View Through Attribution

What is View Through Attribution?

View through attribution, sometimes referred to as VTA or impression tracking, is the process of attributing installs to impressions, even if said impressions don’t generate clicks.

What if a user sees your ad, but doesn’t click on it? Then, a few hours later, remembers the name of your app, finds it in the Apple App or Google Play Store, and installs it on their device? VTA will help you understand which impression(s) led to this install.

How to Track View Through Attribution

To get started with view through attribution, you need to establish a “lookback window” for each of your app marketing campaigns. This is the period of time in which conversions can be attributed to impressions. The standard lookback window is 24 hours. 

View through attribution is important because it gives app marketers a more accurate view of their user acquisition (UA) campaigns, which can help them make better decisions.

View Through Attribution (VTA) vs Click Through Attribution (CTA)

To fully understand VTA we need to compare it to click through attribution (CTA).

Click through attribution measures the percentage of users who click on an ad, then complete a desired action, such as installing an app. It’s a straightforward way of assessing UA campaigns. Unfortunately, it doesn’t account for users who see ads and are enticed to install the app(s) promoted—but never actually click on the ads themselves.

This is why view through attribution should be used in conjunction with click through attribution. Using both metrics will give you a better idea of where your installs come from.