Cross-promotion: installing your second app from inside your first, with context intact

A company with more than one app has a free acquisition channel it usually doesn't measure: its own users. A banner in app A promoting app B costs nothing to run. But when the user installs app B and it opens on a generic welcome screen, the context of why they tapped is gone — and in app B's attribution, that install is 'organic', indistinguishable from someone who found it in the store.

What problem does this solve?

The install of app B should attribute to the placement in app A that drove it, and app B's first screen should reflect what the placement promised — often carrying something over from app A, like an account or a preference. Then cross-promotion can be measured and tuned like any other channel, instead of being a banner someone put up once.

How do you set the links up?

The link is created in app B's workspace, because app B is what's being installed. It's placed in app A with a source tag naming the placement. The payload carries whatever app B should know at first open — the user's identifier from app A, if the two share accounts, or the feature that prompted the promotion.

{
  "deepLinkPath": "/welcome",
  "customData": {"src": "app-a", "placement": "post-workout-card", "sharedUser": "u_18b2", "lead": "meal-plans"}
}

Where should the promotion sit?

• At the moment app A's user has a need app B serves. A finance app promoting its budgeting app after a large transaction; a fitness app promoting its nutrition app after a workout. Not a banner on the home screen.
• With the handoff pre-filled. If the apps share an account, the payload should carry it so app B doesn't ask the user to sign up for a company they already have an account with.
• Measured per placement. Two placements in app A will perform very differently; you only find out which if each has its own tag.

What about the reverse direction?

Same setup, other way round. A link in app B's workspace pointing at app A, tagged with its placement. If both directions run, you have a two-app system with measured flow between them, and the portfolio starts behaving like one product instead of two that happen to share a logo.

Which metric should you watch?

App B activation rate for users who arrived from app A, versus app B's store-organic installs. Cross-promoted users should activate far better — they already trust you. If they don't, the handoff is losing the context, and the payload is the first place to look.