Why Stopping Fraud is Important in MMPs: Protecting Your Marketing Budget

Mobile apps play an integral role in our day-to-day activities. Apps are everywhere, whether we are ordering food, playing games, or checking in with friends. When companies launch a mobile app, there is a marketing strategy behind it that drives user engagement. 

App companies employ tools called MMP mobile measurement platforms to keep track of how ads perform, where users come from, and how money is allocated. However, when it comes to marketing with MMP mobile measurement partners, the size of the marketing budget can lead to an even bigger issue, fraud. 

Quantities of fake installs, fake users, and fake clicks can lead to losses of thousands of dollars. This is why fraud prevention is so critical for companies that are using an MMP mobile measurement partner, which leads us to the purpose of this blog, we will examine fraud prevention and how an MMP mobile measurement partner is budget-friendly.

What is an MMP Mobile Measurement Partner?

A mobile measurement partner, or MMP, is a service that enables app developers to understand how users find their apps. It tracks which advertisements led to actual users, and how users behave inside the app. So, if you are paying for advertisements on Facebook and YouTube, the MMP will say how many installs came from each platform. 

This information is valuable for making informed marketing decisions. It allows marketers to spend money on the ads that drive installs and ultimately grow their business.

Real-Life Problem: Ad Fraud is Costly

Fraud in mobile marketing is a significant problem. According to Statista, mobile ad fraud cost advertisers around $20 billion in the world in 2023, because of fake clicks, fake installs, and bots pretending to be real users.

Imagine you spent $10,000 in ads, and only a portion of that actual users. More specifically, you lost $5,000 to fraud. That is why it is essential to use an MMP mobile measurement partner, so you can detect and eliminate fake activity.

How Fraud Happens in Mobile Marketing

Fake Clicks

Some bad actors leverage unattended accounts and bots to purposely click on ads just to earn money from advertisers. These clicks are clearly not real, and do not drive value.

Fake Installs

Fraudsters can use software to create fake installs as well as real devices to create fake installs. These fake installs appear to be real but are not active users of the app.

Click Injection

Click Injection happens when a bad app detects when their user is doing a legitimate install of another app, and sends a fake click just prior to the install. This fools the MMP mobile measurement partner into thinking the bad app drove the install.

How MMP Mobile Measurement Partners Help

Reputable MMP tools will have fraud prevention features that identify and block this type of fake activity.  Here is how they work:

1. Pattern analysis

MMP mobile measurement partner tools analyze user behavior and will flag a user as fraudulent if they install the app but don’t open it or only open it for a few seconds. 

2. IP and device monitoring

Tracking for unique IP addresses and devices in a compressed time frame. Too many unique actions happen very quickly is often a clear indication of bots. 

3. Time measurement

The time between the click on the ad and download of the app is measured. If it’s too fast or too slow then it may be fraudulent. 

With these types of tools, MMP mobile measurement partner tools help block fraud before it eats into your budget. 

Why Fraud Prevention Matters

Protects Your Budget

Marketing costs money. But when you lose half of your advertisements’ budget to fake activity, that’s money that could have been allocated to valuable users. MMP mobile measurement partner tools protect that money.

Shows Real Data

Good data creates good decisions. When you know what will truly work, you can focus on those advertisements instead of wasting time on ineffective advertisements. 

Improves ROI

Prohibiting fraud improves your return on investment (ROI). Each dollar spent is more likely to deliver a real return.

Final Thoughts

In the modern marketing landscape, marketing your app is important to have success, and if you are not careful fraud can ruin all your hard work. Fake users and bad clicks waste money and provide invalid data. That is why it is always best to use a solid MMP mobile measurement partner.

These partners will not only track performance but will protect you from fraud as well. When tackling the decision on which mobile app tracking partner to choose, always consider any fraud protections the vendors allow.

No matter if you are using an MMP for mobile apps for a gaming app or a shopping app, keeping your data safe and clean should always come first. Any trusted app measurement partner tools will allow your app to grow correctly and ensure you are counting every dollar.