It may be autumn here in the southern hemisphere, but Adobe’s newest update is sure shining the light on why it’s the number one analytics platform out there. If you are yet to log into SiteCatalyst, you’re in for a treat with a whole host of goodies to get your teeth stuck into. Notable updates include an updated UI, a unified segment builder, and the ability to use Analytics segments across Target.
Updated UI
The new Analytics UI reflects the updated look of the Adobe Marketing Cloud, with a new section across the top of the page which combines the report suite and segment selectors with the action ‘ribbon’.
There’s a new menu structure with a snappier left/right navigation that does away with the previous breakout menus that can go off the page (a very welcoming feature when you’re working with an 11” screen). Interestingly classification reports look exactly like other reports, with no more arrow icon to give it away. You’ll also notice that if you keep clicking to the left you’ll find links to the other Abobe Marketing Cloud products you may have, such as Target and Social.
If you have any issues finding a specific report in the new layout you can use the search bar in the top left corner:
Unified segment builder
The new segment builder is way more intuitive now, bringing some of the features into Analytics that were previously only available within Adobe Ad-hoc (formerly the rockstar Discover). It includes a far more visual builder, as well as a handy graphic that tells you on-the-fly whether your segment is working:
Or whether you’ve just broken it:
Much quicker than saving the segment, reloading the report, and seeing ’no data’.
Also of note is that while the concept of ‘visit’ and ‘visitor’ containers remain, the ‘pageview’ container has been replaced with a ‘hit’ container (how very 90’s). Personally I would have preferred this be called an ‘instance’ rather than a ‘hit’, but I understand the reality that many people still (incorrectly) consider a page view to be equivalent to a hit, so realise this terminology is likely to have been designed to help those people.
As part of this release Adobe have updated their online help with a segment transition guide at http://microsite.omniture.com/t2/help/en_US/analytics/segment/seg_transition.html that covers the finer elements of creating and managing your segments.
Segment stacking
Not only can you more easily create segments now, but you can stack them!!! Yes, you can now add multiple segments to a single report without having to create a new segment that merges the attributes of two existing segments:
In addition, you can take two or more pre-existing segments and join them together using an and/or statement to create a new segment, such as interacted with a tool on your site, then purchased in that visit.
If you regularly use pre-built segments like Paid Search and Purchasers, these now exist as building blocks which you can use to either build a new segment, or join it with other native segments – something you’ve not been able to do before. This is especially useful if you want to use the predefined “Paid Search” segment that works off the built-in paid search detection rules.
I’ll post again shortly on the new functionality I’ve not covered today, including how Target and Analytics now work together. In the meantime, I’d love to know your thoughts on this spring release.
