Category: Adobe Analytics

Activity Conversions Use Case

On January 22, 2022

This week, we had a client reach out to us with an interesting use case with one of their Activities in Adobe Target.

The Activity was a test in their cart targeted to visitors who were making their third visit to that location. Adobe Target profiles easily support targeting such an audience but the Analysts needed to only count purchases if they happened during the same session as that third visit.

This video highlights how you can use Adobe Target ‘events’ and data like Profile Attributes as Activity Goals and still have the data in Adobe Analytics via A4T.

Video Transcript

hello so i’ve got a pretty cool use case
here a client of ours was asking us
about a specific situation a specific
business requirement and how to approach
it
so it’s like oh wow this is a wonderful
example of activity conversions
which we we get a lot of questions about
and and so here here’s a really cool use
case let me outline it for you so
the requirement is to create an audience
that starts incrementing visits
to the cart starting today so it’s brand
new audience it’s it’s not something we
we can bring in legacy visits to from
adobe analytics and share to the
experience cloud and i should have
prefaced this is for a test that they
want to run via adobe target
on the third visit to the cart they need
to show a promo code but only on the
third visit
fourth fifth sixth whatever other visit
only the third visit is to get this
particular promo code i think there is
some data behind the decision for the
third visit
but that wasn’t shared with me so
they also want to only count purchases
made from those visitors when their
virtual was made during that third visit
to the cart if someone came to the cart
on their third visit
adobe target would
put them and show them the promo code
these these folks big users of of a for
t
um they don’t want to see and use the
purchase event in in analytics because
it wouldn’t have the definition
associated from adobe target in terms of
the third visit
so the fourth requirement is to get this
data to get this success event into
adobe
analytics so they can do deeper analyses
apply their segmentation and all the
rich stuff that they do within that
particular world
so this is very doable this is a
wonderful example of taking a success
event from adobe target and giving it
over to adobe analytics to do the deep
diving so first things first in order to
uh
to create this required we’re going to
use the target profile
a wonderful little tool it’s the cdp
before cdp’s were a thing
so
we go into adobe target uh we go under
audiences and i went ahead and i created
this particular script already
so there it is cart visit to anonymize
the company i change the domain
but essentially what happens is anytime
this
url is seen it’s going to grab the
session value which is a
adobe manages it and compares it against
the the last one which is nice it’s a
wonderful way to increment visits
and so this this works good this handles
uh requirement one creating an audience
from from day x
uh based off of certain behaviors
so now we’ll go about kind of creating
this test i’ll go ahead and create this
test in target just to show you how this
all kind of comes together so
come over to here let’s just do an a b
test i’ll use form to be quick
to do next
so let’s just use target global mbox
now what i want to do is i want to limit
this to the cart so let’s uh
the cart but also uh the the third visit
i can combine it the next step but as a
best practice you should you should
location specific stuff here targeting
is more audience related even though the
cart page
is audience and uh but it’s better to
think this let me just rename this
card uh activity
conversions
demo
so we’re going to come in here add in
audience requirements let me just create
a
car page
site pages current page
url
a lot of companies are passing uh adobe
analytics page names it’s a wonderful
best practice i would encourage that
you’d be able to can use that definition
under custom and be able to use that as
an inbox parameter but this for demo
purposes let’s say that’s the cart page
boom cart page has been added okay i’ll
leave that i’m not going to sign an
offer but this would be the promo code
for people that come on their third
visit you can add in multiple
experiences what have you
next uh this would be your
cart visit behavior so what we want to
do is create audience so this will be
third visit to cart
target definition of visit since it’s
becoming from the target profile
okay we’ll go to visit a profile because
it’s a visitor profile attribute and we
will change this to cart visit not
contains
we’re going to do equals and i have it
the profile script it’s not going to be
3.0 it’s going to be 3 exactly 3.
and so this will make sure that this
didn’t get
will not show the promo code to people
who have visits greater than three or
less than three
so boom
first the location of the experience the
audience of the experience next i’m come
over here
and then you’ll remember the a for t was
a requirement so we’re going to choose
analytics
you will choose our
report suite in adobe analytics okay so
now
this is where
we’re satisfying this requirement okay
keep in mind they they
we we want to only count conversions
that happen
when it was happened during
the visitors
third visit to the cart so the same
session of that third cart visit here’s
how we’ll do this
so go back to target
so what we want to do
if i were to choose analytics metrics
you certainly want that would work but
they wouldn’t satisfy this case
for those companies that are using
heavy users of a4t this is kind of
this is helpful to see reporting in
adobe and adobe target
but you get a bonus metric this
conversion is adobe target data so i can
suit view to page which is nice i can
put the order thank you page but that
wouldn’t satisfy the requirement for the
third visit um and there’s nothing here
to kind of help me refine that
um
clicked in mbox this is a wonderful tool
um very popular for um
for visual editor uh driven campaigns uh
but for this case i’m gonna use target
global mbox i’m gonna do target global
inbox
now i’m gonna add in a requirement add
in audience targeting so what i’m going
to do here
is create a condition
that say only count conversions
uh on that third visit to the card so
first thing i need to do is i got to
create like an order thank you page
order think you page do to do
again we would you
friendly little tip here
pass the analytics page name to the
target global inbox that would be
available here let’s just do this
current page
url
contains
let’s just say
thank you dot html
it’s not a real page
for demo okay so i created the order
thank you page
so now what i’m going to do is combine
multiple audiences i’m going to combine
the order thank you page
i’m going to combine the third visit to
the cart
so and then i’ll save this
i’ll select it and hit done
so now this success event let me uh let
me rename this it won’t matter for
analysis just say
purchase on third card visit
oh running out of characters
cart
visit okay
so now um this is like this bonus
success event so i’m gonna simply hit
save and close
i’m not going to turn this on because uh
actually
no i’m not i actually don’t have offer
so i could turn it on um
so i could turn on no harm because
there’s just default content it’ll just
show
uh
so now the activity is live
and so within the reporting it’s a for t
so it’ll take a while to show data
within here i don’t think it’ll be yeah
so it’s not available just yet
but to
let’s just call this
a test within so this now we’re into
analytics
so organizations will have all of their
metrics and all that wonderful stuff as
well
but to get this metric this goal that we
configured here
this is an adobe target driven goal it
would show up in analytics workspace as
activity conversions
and this is applicable to any of your
activities that are running an adobe
target
now you can’t simply just drag over
activity conversions and call it a day
you’ve got to come into here and you’ve
got to adjust the attribution model you
have to change this to same touch
same touch and hit apply
boom you’re done
so what this organization will now be
able to do
is exactly what they wanted
to be able to see in adobe analytics
a success event based off an adobe
target definition of a success event so
really freaking cool wonderful way for
adobe target and adobe analytics to work
together server-side to pass that
information along so

