Data Inflated

[pauloheredia]

Hi, I am trying to undersand how or why Adobe is inflating my data, is there any suggestion/advice that you can give me?. To take note, I do not have an Admin profile, but it will help me communicate to whom might concern and fix the issue. Thank you!

[Jennifer_Dungan]

First off... how did you determine that Adobe was inflating your data? Are you seeing multiple duplicate calls in your network panel or testing tools?

Is is because you are comparing with another analytics system? How far off is it? Are you sure the other system isn't under counting? When comparing data between different systems (like Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics) it's important to understand that these systems work differently, and are subject to different potential opt-outs / analytics blocking, etc.. they will never match 100%. What is most important is that they show similar trend lines (up and down in correlation to one another).

The best way to communicate your concerns is to show evidence of the issue... sometimes this might mean a pair testing session where you and the developer dig deeper into the issue and try to understand what is happening... but generally (knowing most developers) you need to provide a screenshot or some solid evidence showing there is an issue...

[pauloheredia]

Thank you Jennifer,

To be more specific what I see is that when breaking for example Unique Visitors by Marketing Channel and adding those up, the sum is not the same as the total. For example I have Unique Visitors for Facebook (250) and Google (250), Facebook + Google = 500, but the Total says 400. 

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

That's not inflated data... within the time frame that you are looking at, some of the same users came in first via Google then later via Facebook (or vice versa), at the time of their visit, they were put into the appropriate channels...

But they are still the same user, and therefore the total is de-duplicating the same user.

For a simple example, let's say that I am visiting your site.

My first visit I came from Google, therefore in the "Google" channel I will count as "1 UV"

My second visit, I came from Facebook, therefore I will now also be added to the "Facebook" channel and I will count as "1 UV" there.

Now I come again to your site a third time, let's say this time I came from a marketing email, I will now be added to the "Marketing Email" channel, and yet again, I will be counted as "1 UV" there.

So:

Google                      1

Facebook                  1

Marketing Email        1

But when you look at the total for the month (or whatever time frame you are checking) I am still only 1 person.. I shouldn't be counted in the total 3 times.. therefore, the total will still be "1 UV"

[pauloheredia]

Thank you!

[yuhuisg]

"Data" is such a general term. Please indicate the specific metrics that you're having problems with.

[pauloheredia]

Thank you Yuhuisg,

To be more specific what I see is that when breaking for example Unique Visitors by Marketing Channel and adding those up, the sum is not the same as the total. For example I have Unique Visitors for Facebook (250) and Google (250), Facebook + Google = 500, but the Total says 400.