Perform[cb] has released a new guide addressing a common blind spot in mobile user acquisition. Most teams cannot actually tell which channels are driving growth and which are simply taking credit for installs that would have happened regardless.
Running multiple UA channels at once creates an attribution problem by design. Every channel claims credit, so dashboards look healthy even when budget decisions rest on numbers that overcount impact from the start.
The guide argues that attribution alone overstates channel effectiveness, and that measuring incremental lift, installs that would not have happened without a given channel, is what should actually inform where budget goes.
Drawing on live measurement programs across more than 35 of the top 100 U.S. finance apps, the guide covers:
Defining a quality signal built for incrementality testing, and why most north star metrics fall short of that bar
A framework for structuring channel pilots that isolate incremental lift rather than raw performance
Common conflicts between MMP data and internal attribution models, and how to resolve them before they stall a measurement program
Cross-program benchmarking, and why single-program data alone cannot separate real signal from normal variance
The incrementality case for rewarded environments, CPI versus CPE commercial models, and keyword conquesting
The guide positions incrementality as an ongoing discipline rather than a one-time test, aimed at teams in finance, gaming, e-commerce, and other high-competition verticals looking to make budget decisions on firmer ground.
The guide is available to download here.
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