Everything is changing in mobile marketing: trends, platforms, formats. Only one thing remains unchanged—the desire of businesses to understand where their money is going and whether advertising is paying off.
But in 2025, answering this question has become more difficult. After the iOS 14.5+ updates and the introduction of ATT (App Tracking Transparency), IDFA restrictions, and new Android Privacy Sandbox rules, familiar tracking methods are malfunctioning.
The situation is familiar: you buy advertising, but the data chain is broken. Traffic “leaks,” attribution becomes inaccurate, and ROAS (return on investment) drops because campaigns are more difficult to optimize. When data is lost, profits are lost.
There is a solution to this problem. It’s not a new technology, but today this tool has become more relevant than ever.
We are talking about deep links. In this article, AdKeys team will examine their anatomy: from the technical basics to the strategies used by leaders in the e-commerce and fintech markets. You will learn how to reduce the user’s path to a single click and restore transparency to your analytics.
What is a Deep Link in Simple Terms?
Imagine a classic scenario: a user sees an ad for orange sneakers on Instagram. They like the price, the model, and the color. They click “Buy,” are redirected to the App Store, download your store’s app, open it, and… end up on the home page. The sneakers are nowhere to be found. They have to search for them again through the catalog.
What happens next? According to statistics, more than 60% of users simply close the app at this stage. You paid for the click, you paid for the install, but you lost the conversion to a purchase.
Why did this happen? Because Deep Link was not configured. Deep Link is a link that takes the user not just to the website or app store, but to a specific screen within the mobile app (product card, promotion page, profile settings).
If we compare it to the physical world:
- A regular link is the address of a hotel. You enter the lobby and have to find the right room yourself.
- A deep link is a teleport that takes you straight to room 308, to a bed with a sea view.
Why is This Critically Important?
In the age of the attention economy, every extra action taken by a user reduces the likelihood of the desired action.
According to research by AppsFlyer, the use of deep links increases conversion to purchase by an average of 2.5 times, as the user is immediately taken to the target screen, bypassing manual search.
Three Types of Deep Links: Understanding the Terminology
Not all deep links work the same way. It is important for marketers and product managers to distinguish between three types.
1. Standard Deep Links
Only work if the user already has the app installed.
- Scenario: the user receives a push notification saying “Your order has been picked.” They click on it and the order status screen opens in the app.
- Problem: if the app is not installed, the link will either return an error or open a browser (depending on the settings), but the magic will be lost.
2. Deferred Deep Links
These are the Holy Grail for user acquisition managers. They work even if the app is not installed on the device.
- Scenario: a user sees an ad on Facebook. They don’t have your app. They click on the link -> They are taken to the App Store/Google Play -> Downloads the app -> Launches it -> And immediately sees the content they clicked on in the ad.
- How it works: the tracking system (MMP) “remembers” the user’s digital fingerprint when they click and matches it when they first launch the app.
3. Contextual Deep Links
This is an improved version of deferred links. They don’t just lead to a screen, they also transfer data.
- Scenario: a blogger provides a referral link to a taxi service: “Download and receive 500 rubles.” The user downloads the application, and the promo code is automatically applied upon first login. The user does not need to enter it manually.
Technical Side: URI Schemes Versus Universal Links
This is where misunderstandings between marketing and development often arise. Let’s clarify.
URI Schemes (Old School)
They look like myapp://path/to/content.
- Pros: easy to set up.
- Cons: if the app is not installed, the link will show an error. In addition, different apps may try to use the same scheme, causing conflicts.
Universal Links (iOS) and App Links (Android)
This is the modern standard. Links look like regular URLs: https://www.myshop.com/product/123.
- How it works: the operating system (iOS or Android) checks a special file on your server (Apple App Site Association or Asset Links JSON). If the app is installed, the OS opens it. If not, it opens the same URL in Safari/Chrome (where a redirect to the store can be configured).
- Advantage: seamless experience and no “Page not found” errors.
