Marketing Channel Processing Rules: evar Expiry and Allocation

[schmisajoe82]

Hi guys, this is my first post here. Nice to meet you! I hope you can help

In the Marketing Channel Processing Rules I use the following rule:

If all of the following are true: evar123 starts with "sea_"

Then do the following: Identify the channel as SEA

Set the channel's value to evar123

(In my setting the marketing query parameter string is saved in evar123).

Let's say evar123 has a visitor expiry and first touch allocation.

Does this mean that the Marketing Channel AND Marketing Channel Detail dimensions take the expiry and allocation settings of evar123?

Or do the Marketing Channel rules apply which are set to an expiry of 30 days (rolling) and last touch?

[VaniBhemarasetty]

@schmisajoe82  Marketing channels have different expiry settings and do not depend on specific eVar settings.

You can set up marketing channel processing rules expiration by going to 

1. Click Analytics > Admin > Report Suites.

2. In the Report Suite Manager, click Edit Settings > Marketing Channels > Marketing Channel Expiration.

3. Configure the visitor engagement period fields.

4. Click Save.

Here is the documentation link for your reference.

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/analytics/components/marketing-channels/visitor-engagement.h...

[schmisajoe82]

Thank you, @VaniBhemarasetty! 

Just to make it a little more concrete:

You said: "Marketing channels have different expiry settings and do not depend on specific eVar settings."

1. Does this also apply to the dimension "Marketing Channel Detail" which is the channel's value?
2. Does this also apply to the allocation settings?

[yuhuisg]

As @VaniBhemarasetty said, Marketing Channels have their own expiry and allocation settings.

However, you're setting your Marketing Channel based on that "Never" expiry, first-touch allocation eVar123. In that case, eVar123 will never change once it has been set for a visitor. The implication is that your Marketing Channel and Marketing Channel Detail will never change for that visitor too, assuming that all of his subsequent visits are from Direct.

[schmisajoe82]

Thanks, @yuhuisg.

Okay, so the Marketing Channel and Marketing Channel Detail dimensions would always be populated with the same evar123 value for a visitor because the evar value would never change for that visitor due to its visitor expiry and first-touch allocation.

So, in order to have the Attribution IQ for Marketing Channels working as well as possible would you recommend to set my evar123 to a hit expiry, last-touch allocation?

[yuhuisg]

Just to clarify:

---

Okay, so the Marketing Channel and Marketing Channel Detail dimensions would always be populated with the same evar123 value for a visitor because the evar value would never change for that visitor due to its visitor expiry and first-touch allocation.

So, in order to have the Attribution IQ for Marketing Channels working as well as possible would you recommend to set my evar123 to a hit expiry, last-touch allocation?

---

In my reply, I had said that this would happen if the visitor only ever returned to your site as Direct traffic (or any Marketing Channel that has the "Override Last-Touch Channel" checkbox as selected).

Actually, could you explain why you want to set your Marketing Channel based on this eVar?

[schmisajoe82]

Sure!

In my settings the marketing query paramater is saved via Adobe Data Collection Tags in an evar, e. g. "sea_campaign1_ad2". Let's call this evar123, as in the example above.

In the Marketing Processing Rules I use this evar123

• to identify the channel as "SEA" (= Marketing Channel)
• to populate the channel's value "sea_campaign1_ad2" (= Marketing Channel Details)

I wonder

• how the expiry and allocation settings of my evar123 influence the Marketing Channels settings
• what value my evar123 needs to have in order to interfere with Attribution IQ as little as possible

[yuhuisg · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing that!

So actually, you want to set your Marketing Channel based on the query parameter. In that case, you can set your Marketing Channel to be based on the Query String Parameter instead of the eVar. In that way, your visitors would get set to that "SEA" Marketing Channel only when they land on your website with this query parameter present in the landing page's URL. See this help page for more info: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/analytics/components/marketing-channels/c-rules.html?lang=en...

FYI normally, we'd call the query parameter the "tracking code", and set it in AA's built-in Tracking Code variable, which defaults to Most Recent allocation and Week expiry. I'm not sure if the eVar123 that you mentioned refers to that same Tracking Code variable too.

[schmisajoe82]

My evar123 is directly populated with the query string parameters via Adobe Tags.

So if I want to use a variable instead of the query parameters directly in the processing rules: You would recommend me using Tracking Code / evar0 with its default setting for expiry and allocation? This solution would also be best practice for AIQ?

[yuhuisg]

Yes, I would suggest using Tracking Code instead of your eVar123.

But based on how Marketing Channels work, I'd recommend the Query String Parameter instead.