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Five Tips for Optimizing Your Use of Adobe Customer Journey Analytics

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Employee

8/29/23

Introduction

Adobe Customer Journey Analytics (CJA) is a workspace built on top of the Adobe Experience Platform (AEP). CJA enables organizations to analyze and optimize their customer journeys by providing a comprehensive view of the journey across multiple platforms, channels, and touchpoints. This empowers organizations to make informed decisions based on data-driven insights.

To fully leverage CJA, it is important to ensure that the data model on AEP is robust and that the data used is at the appropriate level of granularity. This means that data brought into CJA should be structured suitably for the intended analysis. To achieve this, it is essential to establish a strong identity framework, use the correct datasets for analysis, make optimal use of CJA Data Views, and accurately configure CJA Data View components. Additionally, it is important to consider the interplay between CJA and its role in the broader AEP ecosystem of data flows and application solutions.

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1. Have A Clear Path Identity Strategy

Having a clear identity strategy is critical for maximizing the benefits of Adobe CJA. This involves utilizing identity resolution to the fullest extent possible and establishing a clear identity framework to establish your unique Person ID.

Identity resolution is the process of identifying a user across multiple devices and channels. This enables you to gain a comprehensive view of the customer journey and understand how users interact with your platforms and brands across various touchpoints.

To achieve effective identity resolution, it is important to have a clear identity framework in place. This includes defining the known attributes that are used to identify users, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and authenticated user profiles. This also includes establishing a data model and entity relationships to link these attributes across different devices and channels.

By establishing a clear identity strategy and utilizing identity resolution to its fullest potential, you can create a more accurate view of the customer journey. This enables you to more effectively analyze user behavior and make data-informed decisions that enhance the customer experience.

2. Optimize the Use of Event, Profile, and Lookup Datasets

CJA Connections consist of three types of datasets: event, profile, and lookup. Event datasets contain data about specific user interactions, such as content views or interactions on websites or mobile devices. Profile datasets contain data about specific users, including member data and preferences. Lookup datasets contain reference data, such as product metadata information. At least one event dataset must be part of the Connection at the Connection-level.

To maximize the benefits of CJA, it is essential to use the appropriate types of unified datasets for analysis. For example, if you want to analyze user behavior on your platform, you would need an event dataset. Conversely, if you want to analyze user membership attribute status information, you should use a profile dataset.

It is important to ensure that datasets are structured appropriately with the correct entity relationships. For example, event datasets should contain granular data to enable accurate journey analysis, while profile datasets should include comprehensive information about the mapped user to provide a holistic view of their interactions with your brand.

3. Make Optimal Use of CJA Data Views

CJA Data Views enable you to create a customized view of your data for analysis. To create a Data View, select the datasets you want to include at the Connections level, define the metrics and dimensions you want to analyze, and optionally apply overarching filters to the data.

To make the most of Data Views, it is important to carefully define the component-based metrics and dimensions that will be included in the Data View. Metrics are quantitative measurements that you want to analyze, such as content views or success events, while dimensions are qualitative attributes that you want to analyze, such as content descriptive indicators or device type. You can also manipulate CJA components on the fly using the derived fields functionality.

When creating Data Views, consider the context in which the data will be used. For instance, if you want to analyze the performance of a marketing campaign, create a Data View that heavily focuses on metrics and dimensions relevant to tracing the user journey across various marketing campaigns. Additionally, if you have specific session parameter requirements, you can configure an overarching session determination for the time period of inactivity between events before a session expires and a new one is started.

4. Optimize Your Use of the CJA Data View Components: Inclusion and Configuration Settings

To effectively utilize CJA Data View components, it is essential to correctly include and configure them according to your business requirements and evolving needs. One aspect could be assigning various components to different attribution window slices to facilitate organizational analysis. For example, you can persist and set attribution for components to specific customer lifecycle milestones in the conversion consideration process, depending on your organization goals. Additionally, customizing the names and descriptions of the components can make them more contextually clear and easier to understand.

When configuring Data View components, it is important to keep your audience in mind. Make sure that the components you include are relevant to the data your audience is interested in. For example, when presenting data to a marketing team, emphasize specific metrics and dimensions that are relevant to tracking the user journey across various marketing campaigns.

In summary, properly configuring CJA Data View components can have a significant impact on your analysis and decision-making. Think of them as building blocks for reporting and analysis purposes within CJA. By assigning components to various attribution window slices and customizing their persistence, you can facilitate organizational analysis and make your data more comprehensible. When designing your components, it's important to consider your user audience. This will ensure that the configured CJA analysis methods are relevant to them.

5. Leverage the Wider Ecosystem of Adobe Experience Platform Solutions

To fully optimize the use of CJA, it's important to understand its placement in the wider ecosystem of Adobe Experience Platform application solutions. By leveraging the power of Adobe Experience Platform, you can gain deeper insights into customer behavior across all touchpoints and help deliver personalized experiences that drive engagement and loyalty.

One potential tool within this AEP ecosystem is Audience Publishing for CJA, which allows you to create custom audiences based on specific user behavior. By defining filters based on user attributes, actions, and interests, you can tailor your marketing campaigns to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. With Audience Publishing for CJA, you can also activate your audience segments across multiple channels, including email, social media, and display advertising, ensuring that your message is seen by your target audience.

To ensure that CJA has access to the right data for analysis, it is essential to collect the appropriate unified data and structure it correctly. For instance, you might want to create custom audiences based on user behavior across different channels, such as website visits, social media interactions, and email marketing campaigns. By leveraging the power of Audience Publishing for CJA and integrating it with other AEP solutions, such as audiences published to the Real-time Customer Profile used for activation with Real-Time CDP (RTCDP) or Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO), you can create a more comprehensive view of the customer journey and make data-driven decisions that improve the overall customer experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, optimizing your usage and adoption of CJA is crucial for any organization looking to improve their product or marketing strategy and drive business growth. By following the five tips outlined in this document, you can ensure that you are getting the most out of CJA and leveraging its capabilities to gain a comprehensive view of the customer journey.

By having a clear path identity strategy, you can utilize identity resolution to its fullest potential and establish a clear identity framework to create a more accurate view of the customer journey. This enables you to more effectively analyze user behavior and make data-driven decisions that enhance the customer experience.

Making optimal use of event, profile, and lookup datasets is also essential to get the most out of CJA. Ensuring that you are using the right type of dataset for your analysis and that the datasets are structured appropriately can provide the best holistic view of user interactions with your brand.

CJA Data Views allow you to create a customized view of your data for analysis. To make the most of Data Views, it is important to carefully define your component-based metrics and dimensions that will be included in the Data View. Additionally, configuring Data View components correctly can make a significant difference in your analysis and decision-making.

Finally, it is essential to ensure line of sight to the wider ecosystem of AEP solutions to fully optimize the use of CJA. By leveraging the full capabilities of AEP and integrating it with CJA and other AEP solutions, you can gain a more comprehensive view of the customer journey. This allows you to make data-informed decisions that improve the overall customer experience.

 

2 Comments

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Level 4

11/28/23

@brian_au  how does CJA tie into other platforms like Target? 

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Employee

6/24/24

@tomwr Target for CJA is handled through setting CJA as a Reporting Destination in Target Reporting settings- further information can be found here: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/target/using/integrate/cja/target-reporting-in-cja