. Since DCP cannot directly access engagement data from these platforms, the attribution flow and engagement data differ from on-site campaigns and require unique solutions. Unless specifically noted, the information in the measurement articles applies to both campaign types.
The three data sources of measurement
The DCP measurement model attributes conversion events to engagement events occurring in a collaboration context. This process requires data from three key data sources: conversions, engagements, and campaign mapping. Each source plays a critical role in the attribution flow.
Conversions
Conversion data contains details about user actions such as purchases and their associated Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPGs). Each conversion instance represents a single conversion event, capturing details such as the SKU, user ID, and event time.
Conversion parameters example
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
app_id |
FoodDelivery |
user_id |
5abe2ddccca43000af58f0b |
event_time |
2024-08-21T16:06:32.393Z |
event_name |
purchase |
sku |
8711327623057 |
sku_revenue |
6.94 |
sku_quantity |
1 |
AppsFlyer provides access to app conversions through integration with your app using the AppsFlyer SDK or via custom data sources provided by the collaborators. Web and in-store conversion events can also be provided using custom data sources.
Engagements
The engagement source contains details about user interactions with ads, such as clicks or impressions. Each instance represents an engagement event and includes attributes such as the campaign ID, media source, and touch type (e.g., click or impression).
Engagement parameters example
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
appsflyer_id |
1727548724223 |
media_source |
|
campaign |
grc_web_ftu_seq |
attributed_touch_time |
2024-09-28T17:05:34 |
attributed_touch_type |
impression |
event_name |
start_game |
To access engagement data, in on-site campaigns, you can either set up new in-app events with attribution data in the event_value parameter using the AppsFlyer SDK or share the data through a custom source.
In off-site campaigns, engagement data is received from a third party and not via in-app events or a custom source.
Campaign mapping
The campaign mapping source enables us to determine the engagement that triggered each conversion. A campaign mapping record links conversion events to engagement events by pairing SKUs or CPGs with campaign IDs. Using this mapping, DCP links a conversion event that includes a given SKU to an engagement event containing the corresponding campaign ID.
Campaign mapping parameters example
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
collaborator_name |
fashion_site |
collaborator_id |
10079 |
campaign_id |
49fd77a2-8b64-4c9d... |
campaign_name |
off_season_25_1 |
conversion_targets |
8711327621978, 8711327622289, 8711327623057 |
The campaign mapping information is provided to AppsFlyer as a custom data source.
The DCP measurement process
The DCP attribution flow assigns conversion events to engagement events by matching conversion SKUs to engagements that advertise them. The process has access to the collaboration, engagement, and campaign mapping data sources.
The steps of this process are outlined below.
- DCP maps the campaign mapping data source with the SKUs in the conversion data source to identify conversions triggered by a campaign. Unmatched conversions are flagged as organic.
- DCP joins each conversion event that was mapped to a campaign to an engagement event with the same user ID and campaign ID, creating an attributed conversion record containing campaign and conversion details.
- DCP splits attributed conversion records with multiple SKUs into individual records, each representing a single SKU.
- DCP filters out records for SKUs that are not conversion targets for the campaign.
- The attribution process applies the following logic:
- When multiple engagement events are linked to a conversion, DCP applies last-touch attribution according to the AppsFlyer priority scale. For more information, see Attribution method priorities (Attribution waterfall).
- When a single engagement event is responsible for multiple conversion events, only the first conversion is attributed to the engagement, while the others remain unattributed.
- DCP aggregates attributed conversions to generate insights, including total conversions.
Set up measurement in four steps
The measurement setup process can be described in four steps, each of which has a dedicated article:
- Determine your collaboration measurement use case
- Prepare the data sources that feed the attribution process
- Configure DCP to access the data sources and perform attribution
- Consume the attributed measurement data in dashboards
- Consume the attributed measurement data in reports