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craigtarr
craigtarr
Level 2
March 1, 2018

ClickStream Duplicate Visits

  • March 1, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 4042 views

Has anyone encountered a scenario where the visit shows a slightly different visit_start_time_gmt, only seconds apart in their feed?

We have a fully combined post_visid_high, post_visid_low, visit_num AND visit_start_time_gmt. A specific case is a visitor who had 7 page views in the visit. the visit_start_time_gmt actually has a different value for page view 5. So it makes it look like they initiated a new visit in the data feed.

Page 49 of the analytics clickstream document states,

*In rare circumstances, internet irregularities, system irregularities, or the use of custom visitor IDs can result in duplicate  visit_num values for the same visitor ID that are not the same  visit. To avoid resulting issues, also include  visit_start_time_gmt when counting visits.

Not sure I can do this when the gmt value has slightly different values.

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    1 reply

    M
    Adobe Employee
    MattMo14Adobe Employee
    Adobe Employee
    March 9, 2018

    Hi Craig,

    I may be missing some of the details of your challenge, but thought below may be of assistance.

    I lead a team of engineer consultants at Adobe that custom process the clickstream data feeds for other Adobe customers.

    Typically, we use visid_high & visid_low (post) and bring in visit_num (as a unique key) and add & sort by the hit_time_gmt. This timestamp is set at collection on every web beacon. Reviewing this specific timestamp along with the visit number that is processed during cache based on the virtual cookie table on the Adobe side, should provide what you're looking for. At least, it should give you another reference to view the data another way.

    Also, I have a few basic data feed query examples here:

    Using Adobe Analytics Data Feeds and SQL for Basic Reporting – The Data Feed Toolbox

    And I'll be presenting at Summit in a technical lab if interested:

    Become an Adobe Analytics Data Feed Ninja

    This may not fully answer your question, but hope this is helpful.

    Best,

    Matt

      craigtarr
      craigtarrAuthor
      Level 2
      March 9, 2018

      Matt thanks for the courage in responding. I have passed the info over to my data analysts.

      In our unique situation the hit_time_gmt seems to be out of sequence for at least 1 visitor, possibly more. And that sequence issue is causing the visit_num to appear like this is a new visit, instead of a continuation.

      I've scoured the Internet looking for someone else who has talked about this but haven't seen any duplication. And like the documentation says, in rate instances, well we hit that needle in a hay stack!

      Gigazelle
      Adobe Employee
      GigazelleAdobe Employee
      Adobe Employee
      March 12, 2018

      Do you know if the report suite you're reporting on has timestamped hits enabled? Also, are we looking at one-off issues that could potentially be chalked up to hash collisions, or are we talking about systemic issues that would affect business decisions you'd make with the data?

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