Three Global Business Challenges That Deep Links Solve
Mobile app marketing today is a battle for fractions of a second of attention and every percentage point of effectiveness. And deep links are not just a “convenient feature” here, but a strategic tool that solves three fundamental tasks.
1. Deep links and conversions: Friction killers
In UX, there is a concept called “friction”—any obstacles that prevent a user from performing a target action. And having to search for a product manually after installing the app is not just friction, it’s a wall.
Without a deep link, the funnel looks like this: Click on ad -> Store -> Installation -> Home page -> Search -> Product -> Purchase. At the “Search” stage, up to 50-60% of users drop out. They simply forget what they wanted to buy or are too lazy to search.
Deep linking removes unnecessary steps: Click -> Store -> Install -> Product -> Purchase. The result: Streamlining the funnel (Seamless Experience) directly affects the CR (Conversion Rate). Practice shows that Deep Linking can increase conversion to the target action by up to 40%.
Case LINE Music case study: Doubling conversion (eliminating friction)
Mechanism: the streaming service replaced links leading to the home screen with deep links that took users directly to the payment page. Eliminating one unnecessary step—searching for the subscription page—doubled conversion.
Result: subscription conversion increased by 63% on Android and 99% on iOS.
Conclusion: deep links do not change the advertising message; they change the quality of delivery of that message, which is the fastest way to maximize CR.
Source: Branch, LINE Music Case Study
2. Deep links and privacy: Navigation in the post-IDFA era
After Apple introduced its ATT (App Tracking Transparency) policy and abandoned IDFA, it became more difficult to track users. The question became: “How can we understand where the user came from?”
This is where deep links in conjunction with MMP (Mobile Measurement Partners) come into play.
- Web-to-App: transferring users from your mobile site to your app via deep links (Smart Banners) allows you to use first-party data. You work with the user within your ecosystem, independent of third-party cookies.
- Attribution: deferred deep linking technologies allow you to attribute the installation of a specific advertising campaign with a high degree of probability (through probabilistic modeling), even if the user does not have an advertising ID. This is a lifeline for analytics in the private world.
3. Deep links and ROAS: How to stop wasting your budget
It’s simple math. Imagine you pay $5 per click on Facebook.
- Without a deep link: the user downloaded the app, landed on the home page, didn’t find the promotional product, and left. You spent $5 and earned $0. ROAS is negative.
- With deep links: the user lands directly on the product page and buys it for $50. You spent $5 and earned $50.
Deep links maximize the return on every click purchased. They ensure that paid traffic “lands” exactly where the sale takes place. If you drive traffic to your app without deep links, you are literally paying users for a trip to the store’s front door, but not letting them inside.
Case Adobe Spark: 95% increase in engagement (impact on LTV)
Mechanism: Adobe Spark used deferred deep linking to preserve the context of users who came from external sources. Users who clicked on an ad for a new tool were taken directly to that tool after installation.
Result: 95% increase in conversion (from visit to content publication).
Conclusion: deep links not only save clicks, but also provide the necessary data for ROAS optimization, and increased engagement (content publication) is a direct driver of LTV growth.
Source: Branch, Adobe Spark Case Study
Why You Need Deep Links: 5 Usage Scenarios
If you think that deep links are only necessary for e-commerce, you are missing out on opportunities.
1. User Acquisition
Using Deferred Deep Links in Facebook, Google, and TikTok ads.
- Case study: a food delivery service launches an ad for discounted pepperoni pizza. Without a deep link, new users see the home page after installing the app and get lost. With a deep link, they immediately see the pizza in their cart with the discount applied.
- Result: conversion rate from installation to first purchase increased by 20-30%.
2. Retargeting and abandoned carts
Bringing a user back to the app is cheaper than attracting a new one.
- Mechanics: you send an email or push notification: “Items in your cart are waiting for you.” Clicking on the link should take the user directly to the cart, not the home page.
3. Web-to-App (Smart Banners)
Do you have mobile traffic on your website (SEO), but low conversion rates on the web? Transfer them to the app.
