eVar2 Showing 'Unspecified' in Adobe Analytics Reports – Setup Verified via Omnibug

[RuttalaLi]

In Adobe Experience Platform - Data Collection, under Rules, I’ve created a rule that triggers on page load (any element). Within this rule:

• I’ve added a Core - Custom Event.
• I’ve set the necessary variables, including:
  • eVar2 to capture the Page URL.
• I’ve added the Adobe Analytics - Send Beacon action with s.t() to send a page view beacon.

This setup is successfully capturing eVar2 values for all pages, as confirmed via Omnibug.

However, in Adobe Analytics Workspace, when I create a report with:

• Dimension: eVar2 (Page URL)
• Metric: Visits

I see the following output:

www.example.com/page1             - 5 Visits  
www.example.com/page1/subpage1   - 5 Visits  
www.example.com/page1/subpage2   - 3 Visits  
Unspecified                      - 3 Visits

---

 Problem: Why is "Unspecified" showing up?

Even though Omnibug shows that eVar2 is being populated, "Unspecified" in Adobe Analytics usually means that eVar2 was not set or persisted at the time the beacon was sent.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi,

A few questions:

1. What is the Expiry / Retention setting on your eVar?

2. Do you have actions s,tl being tracked on your site, is it possible that some actions might be sent before the page view

I ask, because if your eVar is set to HIT expiry, and you aren't setting it on your actions, then those will have unspecified. Given that eVar2 is capturing a URL, I would expect HIT based on the usage (that's how I do mine), but I also manually set it onto my actions.

If you have a VISIT expiry, there is still a chance that an action, where the eVar is not being sent, is trigger before the first page view (this could be someone clicking on something before the page is finished loading, or something like a mobile app lifecycle metric which triggers before any page view occurs.

There are various legitimate reasons why unspecified might appear... especially when looking at the data by Visit.

To really dig into where these are coming from, you should be looking at the page view or custom link instance, or page events metrics (which are hit based)..

See what pages or what actions the unspecified is associated to... 

[RuttalaLi]

Hi,

1. The expiration setting for eVar2 is configured as “Visit”, ensuring it persists throughout the user’s session.

2. For eVar2, I am sending a beacon using s.t() within the All Page Rule, which is correctly capturing the Page URL across all pages.

3. Additionally, there is another rule on the site where eVar2 is also involved, and in that rule, the beacon is being sent using s.tl().

[Jennifer_Dungan]

OK, so with Visit expiry, there must be some hit (prior to you setting the eVar the first time in the visit, there must be an action or page that is failing to set the value.

This is why I suggested investigating the eVar at the hit level...

When it's unspecified, there won't be an eVar2 Instance metric... so you can't use that.. but if you can identify if the unspecified value is on a page view, or on an action (custom link instance or page event), and you can breakdown unspecified by other dimensions to help identify it...

If it's an action, try looking at the Custom Link dimension.. if it's a page, look at the Page value? I don't know what else you are collecting, but try to breakdown by any dimensions that you think might help you identify where the value isn't set.

[bjoern__koth]

Hi @RuttalaLi 

have you tried breaking the Unspecified down by your Page dimension or any of your other props/eVars to figure out on which page this occurs?

Could there be any additional logic like in the s.doPlugins section of the Analytics extension potentially resetting this value only on specific pages?

Just to narrow it down where this strange behavior occurs. Tbh, I think the expiration settings should not have anything to do with this Unspecified value, since even with a Hit scope, it should show up in Visits as long as it is set and sent.

Else than that, could there be any processing rules in place, overwriting this eVar value in some cases?