Adobe Analytics Historical Data Reprocessing - What Are the Options?

[aent22]

We’re in the process of correcting our Internal URL Filters and Marketing Channel Rules in Adobe Analytics. Until now, misconfigurations caused nearly two years of traffic to be attributed to the wrong channels.

We’d like to understand whether it’s possible to reprocess historical data using the corrected rules so that our channel reporting reflects the updated configuration. I know Adobe used to offer limited reprocessing options many years ago, but that functionality is no longer available in the admin UI.

Questions for the community:

• Is historical data reprocessing still something Adobe can perform upon request?

• If so, what is the process for submitting such a request?

• Are there any best practices or alternative approaches for correcting historical channel reporting when full reprocessing isn’t feasible?

Any guidance or experience would be greatly appreciated!!

[Sumit-Kumar]

As you know, processing rules including Marketing Channel rules are not retroactive, so historical channel data cannot be corrected once it has been processed. Adobe does offer paid data repair services through Engineering, but this option is typically costly and still may not fully re attribute past channel data.
The best approach is to make sure the rules are fixed going forward and to clearly annotate the affected historical period.. 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Yes, I agree with @Sumit-Kumar Marketing Channels are processed at the time the data is received...  also, that Data Repair is costly.

The other options are Classifications (which can go back 6 months)... but this is going to be limited, because this will only look at values collected in one dimension, and not be fully considerate of the wide processing needs....

You could also try to create Segments, but again, this will be imperfect... but might be able to be used for some basic understanding.

However, the most likely scenario is that you fix the processing now and move forward, and accept that your past data is corrupted / wrong.

We've all been there... it hurts... but take it as a lesson learned, and a teaching moment for new hires of what can happen.

Good Luck!

[aent22]

Thank you very much, @Jennifer_Dungan and @Sumit-Kumar, for your replies!

I guess we’ll have to live with the historical data for now and focus on making sure our rules are correct going forward...

I found quite a few resources about configuring marketing channels in adobe, including this one
https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/perspectives/navigating-marketing-channels-best-practices-pitf...

If you happen to have other articles, guides, or video tutorials that helped you configure channel rules correctly, I’d really appreciate if you could recommend/share them. It would help a lot.

Thank you!

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I did a "Deep Dive" session on Marketing Channel with Mandy George just last month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StKUqdX7t-Y

This is more about the feature itself, and less rules on setting values (though we do try to cover some best practices)

I would love to write out a more detailed article myself (I have too many articles I need to write piling up, lol).

However, if you have specific questions, feel free to ask, and we can weigh in on our thoughts.

I will post a few high level tips:

1. Don't overuse "first hit of visit"... this is generally limited to Direct and Internal channels only, because users will often come to your site in the same visit from multiple channels, this will cause you to lose valuable info if you are only ever looking at the first hit) (i.e. facebook > site > google search > site > marketing email > site.....  you don't want to lose those additional entries from search and marketing emails)
2. Make sure you set your channel details to match the expected rule.... as in, don't use "Tracking Code" as the detail if you aren't looking for tracking codes, there is no guarantee you will have any value captured, if at all
3. Don't be afraid to have multiple rules to capture the same channel... for instance, social media apps often don't have a referrer, so I will create a rule based on the referrer, and a separate rule looking for our UTMs (to capture at least some of that social traffic)
4. Make channels that make sense to your business, you don't have to stick to Adobe's defaults.. those are a starting point, not a set in stone requirement
5. Choose an expiry that makes sense to your business

Also, since your channels are all wrong, when you make your updated rules, I would recommend Expiring your existing rules (found where you can set your expiration.

When I make minor updates, I don't touch this... but for major re-structuring, particularly if tracking is very wrong, I will reset it so that I can start clean.

Also, being December, if you are using the standard Gregorian Calendar, now is the perfect time to do a clean up, so that you start the new year fresh.... but when there are problems, the sooner you fix it, the better off you will be.

Good Luck!

[Sumit-Kumar]

This is great as shared by Jen/Mandy.

For a basic understanding of how the marketing channel waterfall model works and how rule setup should be done, you can also check this video:

https://youtu.be/cjyGicdPROs?si=VQztGEN40VsDbv4S

[aent22]

Thank you very much @Sumit-Kumar ! 🙏

[aent22]

@Jennifer_Dungan thank you so much for these amazing tips and info!!! I'll be watching the Mandy George session - thank you for sharing the link! 🙏