Let me throw out an idea here. Given that you are a developer, I hope you can a) appreciate the idea and b) help me develop it into something that works. The idea is to use test-driven development for Analytics or maybe for digital marketing tagging in general. Motivation I recently attended a conference in … Continue reading TDD for Analytics, please
Author: Jan Exner
German expat living in Switzerland (formerly UK and France). Consultant and member of the Multi-Solutions Group at Adobe, working with the Digital Marketing Suite. Father of 4 girls.
Visitor ID Service Revisited
(Ah, the title... see what I did there?) Just two days after my article about the Visitor ID Service, my colleagues in Engineering and Product Management released a new version of Reports & Analytics and made a couple of nice changes to the Visitor ID Service. So, essentially, forget everything I said last time. Maybe not … Continue reading Visitor ID Service Revisited
The Visitor ID Service
What I write about mostly on this blog has to do with analytics, specifically Adobe Analytics, fka SiteCatalyst. But this is just one in the large collection of tools your friendly marketer uses to do her job. Analytics allow her to capture data for analysis and observation. She can also use the data to drive aspects … Continue reading The Visitor ID Service
Visitor IDs & Visitor Profile
For months now I must have thought that an article about visitor IDs is really overdue. It is the last remaining principle aspect of Adobe Analytics that I have not explained, I think. Also, in step 6 of my post on processing hits, I mentioned the "Visitor Profile" and didn't really explain it. Bad blogger! … Continue reading Visitor IDs & Visitor Profile
API Best Practices
Summit is over, *phew*. I love Summit in London! It is a great occasion to meet all those people I speak with throughout the year. ... For the past couple of years, I have been involved in the preparation of the analytics track at Summit, both as a speaker as well as the "guy responsible … Continue reading API Best Practices
A Short History of Processing a Hit
In the article about Modifying Data Server-Side, we gave a brief list of the steps that every bit of data has to go through before your friendly marketer will see it in her reports. Let's expand on that and also mention the different points where you can add information or retrieve it. Let's start in … Continue reading A Short History of Processing a Hit
KPIs and Success Events
Ah... months with 5 Tuesdays... I don't like them. When do I post? Week 1 and 3, as usual? Do I leave a gap in week 5, then? Or do I post more frequently — say in weeks 1, 3 & 5, shortening the potential gap? How about posting in weeks 1 & 4, as … Continue reading KPIs and Success Events
Quick Tip: Save Variables
In the post about "Variables" I neglected to mention one important characteristic of Adobe Analytics: with each Report Suite, you get 75 props (traffic variables), 75 eVars (conversion variables) and 100 events. Now everyone who has ever worked in the field will tell you that 75/75/100 is ample for everyone. And it really is. But … Continue reading Quick Tip: Save Variables
Implementation Phase is NOT Key
I published an article on my German-speaking blog last week about the implementation phase and how I think it is more than overrated. Feedback was interesting, so I think it makes sense to summarize it here as well. You - being a developer - might not need to be convinced, but you might want to … Continue reading Implementation Phase is NOT Key
How to Use Merchandising Variables
Merchandising variables are a special feature of Adobe Analytics. The Reference page in the help section says "Merchandising variables let you configure an eVar to hold multiple values." To be precise: a Merchandising eVar can hold one value per product. If you want to know why you'd use Merchandising eVars, or if you want to … Continue reading How to Use Merchandising Variables
Web Analytics for Developers 