And screenshots of the “Primary Goal Configuration” to automate the flow of this data into Analytics:

MiaProva Activity Sources

By Brian Hawkins

On June 18, 2021

In Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Features

We added something pretty significant to MiaProva this week. Activity Sources.

As you may know, MiaProva is the only Optimization Management Solution to integrate with Adobe Target and Adobe Analytics fully. Any Activity type or optimization effort in Adobe Target is fully available for management within MiaProva. Any of your Adobe Analytics Segments, Metrics, Calculated Metrics, Events, etc….are also fully available as well. We’ve expanded our deep integration with Adobe I/O to now give our users Activity Sources.

Activity Sources represent different sources for optimization or testing related events. Adobe Target is a wonderful example of an Activity Source, and now MiaProva has broadened Optimization Management to include any data from any dimension in Adobe Analytics.

At MiaProva, our most successful customers have shown us that:

Data collected and reported on should have more of an optimization focus with ROI and learning management
Considerable opportunities exist within Adobe Analytics to expand on optimization and personalization over and above Adobe Target
Organizations need a centralized platform to manage all of their optimization efforts along with the efforts that stem from their testing and optimization solution

Adobe Analytics Dimensions

Adobe Analytics provides organizations with 75 Props, 250 eVars, and 3 List Variables. These variables allow organizations to report and analyze any data that is associated with them. MiaProva now treats each of these as configuration sources for Optimization Related efforts.

