Cross-promotion

Promote one of your apps inside another.

A placement in app A sends people to app B. The install keeps its context and is credited to the placement, instead of showing up as organic.

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Who runs it: Marketers, product
Time to set up: Minutes, after the SDK
Plan: Free

1The link you make

Made in app B's workspace, placed in app A.

Create the link in the workspace of the app being installed, tag it with the placement in the other app, and put what app B should know at first open in its data.

One link per placement.
If the two apps share accounts, the link can carry who it is.

2The screen they land on

App B picks up the journey.

Someone taps the card after a workout. They install Fuel and it opens on meal plans for runners, not a generic welcome.

Works on iPhone and Android, after a fresh install.
The context they had in app A carries over.

3The number that proves it worked

Installs per placement, compared with organic.

Count app B's installs and activations per placement in app A, and compare them with app B's store-organic installs. Cross-promoted users should activate better; if they don't, the handoff is losing context.

Installs and events per placement.
A free channel, measured instead of hidden in organic.

For your developer

One-time setup, then it's all yours.

Each app adds the LinkTrail SDK once. App B reads the link's data on first open; app A just shows the link.

Read the developer guide

LinkTrail.onLink(link => {
  // link.customData = { src: "stride-app", lead: "meal-plans" }
  startOnboarding(link.customData.lead);
});

The full walkthrough: 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.

Which teams own cross-promotion between your apps?

Growth marketers
Mobile product teams

Which LinkTrail features does cross-promotion between your apps need?

Deferred deep linking
Smart routing
Per-link source and placement tagging
Post-install events

Cross-promotion questions.

How do you attribute installs from cross-promotion?

Create the link in the workspace of the app being installed and place it in the other app with a source tag naming the placement. The install then attributes to that placement instead of counting as organic, and each placement can be measured separately.

Where should a cross-promotion placement sit?

At the moment the user has a need the other app serves — a budgeting app after a large transaction, a nutrition app after a workout — rather than as a banner on the home screen, with the handoff pre-filled if the apps share accounts.

How do you measure the success of cross-promotion?

Compare the activation rate of users who arrived from the other app with the app's store-organic installs. Cross-promoted users should activate better; if they don't, the handoff is losing context and the payload is the first place to look.

Related

Make your first cross-promo link.

Free for your first 5,000 users. No card, no sales call.