- Solution: a smart banner at the top of the mobile version of the website. If there is an app, use the “Open” button (deep link). If not, use “Download” (deferred deep link).
Fact: conversion to purchase in the app is usually three times higher than on the mobile web, thanks to saved maps and the native interface.
4. Referral programs and sharing
“Share with a friend and get a bonus.”
- If the link shared by the user simply leads to the store’s home page, the referral chain is broken. Deep link allows you to “drag” the ID of the person who invited you through the installation process.
5. QR-коды (Offline-to-Online)
- Example: QR code on a table in a restaurant.
- Scenario: Customer scans the code -> The app opens directly to the restaurant’s menu (or prompts the user to download it and opens the menu).
Case Shopee: 126% revenue growth (Traffic mobilization)
Mechanism: a large e-commerce retailer knew that conversion rates in the app were 20 times higher than on the mobile site. By implementing deep links on its mobile website, Shopee began automatically redirecting users to the corresponding page in the app. The share of all traffic going to the app increased from 20% to 50%.
Result: 126% increase in checkout conversion.
Conclusion: deep links are a key tool for driving revenue by converting low-conversion web traffic into a high-revenue app channel.
Source: AppsFlyer, Shopee Case Study
Headaches and How to Treat Them: Walled Gardens
Marketers often encounter a problem: a link works in notes, but does not work on Instagram or Facebook.
Why? Social networks use their own internal browsers (in-app browsers), which block direct access to third-party applications in order to keep users within their ecosystem. This is called the “Walled Gardens” problem.
Solution: use intermediate landing pages or specialized solutions from MMP (Mobile Measurement Partners)—AppsFlyer (OneLink), Adjust, Branch. These services create a “smart bridge”:
- The user clicks on Instagram.
- An intermediate web page opens.
- The script forces the app to open or redirects to the store.
How to Implement Deep Links: Checklist
1. Choosing a provider
If you use MMP (AppsFlyer, Adjust, MyTracker), use their solutions (OneLink from AppsFlyer, Universal Links from Adjust). This will ensure correct attribution. If you don’t have a budget for MMP, use Branch.io (the market leader in deep links) or Airbridge. They offer free plans or starter packages.
Of course, you can implement Universal Links (iOS) and App Links (Android) using your own developers. This is free, but it does not provide analytics and is more difficult to configure for deferred scenarios.
2. Configure the scheme (For developers)
- iOS: Configure Associated Domains and upload the apple-app-site-association file to your web server.
- Android: Configure Intent Filters in the application manifest and upload assetlinks.json.
3. Testing
Never launch an ad without testing the deep link.
- Check the “App installed” scenario.
- Check the “App not installed” scenario (there should be a redirect to the store).
- Check that links from notes, Telegram, and Instagram work (these are different environments!).
Mistakes That Kill Conversion
- Broken link (404 in the app): you are directing users to a product that is out of stock or has been removed. The app should be able to handle such situations (graceful failure)—for example, open the product category or the main page, but with a notification saying “The product is sold out, see similar products.”
- Forgotten analytics: the deep link works, the user clicks through, but in analytics it is marked as “Organic.” Be sure to mark links with UTM tags within the deep link parameters.
- Desktop redirection: if a user clicks on a deep link from a computer (e.g., from Telegram Desktop), they should be redirected to the web version of the site rather than seeing an error. Smart links from MMP can detect the device and redirect desktop users to the site.
Let's be honest: in 2025, forcing users to search for products manually after clicking is simply an unacceptable luxury. After all, every extra click is a "killer" for your conversion rate. You've already paid for their attention, so don't complicate their path to purchase. Yes, implementing the technology requires some effort and close cooperation between the marketing and development departments, but the result pays off instantly. Because nowadays, it's not the one who shouts the loudest in advertising who wins, but the one who gets the customer to the goal faster.
Want to set up a flawless tracking and deep linking system for your app? The AdKeys team specializes in complex integrations and performance marketing. We will not only help you drive traffic, but also ensure that every click works to increase your profits.
