Short definitions of the key terms in this category. Each term links to the entry that explains it in full.
- Mobile retargeting – Paid advertising that re-engages users who already installed an app but became inactive or stopped short of a valuable action.
- Re-engagement – The broader practice of bringing inactive users back through owned (push, email, SMS, in-app) and paid channels. All retargeting is re-engagement; not vice versa.
- Re-attribution – The MMP process of crediting a dormant user’s return to a retargeting campaign – the retargeting equivalent of install attribution.
- Inactivity window – The minimum period a user must be inactive before becoming eligible for retargeting attribution (MMP default: 7 days).
- Re-engagement window – The period after re-attribution during which in-app events remain credited to the retargeting campaign (default: 30 days).
- Dual attribution – Standard MMP behavior crediting post-re-attribution events to both the original UA source and the retargeting campaign.
- is_primary_attribution – An AppsFlyer reporting flag distinguishing the UA view from the retargeting view under dual attribution.
- Organic cannibalization – Paying to “re-engage” users who would have returned anyway; the result of a too-short inactivity window.
- DSP (Demand-Side Platform) – The technology that evaluates and buys individual ad impressions in real time on behalf of advertisers.
- Internal auction – The competition inside a DSP that decides which advertiser’s campaign represents the platform in the external auction.
- Whale – A high-value paying user; a priority retargeting segment with dedicated bidding and creative.
- ATT (App Tracking Transparency) – Apple’s consent framework (iOS 14.5+) requiring opt-in for cross-app tracking; industry opt-in averages ~35% (2025).
- IDFA – Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers, available only for ATT-consented users; the basis of deterministic iOS retargeting.
- Deterministic matching – Recognizing a specific device via a persistent identifier (IDFA/GAID).
- Probabilistic matching – Estimating audience membership from contextual and behavioral signals with a confidence score, without individual identifiers.
- AdAttributionKit (AAK) – Apple’s successor to SKAdNetwork (iOS 17.4+); the first Apple framework supporting re-engagement attribution via signed postbacks.
- Incrementality – The additional conversions/revenue a campaign causes beyond the organic baseline, measured via controlled experiments.
- Holdout (control) group – Users deliberately excluded from a campaign to establish the organic baseline.
- Ghost bidding – An incrementality method where the DSP wins auctions for control users but suppresses ad serving, creating an unbiased baseline.
- iROAS (incremental ROAS) – Incremental revenue divided by spend; the retargeting KPI that ignores claimed-but-organic conversions.
- Deep link – A link routing an ad click to a specific in-app destination rather than the home screen.
- Deferred deep linking – Routing a user to the intended in-app destination after a required (re)install via the app store.
- VT/CT ratio – View-through to click-through conversion ratio; a persistent imbalance toward VT is a retargeting fraud red flag.
- Attribution theft – Fraud in which campaigns claim credit for organic returns – strong reported ROAS, zero incremental lift.
- CTV (Connected TV) – Internet-connected televisions and streaming devices; a household-level, view-through re-engagement surface.
- Household graph – An identity graph linking devices within a home (IP, geo, logins) enabling CTV-to-mobile matching.
- VTA (View-Through Attribution) – Crediting a conversion to a viewed (unclicked) impression; the primary CTV measurement model.
