The deferred deep link attribution trap

The deferred deep link attribution trap

Deferred deep links route a new user to the right in-app screen after install. Great for UX — quietly poisonous for attribution if your MMP credits the click that fired the link instead of the click that drove the install.

✓ Branch and AppsFlyer OneLink both stamp the deep link with the originating click ID
✗ When a user taps an organic share link AFTER seeing a paid ad, the deep-link click can override the paid touch
✗ This silently shifts credit from paid UA to 'owned/organic' channels

The check: pull a cohort that converted via deferred deep links and compare their first-touch vs deep-link-touch source. A >5% mismatch means your owned channels are stealing paid credit.

Fix: configure last-paid-touch priority over deep-link touch in the attribution window settings.

Verdict: audit deep-link credit quarterly — it's the most common cause of overstated organic.
Best for: growth teams running both paid UA and viral sharing loops.