Your web attribution was broken
But there is finally a solution to that
Hi there,
Most performance marketers running web and app have a measurement setup, usually some combination of an MMP and analytics tool.
The problem is, almost nobody fully trusts it.
Not because they’re using the wrong tools, but because the tools were never built for the journeys real users actually take.
Today, I’m breaking down why web measurement has been structurally broken, what that costs you in practice, and what’s excitingly changing.
The journey problem nobody solved
Journeys in real life look something like this: your user:
Saw your ad on mobile.
Researched on desktop.
Purchased on web.
Re-engaged in app.
Now answer the riddle: which channel gets the credit?”
That’s one person, one journey. But most measurement stacks treat each of those touchpoints as separate or assume everyone takes the same journey.
When in reality, there are many paths:
The first two (app only and landing page → mobile) have been easier to measure, but the rest? That is where things have been traditionally messy.
The 5 reasons it’s structurally broken
If it were one simple cause, there would be a simple fix, but this measurement issue is the result of a few causes:
1. Attribution logic doesn’t fit the business
Someone visits your website, and that first visit is hardcoded as the acquisition event. The window to attribute them to web is fixed.
But what if they convert much later?
When measurement is forced to fit a default logic rather than the reality of customers, you end up measuring the wrong moment.
2. You need too many tools just to see the full picture
One tool for mobile. Another for web. Another for ad spend. Another for each network.
They don’t share the same logic or definitions, so you’re always comparing numbers, trying to work it all out, and at the end of the day, you don’t have a single source of truth.
And don’t just rely on the ad platform's data; they tend to skew it toward what looks good to them.
3. Your ad platforms are missing the data they need to improve
When someone converts on your site, that signal needs to get back to Google, Meta, and TikTok so they can find more people like them.
But most setups either lose data along the way or require you to rebuild the integration whenever something changes.
The result: your platforms don’t know who to optimize for.
4. Testing a new channel takes months
On mobile, adding a new ad network is quick. On web, it typically means a custom dev project from scratch.
So teams stick with what they have rather than experiment.
5. Web and app don’t talk to each other
This is the big one. If someone uses your app for months and then converts on web, most tools count that as two different people. Not ideal.
There’s no single view of who that user is or what they’re actually worth.
What does this cost you?
I know the data and terminology can get overwhelming, but the end cost of this issue is huge:
You can’t trust your attribution numbers, so you can’t confidently scale what’s working.
Your lifetime value calculations are off, as are your payback periods.
So how are you meant to confidently scale your budgets?
If you have an omnichannel setup, you need to be aware of this risk and implement the right measurement setup.
There is (finally) a solution
As of last week, actually.
At MAU Vegas, AppsFlyer launched Web Performance Measurement.
The same MMP-grade attribution that transformed mobile measurement is now applied to web.
What that means in practice:
Flexible attribution windows that match your actual business logic, not a default setup.
One unified platform for web and mobile with a shared data model.
Optimization signals are sent to every network automatically, without custom engineering work per integration.
Cross-platform LTV — one user, one journey, accurate credit across every surface.
So those five challenges will finally be addressed. Set it up properly once, and you can trust your data long term.
What to do with this
If you’re running paid campaigns across web and mobile, here are my three questions for you:
Do you trust your web attribution numbers? Not just in theory but in practice, when you’re making budget decisions. If the honest answer is “not fully,” that’s worth addressing.
Do you know your true cross-platform LTV? If a user converts on web after months on mobile or vice versa, does your measurement capture that? If not, your LTV is probably incomplete.
How long does it take you to test a new channel on web? If it’s measured in months rather than weeks, the infrastructure cost is worth examining. Yes, post-testing optimization can take months, but you should be getting valuable insights in the first weeks.
Recommendation
This newsletter is sponsored by AppsFlyer, the attribution tool I recommend and use with clients.
If you want to go deeper into:
What was broken on web measurement
What good web measurement looks like
How unified measurement changes everything
Check out their full guide here.
Web measurement shouldn’t be a workaround or accepted as “it’s just not accurate”.
We need to hold it to a higher standard, especially now that there is finally a fix.
Till next week,
Daphne