These additional sources also inherit the same MiaProva benefits that Activities from Adobe Target get including:

Real-time and automated reporting
Custom alerting and notifications based on any conversion event in Adobe Analytics based on defined thresholds and confidence levels
Centralized management with any other source, including Adobe Target
Program Dashboards and ROI models
Automatic creation of a knowledge library
Collaboration and risk mitigation
And everything else available within MiaProva…

Given the limitless ways organizations can use their Adobe Analytics Variables, the opportunities to treat the data collected by them like optimization initiatives are essentially limitless. Here are a few examples to give you a sense of the power this Activity Sources feature enables:

All acquisition initiatives (SEM, Email, Affiliate, etc.….) – huge opportunities here!
Product Finding Method eVar
Form type if B2B
Custom feature flagging
Internal server-side testing
Loyal program management
Page Categories
Search
Custom multi-armed bandits
Other testing solutions

Looking to the future, as organizations adopt and make use of Adobe’s Experience Platform (AEP), this Activity Sources capability by MiaProva will be even more valuable given the power AEP has to collect and manage data from many sources. We’ve built this capability for today with the future in mind, given the considerable opportunities that exist with Adobe’s Journey Optimizer.

Configuration in MiaProva

Organizations can easily configure Activity Sources right within MiaProva’s Admin Console as seen below.

Here organizations can add any of their Adobe Analytics dimensions (eVars, list variables, sProps, etc…) as an Activity Source.

Simply provide a name, the dimension ID, and a value pattern and MiaProva will immediately take over and provide management of these sources along with your Adobe Target Activities!

Below highlights how one can Access or manage these different sources within MiaProva’s Live Dashboard.

Adobe I/O and MiaProva

By Brian Hawkins

On January 24, 2021

In Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target

Adobe I/O is Adobe’s developer ecosystem where Adobe makes available its APIs for all of its many products. MiaProva makes very strategic use of the APIs for both Adobe Target as well as Adobe Analytics within Adobe I/O.

Adobe I/O allows MiaProva to manage any and all Activities and Activity Types as well as Recommendations. For those organizations that leverage A4T, MiaProva provides a complete integration there as well for all metrics and calculated metrics.

Upon onboarding MiaProva, we require a connection to Adobe I/O. This process takes just a few minutes to complete but it does expire after 1 year. Adobe does this for security reasons for any and all projects that connect to Adobe I/O.

Within 30 days of your MiaProva/Adobe I/O connection expiration, MiaProva will let you know by way of a separate alert as well a callout in our daily aggregate alerts that it is time to upload a new certificate from MiaProva to Adobe I/O.

That process is also very easy to do and here is a video that shows how simple it is:

Analytics for Target (A4T) and Optimization Programs

By Brian Hawkins

On November 9, 2020

In Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Optimization Management

The other week, I had the pleasure of joining Adobe on a webinar to dive into Analytics for Target (A4T) and how it can be a powerful tool for optimization programs.

MiaProva makes very heavy and strategic use of A4T as part of our Optimization Management Application and within our Chrome Extension. Our customers that leverage A4T are realizing increased test throughput, visibility into metric and test interaction, and are gaining significant returns on their investments in optimization. We are also seeing our A4T customers adopt personalization and customer journey optimization at a much higher rate than our non-A4T customers.

In this webinar, we shared how some of the MiaProva magic can be leveraged right within Analytics Workspace because of A4T!

Here is what to expect as part of the agenda:

A small case study on how organizations can leverage Segments from Adobe Analytics to empower Automation within Adobe Target. Specifically, we looked at Adobe Target Insights Reports across 4 different organizations. We looked at the traffic volume, lift, and what data the models were focusing on. We then highlighted how some organizations that took the time to create and share segments from Analytics they deemed to be of value, resulted in the AI models in Adobe Target to automate at a quicker rate and identity what visitor attributes were key to making that happen.

MiaProva magic and the efficiencies of scale. Here was showed how A4T introduces mechanisms to allow the organization to align around metrics and audiences in a manner that is not possible in a standalone optimization or personalization solution.

Macro-analysis of Optimization programs. A4T enables organizations to not only examine specific or a group of activities from Adobe Target but also enables aggregate analysis of the program as a whole and whether you are making full use of Adobe Target

And lastly, we close things with a case study of how an organization made strategic use of A4T to analyze a highly visible series of Category Affinity Activities taking place. This organization learned many interesting things but the most valuable component of the learnings was taking a key audience that partook in those Activities and shared them back to Adobe Target via a segment for a more personalized experience.

