Events are actions performed by users within an app, such as completing a level or making a purchase. Any and all actions within apps can be defined as an event. These can be tracked with your mobile measurement partner (MMP) to learn how users interact with your app.

Why are events important?

The importance of events depends on what you choose to track. As any action could be an event, it’s important to get setup with events that are relevant to your app. Savvy marketers will plan which events they want to track ahead of time, having deduced what works for their particular app, use case and workflow. Once you’ve started receiving data, you’ll learn how users navigate and interact with your interface, including what they like and where the friction is. Events also have a purpose in how you attribute a chain of events, known as a ‘conversion chain,’ which lead to revenue events (the actions that exchange money for in-app value.) Conversion chains prove engagement and allow you to understand the events that could be optimized, and the places that could give you more opportunities to add further revenue events. Without tracking events which lead to conversions, you could lose out on the data that informs critical decisions. Contrarily, it’s easy to get bogged down with too much irrelevant data. Therefore, it’s important to track specific milestones or actions. For example, in a gaming app, you may want to track finishing the first level, or first few chapters, or even the first achievement, as opposed to the fifth or sixth level, as understanding why users drop off early could be more valuable than why they disappear later.

What are app events?

Learn how users interact with your app and where to optimize the user journey with mobile app event measurement and analysis.

Glossary What are app events?

A mobile app event is an action performed by users within an app. An app event can be anything a mobile marketer or developer determines is helpful to measure. Often discussed in mobile marketing, a revenue event is any action performed by users within an app that is connected to a monetary value.

A few examples of mobile app events that might be measured include a user completing a level of a game, visiting a particular section of an app, or making a purchase. Any and all actions that are defined as an event can be tracked with your mobile measurement partner (MMP) to learn how users interact with your app.

Why is mobile app event tracking important?

An app developer or marketer will choose to measure app events that will provide valuable information which can be actioned for optimization efforts. App event measurement provides data that can be leveraged to identify trends in user behavior, which facilitates the improvement of the user experience and app engagement. These improvements can have a domino effect on boosting average revenue per user (ARPU) and reducing user churn.

You may wish to measure app events in order to analyze:

What a user is doing just before the point of churn
The quality of leads driven by your user acquisition (UA) campaigns
Where a user goes in your app after install
User lifetime value (LTV)
Which events are connected with the highest session lengths
What a user does during a subscription trial period
The impact of pricing changes or feature updates
Which features in your app are popular, and which are not
Where a user is navigating in-app pre-purchase
How many times a user engages with a particular app event pre-purchase
Which devices are used more commonly used for a particular app event

Examples of mobile app events by vertical

App events will vary depending on app vertical and individual app needs. Here are just a few examples to give an idea of what can be measured.

Gaming app events

Level completion
In-app currency purchase
Achievement unlocked
Character customization
Social media share

E-commerce app events

Friend referral
Add to wishlist
Add to shopping cart
Application of promo code
Checkout

Fintech app events

Newsletter sign up
Account log in
Deposit
Withdrawal
Loan application
Premium subscription trial

How many app events should I analyze?

It’s easy to get bogged down with too much irrelevant data. Therefore, it’s important to track specific milestones or actions. For example, in a gaming app, you may want to track finishing the first level, or first few chapters, or even the first achievement, as opposed to the fifth or sixth level, as understanding why users drop off early could be more valuable than why they disappear later.

App events and Adjust

With Adjust, marketers are able to set mobile app events manually within our platform in order to track whatever they need. From there, we take care of the technology behind measuring event engagement, tallying points scored and purchases made, and the entire chain in between.

If you’re unsure where to start, Adjust supplies recommended conversion funnels by vertical to provide a customizable starting point for measurement and analysis. With our data clearly organized in the dashboard, you can download and manage as you please, figure out the places that might need optimization, and gauge just how successful your app is–and what you can improve to make it even better.

Interested in finding out more? Learn how to set up custom events in your Adjust dashboard or request a demo.