Item: Adobe Analytics
Rating: 10
Author: Natasha Watts

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Adobe Analytics is being used across the whole organization. Depending on the goals of the department, Adobe Analytics can be used in multiple ways for our organization. E-Commerce uses AA every day to measure ROI of tracked elements, pin point website issues, and track user engagement. E-Commerce also integrated AA with Optimizely to use custom segments and metrics for a better in depth review of A/B tests.

Pros and Cons

Easy to create segments and apply them instantly to reporting
Easy to use out of the box metrics and to create custom metrics
Beautiful UI that allows the user easy access to reporting and dashboards

Undo button - You wouldn't believe how many times I accidentally do something and "look" for an undo button!
We use Ad Hoc in addition to Omniture (due to limited user seats in Ad Hoc). I enjoy working in Ad Hoc more because of the "instant" reporting from dragging and dropping Segments, Metrics and Dimensions. Other business owners who use Omniture and find it difficult to use compared to Ad Hoc.

Return on Investment

Multiple departments had questions about the e-mail pop-up being shown to visitors on our site. E-Commerce was able to quickly add tracking to the pop-up. After 30 days, we evaluated the pop-up and were able to report a 476% conversion lift. We know our pop-up works due to the ease of analyzing where the pop-up was shown on our site and how it impacted conversion.

Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used

Optimizely, Crazy Egg, Google Analytics

Likelihood to Recommend

I've found multiple scenarios where Adobe Analytics (AA) is well suited. For example, the integration of AA with Optimizely. Instead of limiting our A/B test evaluation with the pre-set Optimizely metrics, I can use a checkbox within Optimizely Options to set an eVar that will integrate almost seamlessly. Within a few hours, I can collect data such as Orders (Participation), Profit (Participation) and Time Spent on Page (examples), which provides a more in-depth analysis of how successful one variation is compared to another.

Users and Roles

We use Adobe Analytics across multiple departments in our business. The marketing team will utilize AA to evaluate PPC, some SEO and internal creative campaigns. Merchandising will use AA to report on performance by brand, category and product. E-Commerce uses AA to evaluate user engagement, monitor website performance, determine ROI of features and evaluate A/B tests (integrated with Optimizely).

Support Headcount Required

1 - We have 1 analyst who will work with us once a week in office. She provides a lot of insight on segmenting the data as needed. Our analyst is also familiar with implementation, which is a valuable resource when we need a new variable or value added to tracking.

Business Processes Supported

Determine ROI of implemented features
Evaluate A/B testing with Optimizely integration
Internal creative campaigns
Identifying website performance issues (If we see a drop off in data, sometimes this information can provide a timeline for our technology team.)
Monitoring website performance (Weekly, Monthly and Yearly)

Innovative Uses

E-Commerce was really excited about the Optimizely integration and how easy it was to get started. We've established 4 evars and 4 sprops for Optimizely testing that we can recycle/re-use throughout the year. With the integration, we are able to provide more in-depth reporting on A/B tests for stakeholders.
Use AA to identify website performance issues and provide the technology team with a close estimate as to when something stopped working on our site.
Use AA to report ROI for implemented features (new and old).

Future Planned Uses

We will continue integrated AA with software such as Optimizely when necessary.
Review success of internal creative campaigns.
Use pathing reports to analyze user engagement with different page types (i.e. Product Page, Brand Page, Category Page) on our site. The pathing reports will provide insight into how our customer's shop and influence future updates to page types.

Likelihood to Renew

We've found multiple uses for Adobe Analytics in our organization. Each department analyzes the data they need and creates actionables based off of that data. For E-Commerce, we're constantly using data to analyze user engagement, website performance and evaluate ROI.

Usability

I use Ad Hoc and Omniture. If I had to compare the two (which I have throughout the review), I would have to give AA an overall 9. We do not pay for "Adobe Workspace" and have limited seats available for Ad Hoc. I've experienced frustration with creating reports in Omniture and waiting for the page to reload.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using	Lots to learn

Easy Tasks

Easy to create segments.
Easy to drag and drop segments, dimensions and metrics into reporting (in regards to Ad Hoc). Side Note: We do not pay extra for Adobe Workspace.
Creating dashboards that can be emailed on a weekly basis and easy to share with other departments.

Difficult Tasks

In Omniture (not paying for Adobe Workspace), the lack of an undo button can be cumbersome. There have been multiple occasions I've accidentally done something and searched for an Undo button (habit).
In Omniture (not paying for Adobe Workspace), applying segments, dimensions and metrics require the page to reload. I prefer to use Ad Hoc for creating reports because of its ease of use dragging and dropping to get to the data.

Adobe Analytics for the win

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Analytics