By Craig Parker, Product Manager at RealityMine
We’ve never had more ways to discover new products, content, and services. TikTok inspires your dinner. YouTube recommends your next holiday. ChatGPT gives you the summary of it all — no need to scroll, search, or click through ads.
But while discovery is evolving rapidly, our ability to understand what users actually do is quietly fading.
Third-party cookies, mobile ad IDs, and cross-platform tracking — traditional tools we've relied upon — are vanishing. App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in rates dropped from 73% to around 25% by 2024. Google’s advertising IDs (GAID) are facing deprecation. Third-party cookies will account for less than 1% of web traffic by 2026.Understanding the journey from inspiration to action is more valuable than ever — not just for marketers, but for product teams, researchers, and strategists striving to create better digital experiences.
Modern user journeys don’t follow a neat funnel anymore. They skip, repeat, and blur across platforms. Here’s what these journeys may look like:
That entire path happens in minutes, across different apps, some with zero shared tracking infrastructure.
We’re not just talking about a shift in devices or channels. This is a fundamental reordering of how discovery, decision, and purchase unfold. And that means measurement needs to catch up.
As these cross-app journeys become more complex, our ability to follow them is eroding. Meanwhile, users are increasingly relying on private browsing, in-app web views, and AI assistants, leaving fewer visible traces than ever.
This isn’t just a technical problem. It’s a strategic blindspot. When you can’t see the steps users are taking — or even which platform they’re on — you risk optimising based on assumptions, not reality.
In my work analysing behavioural data across mobile journeys, I’ve seen how real-life patterns break the mould of what most dashboards capture. Examples that continue to fascinate me:
When you can see cross-app behaviour — not just isolated events — you start to understand intent.
We’re entering an era where users control their own discovery: AI tools, private browsers, and in-app browsing all reduce traditional data signals. But people are still making decisions. They’re still buying, searching, switching apps. And if we can map those journeys — not just track the endpoints — we can gain better insight into the “why,” not just the “what.” This opens up bigger questions:
The measurement industry is facing a turning point. The traditional tools may be fading, but the need to understand real user behaviour is only growing. The organisations that invest in mapping and interpreting the full journey — not just the last click — will have the edge. Because in this new landscape, it’s not just about where users go.
It’s about how they get there — and what that tells us about what matters most.
Craig Parker is a Product Manager at RealityMine, where he leads the development of mobile app and web measurement solutions. With over a decade of experience spanning project delivery, UX optimisation, and data-driven SaaS products, Craig specialises in turning behavioural insights into strategic value. He’s especially interested in how emerging technologies like AI are reshaping user journeys across the app ecosystem.
