What is a Postback?

In mobile app marketing, a postback contains data that is sent from attribution providers to media sources. There are two types of postbacks:

Install postback: Informs the winning media source that it was attributed for an install (advertisers can also decide to send a postback to partners that did not win the attribution, albeit with limited data compared to the winner).

In-app event postback: Informs the media source of a post-install in-app action as it happens. 

It’s also important to note that the postback mechanism in Apple’s SKAdnetwork is completely different and presents a few challenges for advertisers that we’ll cover further down.

What is a Postback good for?

Postbacks enable advertisers and media sources to better optimize their ad campaigns by providing a useful feedback loop for the entire mobile advertising ecosystem. 

Here are the three key benefits of postbacks:

• Postbacks help advertisers better optimize their campaigns and allow ad networks to accurately execute Cost-Per-Install (CPI) based billing.
• Install postbacks allow advertisers to create remarketing audiences without sharing identifiable information.
• The data from conversion postbacks provide advertisers with campaign data to better optimize their remarketing campaigns.