Seamless linking and UX: The hidden driver of mobile growth

At Adjust Ignite Istanbul 2025, I explored a theme that often flies under the radar in discussions about mobile marketing: seamless linking and user experience (UX).

In an era where performance marketers are obsessed with data, targeting, and creative optimization, the invisible connective tissue that ties the user journey together—how users move between platforms and touchpoints—is often overlooked. Yet, this is where much of the hidden growth lies.

In this blog, I’ll revisit the key themes from that session and share the main takeaways for mobile marketers, including what to prioritize, what to watch out for, and how seamless linking and UX can unlock new growth opportunities.

No two user journeys are ever the same. Even for brands with standardized funnels, each user interacts differently, whether it’s through different devices, channels, at different times, and more.

Consider two users shopping for the same product. One discovers it through a Google search, scans a QR code, and completes the purchase in-app. Another first sees it in an influencer post, gets nudged by a cashback email, and finally converts after receiving a referral link from a friend.

Their paths may seem distinct, but both reflect the non-linear, multi-touch, cross-platform reality of modern mobile commerce.

A decade ago, performance marketing was simpler. User journeys were mostly linear: click, convert, repeat. But the ecosystem has since exploded in complexity.

Mobile marketers have diversified along three dimensions:

1. Omnichannel expansion: From paid media to owned and earned media such as email, SMS, push notifications, and QR codes. Owned channels are 3–4x more cost-efficient and drive *2x higher *retention when integrated well.
2. Cross-platform journeys: The mobile web, desktop, and CTV are no longer competitors to the app, they’re feeders. Over 50% of commerce journeys start on mobile web but finish in-app, and users active across app + web have *30–40% higher *LTV.
3. Deep linking: The unsung hero that drops users directly into relevant in-app content, reducing friction and boosting conversions by 20–30%.

Together, these shifts have created tremendous opportunity, and an equal measure of complexity.

Every advance brings its own challenges. As the mobile marketing landscape has diversified, it has also fragmented across linking standards, devices, and environments.

Despite its impact, seamless UX rarely makes it to the top of a marketer’s optimization list. We talk about AI, first-party data, incrementality, and marketing mix modeling (MMM), but all of that sits above the waterline of the iceberg.

Beneath it lies the foundation: linking, user journeys, and experience.

Without smooth, intuitive transitions between touchpoints, all the data-driven sophistication in the world can’t save a broken journey.

Here’s the simple formula that ties it all together:

Like in a game of Snakes and Ladders, there are many “snakes” that can pull brands down:

1. Poor aesthetics: Unbranded tracking domains, long links full of query strings, and endless redirects make users nervous. Add popups and unbranded bridge pages, and you’ve already lost trust.
2. Broken cross-platform routing: Apps installed but not opening, dead-end buttons, coupons not applied—these small errors accumulate into big losses.
3. Lack of scalable link generation: Manual link creation processes that don’t scale lead to errors, inconsistency, and lost time.

So how can brands get this right? It starts with orchestrating the linking infrastructure itself, ensuring that every click, across every channel, knows exactly where to go.

Bad linking is like inviting a customer into your store and leaving them lost in the aisles. Good linking is the white-glove experience, guiding them effortlessly to the product they want, remembering their preferences, and leaving them delighted.

The difference between frustration and loyalty, between drop-offs and conversions, is often invisible, but it’s powerful.

Creating seamless user experiences isn’t just a technical task. It’s a shared responsibility across marketers, engineers, networks, and partners. Together, we can transform mobile journeys into growth engines

As marketers and technologists, we often chase the next shiny thing: AI, automation, data enrichment. But in the quest for innovation, let’s not forget the basics, every click is a promise of experience.

When that experience is seamless, users reward us with engagement, retention, and advocacy.

To learn more about Adjust’s TrueLink, or how we can help grow your app business in general, request a demo today.