• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, September 12, 2012

InsightExpress has developed a method to link and measure consumer attitude and behavior as they relate to mobile ads. The marketing research and data analytics firm plans to release the project Thursday.  

The research method allows marketers to track mobile ad exposure on iOS devices, which have remained nearly impossible to measure across browsing sessions, according to Marc Ryan, chief research officer at InsightExpress. "It allows us to measure the impact of online and mobile together," he said.

The modeling platform -- Ignite Mobile -- builds on Ignite Network, a panel-based digital analytics and research platform by capturing the mobile ad exposure across a 250,000-member panel that analyzes data from Android, iOS and WP platform users.

Some of the biggest issues with collecting data on mobile campaigns come from the "fat finger issue" user who mistakenly presses a button on the ad and a fairly small screen, or intrusive ad and pop-up invite.

Finding people to participate in the research related to emerging marketers is not easy, so panelists are invited via email to participate in the survey rather than targeted with pop-up ads.

The belief that iOS devices reject third-party cookies by default also created challenges. All ad servers, including mobile, for the most part use third-party cookies. The iPhone rejects the cookie, making tracking in mobile "ridiculously" difficult, Ryan said. InsightExpress doesn't use third-party cookies -- only first-party cookies.

Privacy related to cookies and technology on the phone also remains a concern. Those who have read Apple's privacy policy for Siri know the audio file gets sent to the company for processing before completing the action on the phone. Apple processes a copy of each command and phone number the phone's owner verbally calls.