I'm new to Adobe Analytics - where do I start?
Check out our new user guide for Analysis Workspace. Then, continue to bolster your Adobe Analytics knowledge by reviewing our Analytics tips from prior years (2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021) and reviewing our most recent releases.
The rest of this page will build on the foundation set by those resources.
Bring on the tips!
You can watch our 2022 Go for Gold in Adobe Analytics Summit session on-demand below:
On this page, we cover the following Adobe Analytics tips:
- Skip the complexity of the Segment builder with Quick segments
- Bind context to data with Annotations
- Find what you need & better enable novice users with the new Analytics Landing page
- Save yourself hours of customization by applying User preferences (and Dark theme)
- Bonus tip: Programmatically create & manage Workspace projects with the Projects API
- Bonus tip: View what happened before or after with the NEW Next or previous item panel
- Bonus tip: Get a comprehensive snapshot of page performance with the NEW Page summary panel
- Sneak: Replace PDF scheduling & broaden your reach with read-only links
Quick segments
Segmentation is one of the most powerful capabilities within Adobe Analytics. It lets you apply focused audience filters to your analysis and find actionable insights in your data.
In Workspace, you can create ad-hoc segments by simply dragging and dropping components into the panel drop zone. While this capability is good for fast slice & dicing, sometimes those segments don't go far enough. On the other hand, you can create segments that range from simple to complex in the Segment builder. However, this requires you to leave your project workflow. So, how can you extend ad-hoc segment capabilities without needing to go to the full builder?
Quick segments allow you create segments within a project and bypass the complexity of the full segment builder. You can define up to three rules, with a range of containers and operators. Like ad-hoc segments, quick segments are project-only components that can be applied to your analysis without cluttering up the left rail. If desired, they can also be saved for use in other projects and shared to your organization.
While Quick segments tend to be more simple than what you might create in the Segment builder, that doesn't mean they can't pack in a lot of value. One way to maximize a quick segment is to use the equals any of operator. Rather than list dimension items separately across 3 rules, combine those values into one equals any of rule with a list.
(Note: the videos below show operators used in the Segment builder; the same process will apply in the Quick segment builder.)
There are many other useful operators to explore in the Quick segment builder. We also recommend leveraging the Distinct count operators, which allow you to segment based on the number of unique items within any dimension. Filter for visits where more than 5 pages were viewed, or hits where more than 5 products were purchased, i.e. within a single order.
Annotations
Have you ever been analyzing data or preparing to share a report when you notice a fluctuation in your data? How can you explain the fluctuation in order to prevent questions from end consumers & reduce the chance someone misinterprets the data?
You can use panel or visualization descriptions and text boxes to add context and stories to your project. However, that context does not scale to other projects and report suites where the data might be used.
Enter Annotations! Annotations allow you to bind context to data. Right from your workflow, you can right-click any trended visualization or freeform table to add a new annotation. In the Annotation builder, you define:
- Name & description, which will be visible back in the project anytime the annotation scope is met.
- Time period, which is part of the annotation scope. This can be a single day (e.g. holidays, short outages, product launches) or a range (e.g. campaign runtime, long outages).
- Color, which is helpful for categorizing your annotation types (red = bad, etc)
- Scope, which determines when the annotation should apply. You can choose to leave this area blank and only scope the annotation to a time period, or you can select dimensions, metrics or segments to bind the annotation to.
- Apply to all report suites, which allows you to scale the annotation to other suites. This is useful for holidays or events that impact many business units or regions.
Annotations created from a project will behave like other project-only components. They are applied locally to the project unless you choose to save them. If saved, they are available in all of your projects and can be shared to other users through the Annotation manager.
Back in the project, annotations are visible inline within any trended visualization or freeform table where its scope is met. Users can hover over the annotation icon to see the name & description, which gives them the needed context about the data.
You may be wondering - what about PDFs? When developing this feature, it was very important to us that the annotation context be accessible wherever Workspace data is shared. In PDFs, icons are visible inline (like in the project) and the annotation details are available in a footnote.
Additionally, annotations will be added to Analytics dashboards (mobile app) later this year! This will ensure your executive consumers have the needed context so they can make more confident data decisions.
Adobe Analytics landing page
The Adobe Analytics landing page brings together both Analysis Workspace and Reports & Analytics in a single interface and access point under the Workspace umbrella. It features:
- Projects: Contains all projects or mobile scorecards that you have created or have been shared with you. With filtering, favorites and pins, you can quickly & easily find what you need. You can also manage & share projects from this screen more easily than ever before.
- Reports: Contains most pre-built reports formerly found in Reports & Analytics and Adobe templates. Note: Adobe "templates" are now called "reports". Reports are helpful for novice users who are new to Analysis Workspace or your organization's data.
- Learning: Contains hands-on video tours and tutorials, plus links to documentation. The Learning tab is an excellent place to point novice users who are looking to learn Analysis Workspace at their own pace.
The landing page is in open beta today. You can optionally enable it in the bottom left of the Workspace project page.
While the landing page is optional today, it will soon become the default Adobe Analytics landing experience. It is the first big step in an effort to end-of-life Reports & Analytics. On January 4, 2022, Adobe announced plans to end-of-life Reports & Analytics, as well as the SiteCatalyst point-product, by December 31, 2023.
User preferences & Dark theme
How much time do you spend setting up your project to look and feel a certain way? And then repeat that across all the projects you create. It adds up to a lot of wasted time and effort that could be better spent finding insights in your data.
Save yourself all that time by defining your User preferences. Available under Components > User preferences, you can set your default landing page, default report suite, view density, color scheme, and more. Preferences apply to every new project and new panel.
One additional preference you can apply is Dark theme. Dark theme is an Experience Cloud preference and can be enabled under your avatar.
Need inspiration on what preferences to set? Here is a peek at what other Analytics users are applying:
Bonus: Projects APIs
Hot off the presses to Adobe Analytics! The Analytics 2.0 Projects APIs allow you to create, update, and manage projects programmatically through Adobe I/O. These APIs use the same data and methods that Adobe uses to power Analysis Workspace projects. Explore all the capabilities available at the link below.
Bonus: Next or previous item panel
The Next or previous item panel allows you to explore items that follow or precede a dimension item of your choice. For example, if you want to see the next or previous pages to a specific product page, or marketing channel, or even device type in CJA. This panel goes beyond legacy next/previous reporting because it allows you to look at any dimension and does not require any new implementation to get insights.
This panel is also available as report within the open beta landing page Reports tab.
Bonus: Page summary panel
The Page summary panel provides a deep dive analysis for a page of your choosing. It provides the same details as the legacy Reports & Analytics page summary report + much more.
This panel is also available as report within the open beta landing page Reports tab.
Sneak: Read-only project links
Have you had to do any of the following?
- Schedule PDFs so that data is always up-to-date for consumers?
- Share data to teams that are unfamiliar with Adobe Analytics?
- Help your colleagues & executives remember their password many times over?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, this sneak is for you! Today, project links require an Adobe login to access. In the future, you will have the ability to define the security for a link. Choose from no login, Adobe login or custom password required to open the link.
When the link is opened, it defaults to a read-only experience. This experience always has the freshest data, eliminating the need for scheduled PDFs. It also gives those consumers who are less familiar with Analysis Workspace a safe place to land and start getting familiar with the product.
The Adobe product team is hard at work making this Sneak a reality. You can follow along with its development on Experience League.
Ready for more content?
Visit adobe.ly/aaresources for a full list of Adobe Analytics Spark pages & other helpful resources.