After ATT the ad platform sees a slice of what happens in your app. What you send back decides who it goes looking for. Fixing that layer has moved accounts further than any creative swap I have run, and it is the first thing I do on every account.
This page is for a team whose value optimization stopped working, whose three dashboards disagree, or whose iOS conversions arrive as counts with no value on them. It names the three things that are usually broken, what gets built to fix them, and the $606K test that settled which signal predicts D28 ROAS.
What is usually broken
Three things, in the order I check them. Budget pools in a few ad sets while the rest go hungry, because Meta optimizes per ad set and the split is wrong before anyone looks at creative. Trial starts reach the platform but renewals and cancellations do not, so it optimizes on half the data. And the platform, RevenueCat and the MMP each report a different revenue number, so nobody knows which campaign is actually paying back.
What gets built
Event mapping that sends the events that matter, at the right moment, with value attached. SKAN 4 and AdAttributionKit configured so iOS conversions carry value rather than counts. A purchase signal sent through your server via CAPI where the one from the device is thin. AEM on iOS. Predicted LTV in the bid where the payback window is long. And value optimization switched on only once the signal can carry it, because switched on early it optimizes toward the wrong users with great confidence.
For SDK work and anything that runs on your servers I bring an attribution engineer from my network. I design and own the layer; the engineering hands are specialists. On Videa that layer, a custom CAPI purchase signal and predicted LTV in bidding, is what took D0 ROAS from 20% to 43%.
The evidence for putting this first
A $606K test on whether day zero value or cost per purchase predicts D28 ROAS. A $383K audit of how often Meta actually hits a tROAS target. Why I keep 1 day view attribution on when most advice says to turn it off. Each one is a decision I made with money on it, written up afterwards.
Who it is for
- Apps whose Meta value optimization stopped working, or never did
- Teams reconciling Meta, RevenueCat and Adjust by hand every month
- Apps that lean on iOS, where SKAN postbacks carry counts but no value
- Any account about to scale spend on a signal that has not been checked
What you get
- An audit of what the platforms currently receive, and what they are optimizing toward
- Event mapping and value configuration across Meta, Google and Apple
- SKAN 4 and AdAttributionKit setup, AEM on iOS
- A CAPI purchase signal where the one from the device is thin
- A reconciliation between platform, subscription backend and MMP you can rerun
Questions people ask
Is this the same as setting up the MMP?
No. The MMP records what happened. Signal engineering decides what the ad platforms are told, and in what shape, so they optimize toward payers. Most accounts have the MMP installed and the signal wrong.
How much of my iOS organic is actually paid?
More than you think, and there is a way to estimate it. The method is on the blog.
How long does it take?
The audit takes days. The fixes start feeding the algorithms within weeks, which is faster than any creative verdict, and it is why this comes first. The growth audit is where it starts for teams below the retainer threshold.
Does this need engineering from my side?
Some, for SDK changes and anything that runs on your servers, and I bring an attribution engineer from my network to do them with your team. The design and the ownership of the layer stay with me.