A retargeting ad reaches users who already have your app. To bring a user back into the app, the ad has to open the app directly, with a deep link.
Deep link vs deferred deep link #
- Deep link: the user has the app. The link opens it straight at the destination.
- Deferred deep link: the user doesn’t have the app, which for retargeting means a reinstall. The link goes to the app store; Tenjin keeps the destination, and the Tenjin SDK hands it to the app on first open. Set it with deeplink_url on the tracking link; the app reads it as deferred_deeplink_url. See Deferred Deep Linking and LiveOps Campaigns.
Types of deep links #
| Custom URL scheme | Universal Links (iOS) / App Links (Android) | |
|---|---|---|
| Example | myapp://shop/item/1 | https://yourdomain.com/shop/item/1 |
| Redirect Behavior | Opens the app when it is installed, otherwise fails. | Opens the app when installed, otherwise the web page. Fallback is built within the OS. |
| Setup | Works with every channel and is the simplest to set up: the scheme is registered in the app, nothing is needed on a domain. | The link’s domain needs to be verified for your appthe verification file on your domain (apple-app-site-association, assetlinks.json) andthe matching entry in the app (the Associated Domains entitlement on iOS, an autoVerify intent filter on Android). |
| Browser Compatibility | Supported by all browsers | Not every browser or in-app browser honors them; where it doesn’t, the link opens as a web page even if the app is installed. |
Where to put your deep link #
Many channels open the app themselves, from the deep link you set in the channel: the self-attributing networks (Google, Meta, TikTok) and OEM store channels such as OPPO and Xiaomi. The Tenjin tracking link is not part of that redirect.
Other channels rely on the Tenjin tracking link for the redirect. Put your deep link in the tracking link’s redirect_url parameter: the click is recorded and the user is sent to the deep link.
With a custom URL scheme there is no fallback yet: if the app isn’t installed nothing opens. Universal Links / App Links don’t have this problem. A dynamic fallback based on the device (open the app if installed, otherwise the app store) is coming soon.