Instances (Participation) used for eVar

[H_L]

Hello All,

Situation:

Recently, we did several promotions by banner, by adding parameters on landing page URL, for example:

Banner1: http://www.***.com/index.html?baid=12345

Banner2: http://www.***.com/index.html?baid=12378

There are several links in the landing page and website, e.g. "contact support", "contact consultant".

Once the link is clicked, we can see "Instances" +1 under the name "contact support" or "contact support" under "Link Map" dimension.

Measurement:

Now, we are using the following way to check banner performance:

Dimension: "Link Map", Breakdown by:"baid", metric: Instances

Then in Adhoc, we can see (sample):

   

If user visit:

Banner1 > Page A > Click "contact support",

then I suppose, 1 "instance" will credit to bid: 12345, and Page A as well.

But if user visit:

Banner2 > Page A > Page B > Click "contact support"

Question1: Whether "banner2" can get 1 credit?

If not, Question2: can I use "instances (participation)", so that Banner2, Page A, Page B will all be credit?

I contacted with our internal analytics engineer, the reply is:

"Participation metric should be used at page level reporting ONLY, but not "bid" level".

I learn from user manual that: Participation metrics assign full credit from success events to all values of an eVar that were passed during a visit.

Then I didn't really understand:

Since bid is eVar1 (I can see it in Adhoc dimension), Questions3: why I cannot use "instances(participation)" to "bid", to evaluate the banners performance?

I didn't see eVar1 by using Digital Debugger...

But since I am not Omniture engineer, but a business user, I would like to have your help.

Thanks for all your inputs.

[PratheepArunRaj]

Dear H_L,

Understood your scenario and your query. Below my comments:

If user visit:

Banner1 > Page A > Click "contact support",

then I suppose, 1 "instance" will credit to bid: 12345, and Page A as well.

I don't think that Instance on 'Contact Support' will give its credit to bid.

This is because, "Contact Support" will be captured as a variable in second image request(Next Page Image Request) and it is not appended by a success event (Event 1-100).

Page A will get credit, because second image request will carry the details of the Previous Page. This is how Activity Map or Link Map work.

But if you have any event(Success Event) for the click, yes, bid will get credit.

But if user visit:

Banner2 > Page A > Page B > Click "contact support"

Question1: Whether "banner2" can get 1 credit?

Wont get credit. But if you have any event(Success Event) for the click, yes, bid will get credit. Even though there are pages in between, eVar persists for a visit and thus adding an event will be suffice.

If not, Question2: can I use "instances (participation)", so that Banner2, Page A, Page B will all be credit?

Instances is not a sucess event and thus "instances (participation) will not help you.

As you said : Participation metrics assign full credit from success events to all values of an eVar that were passed during a visit.

Here, Success Event is mandatory. Instance is not a success event.

I didn't see eVar1 by using Digital Debugger...

For your case, eVar1 will be captured only at the Landing Page with URL bid. Though it is not passed to all other URLs, in a Visit, the value will be in the backend to get credit from success events with and without participation.

Hope it is clear now.

For more info on Participation, please see the link : Participation

Thank You!

Arun

[H_L]

Hello Arun,

Thanks for your kind reply and detail clarification.

I will check with our internal support on "Whether there is any success event for Click Contact Support", and learn how I can know it myself.

Our internal engineer also mentioned that: Instances (Participation) could give us a way to know every “baid" during a visit to a "click".

e.g. user click banner A > landing > page A > leave, after 1 min, he/she clicks banner B > Landing > Click "contact support”.

Then by using Instances (Participation), I could know All banner A & Banner B participated in a Click.

But after read your comment, I understand if there is no success event for "click", above statement is not correct as well.

So, we have been using WRONG way to evaluate the Banner contribution to "click"...

Do you have any suggestion to a better way to track the Banner effect (baid) to the "Click"? I suppose that I need to submit request to our internal analytics support to add success event on click.

Please kindly suggest.

BTW:

I didn't see eVar1 by using Digital Debugger...

For your case, eVar1 will be captured only at the Landing Page with URL bid. Though it is not passed to all other URLs, in a Visit, the value will be in the backend to get credit from success events with and without participation.

H: I used debugger on the landing page (with baid on the URL) as well, but didn't see any eVar1 item and values...

Thanks again!

H

[PratheepArunRaj · Accepted solution]

Dear H_L,

If you dont have Success Event, you can use Segement to find the number of clicks on "Contact Support" using 'baid' variable (Here eVar1 right?).

Create a segment with Visit Container where eVar1 exists. Apply the segement and take the Contact Support Instances.

If you want for a particular 'baid' value, Create a segment with Visit Container where eVar1 = "Value" to take Contact Support Instances.

Make sure that you select "Visit" and not "Hit".

Rgiht now, this is the intermediate solution.

H: I used debugger on the landing page (with baid on the URL) as well, but didn't see any eVar1 item and values...

Can you share the public URL so that i can validate and revert you?

I hope it is populated once per visit. Clear your chache & history, try loading the URL with 'baid' parameter. You should see the value in the variable eVar1(If you are using eVar1 to capture baid value) for sure. On refresh, you wont be seeing it since is it once per visit.

Thank You!

Arun

[H_L]

Thanks for your answer again!

[H_L]

Dear Arun,

I just found that, by applying segment, I can see the "Click" lead by the baid(eVar1), but unfortunately, I am not able to see which baid lead how many instances, this is what business required to evaluate Banner effect.

And there are more than hundreds baid values...

It means we need to see a list, lists all the baid(eVar1) values and the Instances lead by everyone...

Anyway, your answers are really helpful!

[PratheepArunRaj]

Dear H_L,

To understand individual performances, you need to create individual segements.

Since you have more line items in tracking parameter, it is painful, but it is the only option we have.

I also see that you are using Tag Management Tool, thus tagging this button with Success Event will take few minutes.

Thank You!

Arun