We also shared a series of action items or tips that you can use to familiarize yourself with A4T and how it can be of value to your optimization and personalization efforts.

Create visit-based metrics in Adobe Target

By Brian Hawkins

On August 2, 2020

In Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target

Adobe Target is well known in the testing and optimization space as being a visitor-based testing and personalization solution. This means that test participation and test metrics in Adobe Target are tied to the visitor and not limited to the session that the visitor became a member of the test.

For example, if you were run a test with Adobe Target on your home page and your conversion event was making a purchase, Adobe Target would report that purchase event even if it happened 10 days later. Additionally, the event would also be captured and reported if the test visitor didn’t see the home page when they came back 10 days later.

This is due to the fact that Adobe Target, by default, works and manages tests by the visitor vs. the visit. Because of this visitor based system, every time that visitor comes back to the home page, they will see the test experience they were originally assigned as long as the test was still running and the Adobe Target profile hadn’t expired.

Visit-based metrics

Organizations, for the most part, seem to appreciate this visitor based approach. It is incredibly helpful for many reasons and downright critical to those optimization programs realize the value of operating in a 1st party data configuration mode.

Because of our MiaProva extension and how it displays Adobe Target profile attributes, we often get asked about how the profile can be used to construct non-standard metrics like visit-based metrics. This topic came up recently on measure slack and so I thought I would write something up to make it easier for those that want success events in Target to only increment when the session of the visitor seeing the test content was equal to the session of when the visitor converted or reached that success event.

Custom Adobe Target Profiles

The Adobe Target profile and its custom and open attributes are the keys to customizing and creating non-Visitor based metrics.

To leverage the profile to create visit-based metrics, we need to create a custom script within the Adobe Target Audience section. Here is an example of a script that increments numerically when it is detected that the Adobe Target session value has changed – thus, a new visit has started.

and the resulting value of this attribute in our Chrome extension (I know, 273 visits – I spend a lot of time on website that I grabbed this from:)

Once the script attribute is in place, you can then use it and its values within Audiences in Adobe Target. In this visit instance, you can target content or Activities to your high engagers (high visit counts) or to visitors who are on their 3rd visit but haven’t purchased for example.

Same-session Conversion

Now, in order to leverage profile attributes to capture success or conversion events when the visitor’s session is equal to the session value of when they saw test content, we create a script that captures both session values for comparison.

Here is an example of such a script:

The first line (in red) is the most important part and represents the audience of the test. This will need to be updated on a test by test basis depending on how you are using audiences. This first line creates a variable called “test_session” and represents the session value when you saw test content. This “test_session” value will update every time the visitor meets the test criteria or audience – meaning they consumed the test content.

The part in blue gets evaluated with each Adobe Target server call and it compares the session value then and compares it to the session value when test content was seen. If the session values are the same, then the value returned to the Profile attribute is ‘true’. If the values don’t match, that means that the visitor consumed test content on a previous session, and the returned value is true.

Applying the Audience to Conversion event

At the “Goals & Settings” step in the Adobe Target Activity, one simply has to apply an audience of this profile attribute to your Activity Goal:

and my audience (visits to the “Trial” page on MiaProva) combined with this session evaluation Profile attribute:

and the Profile audience details:

Now, my conversion event in this test will only increment if the visitor saw the test content and also visited our trial page during the same session. This is fully supported whether you use A4T or not by way of Activity Conversions.

Analytics Workspace

For those of you that leverage A4T (Analytics for Target), this process is much easier and no Profile attributes are needed. Adam Greco, a renowned expert on Adobe Analytics, and I tend to geek out from time to time when it comes to Adobe Target and Adobe Analytics working together and validated this approach.

Essentially, applying a “Same Touch” attribution model to your given metric will allow you to create visit-based metrics as I did above using only Adobe Target.

Using the same Activity example that I did above, here in Analytics Workspace (image below), we have the A4T Activity with the “Trial Start” metrics (visits to the Trial Start page on MiaProva).

The metrics in blue represent the total count of seeing the Trial page (no matter the session but dependent on being in the test). In red, we have Activity Conversions with “Same Touch” which is my server-to-server conversion data from Target and we have Trial Start with “Same Touch” that limits the data to just when the Home Page (test page) and Trial Page were visited in the same session.

So, there you have it, a nice way to have the best of both worlds – visitor and visit.