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Can we also add time in the application (s). to the dashboard.

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Level 3

Hi All,

 

How we can show the time spend on application we have not captured it at developer end, do we have standard variable or report to show all this analytics.

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Correct answer by
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion

^ Agreed, while you could try to create your own solution, Adobe has it's own built-in time spent metrics....

 

There are caveats to this... one, its a simple math calculation between page views timestamps... last pages in the visit don't have any time spent captured... single page visits have no time spent captured (in both cases, there is no second timestamp to do the calculation with).

 

These values also don't really work terribly well with multi-tab browsing... and as the user might leave and come back to the site 10 mins later...

 

However, as a general trend for time spent, it's a decent enough metric... 

 

If you really need more accuracy, using a different tool that uses heartbeats to track when users are still active on the page will be more accurate... but it will also cost money....

 

If you attempt to create your own custom heartbeat system using Adobe, you will significantly increase your server calls, and thus impact your contract... so be careful if you are considering that...

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6 Replies

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Community Advisor

If you have not captured the time spent on an application at the developer's end, it may be difficult to accurately measure this using Adobe Analytics. However, there are a few potential solutions you could explore:

  1. Use a third-party tool: There are a variety of tools available that can track user activity and time spent within an application, even if you haven't built this functionality into your app. Examples include Appsee, Mixpanel, and Amplitude.

  2. Implement time tracking at the developer level: While you mentioned that you haven't captured time spent at the developer level, it may be worth exploring whether this is possible. Depending on the type of application you're working with, there may be APIs or other tools that you can use to measure time spent.

  3. Use engagement metrics as a proxy: While not a direct measure of time spent, you could use engagement metrics (such as the number of pages viewed or actions taken) as a proxy for time spent within an app. This would be less precise than measuring time directly, but could still provide some useful insights.

It's worth noting that there is no standard variable or report in Adobe Analytics specifically for measuring time spent within an application, as this can vary greatly depending on the app and the user's behavior within it.

Avatar

Correct answer by
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion

^ Agreed, while you could try to create your own solution, Adobe has it's own built-in time spent metrics....

 

There are caveats to this... one, its a simple math calculation between page views timestamps... last pages in the visit don't have any time spent captured... single page visits have no time spent captured (in both cases, there is no second timestamp to do the calculation with).

 

These values also don't really work terribly well with multi-tab browsing... and as the user might leave and come back to the site 10 mins later...

 

However, as a general trend for time spent, it's a decent enough metric... 

 

If you really need more accuracy, using a different tool that uses heartbeats to track when users are still active on the page will be more accurate... but it will also cost money....

 

If you attempt to create your own custom heartbeat system using Adobe, you will significantly increase your server calls, and thus impact your contract... so be careful if you are considering that...

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Level 3

@Jennifer_Dungan This is useful and very detailed. My developer have stored time in and time out for app. how can this be used to report time spent on app. both variables are storing date and time.

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Community Advisor

 

To report the time spent on the app using the stored time in and time out variables, you can follow these steps:

  1. Calculate time spent: First, you need to calculate the time spent for each user by subtracting the time in from the time out. You can do this using JavaScript or any other programming language you're using for your app. Make sure to convert the date and time variables into a suitable format, such as milliseconds, before performing the subtraction. Here's an example using Javascript:

 

javascript
const timeIn = new Date("2023-04-06T12:00:00"); const timeOut = new Date("2023-04-06T12:30:00"); const timeSpent = (timeOut - timeIn) / 1000; // Time spent in seconds
 
  1. Send time spent data to Adobe Analytics: After calculating the time spent, you need to send this information to Adobe Analytics as a custom event or variable. You can use an eVar, prop, or custom event to capture this data, depending on your requirements and reporting needs.

Here's an example using AppMeasurement:

 

javascript

// Assuming you have already initialized the AppMeasurement instance as `s` s.eVar1 = timeSpent; // Replace eVar1 with the eVar you want to use for time spent s.events = "event1"; // Replace event1 with the custom event you want to use for time spent s.t(); // Send the tracking call to Adobe Analytics
 
  1. Set up reporting in Adobe Analytics: Once you've sent the time spent data to Adobe Analytics, you can create reports and dashboards to analyze and visualize the time spent on the app by users. Depending on your choice of variable (eVar, prop, or custom event), you may need to configure additional settings in Adobe Analytics to properly attribute and segment the time spent data.

By following these steps, you can leverage the stored time-in and time-out variables to report the time spent on the app in Adobe Analytics. If you need further assistance, please feel free to ask.

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Community Advisor and Adobe Champion

Thanks for answering... I must have missed the email with the follow up question!