Attribution for fintech apps

The conversion is far from the install

In most apps a new user can do the valuable thing in the first session. In a finance app there are gates. Someone installs, registers, submits identity documents, waits for approval and only then deposits money or makes a payment. Each gate loses people, and the losses can differ by ad source. A campaign can look cheap per install and deliver almost nobody who passes verification.

So the first decision is which step you call a conversion. Map your own funnel before touching the tool.

The steps that matter happen on your server

Approval is decided by your back office or a verification provider. A transfer settles in your ledger. The app may be closed when either happens, so the SDK cannot report it. You need to send these as server events, each carrying the same user ID the app set at registration. The attribution tool then links the event to the original install and to the ad behind it.

Timing needs attention too. If approval takes several days, the event may arrive after the period in which the tool or the ad platform still connects it to a click. Read about the lookback window and check how late events are handled before you rely on an approval event for optimisation.

What you must keep out of the events

An in-app event can carry extra fields, and a finance app has to be strict about them. Agree a short written list with whoever owns compliance. A sensible starting point:

• Send: the event name, a time, an internal user ID that means nothing outside your company, and a product type such as "savings" or "card".
• Do not send: names, email addresses, phone numbers, national ID or account numbers, balances, credit decisions or reasons for rejection.
• Decide case by case: transaction amounts. A fixed stand-in value per event type is often enough to rank campaigns.

Remember that whatever you put in an event can also travel onward in a postback to an ad platform. Review what each postback includes separately from what you store in the tool.

Valuing a customer without a purchase

A shopping app has an order total. A finance app often has none on day one: the customer's value comes from fees, interest or balances over months. That makes LTV an estimate you build from your own finance data. A practical approach is to assign each qualifying event an expected value, review it each quarter, and use it to compare campaigns. Pair it with retention measured on a meaningful action, such as a transaction in the month, since opening the app to check a balance is weak evidence of value.

Sign-up bonuses and referral rewards need a note of caution. Rewards attract people who collect the bonus and leave, and ad sources that send such users can look excellent at the registration step. Judging on a funded or transacting account reduces that distortion. The wider topic is covered in ad fraud prevention basics.

The first thing to do

Draw your funnel on one page and mark each step as app-side or server-side. That drawing decides which event becomes your primary conversion, what the developer has to send from the server and what compliance needs to review. Once it exists, report cost per primary conversion by campaign and treat cost per install as background.