Props and Instances/Occurrences

[skatofiabah]

H All,

Is there a reason there are no instances or occurrences for a Prop? Also, in addition to this question, is there ever a time when you only want to have a prop but no evar, an evar but no prop, or both a prop and an evar for the same thing (an example of this could be p1 and evar1 both = "Page name".

Thanks!

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi,

I assume when you say "Instances" you are referring to the special metric associated to eVars (i.e. "eVarX Instances")... and simply put, since props are always hit level, there is no reason to have an "instance" metric associated to them (more on that below). As for Occurrences, that is a metric that can apply to any dimension, if you aren't seeing any occurrences it means your prop is never being triggered (i.e. has no values being tracked), or you are applying a segment which is excluding those particular hits. 

eVars are considered "Conversion Variables", and as such, they have an expiry that you can set, by default this expiry is set to Visit... so let's say you are using a eVar to track a campaign "Y" (we'll also track "Y" in a prop for the purposes of this example, but this isn't needed)

Visit:

• Page A (no campaign set yet)
  • Page View is triggered
  • Occurrence is triggered
  • Prop1 is not set
  • eVar1 is not set
  • eVar1 Instance is not triggered
• Page B (campaign = Y)
  • Page View is triggered
  • Occurrence is triggered
  • Prop1 is set to "Y"
  • eVar1 is set to "Y"
  • eVar1 Instance is triggered (because eVar1 is explicitly set)
• Click on Link (trigger an action)
  • Page View is not triggered
  • Occurrence is triggered
  • Prop1 is not set (as it is Hit expiry)
  • eVar1 maintains value "Y" (due to Visit level expiry)
  • eVar1 maintains value "Y" (due to Visit level expiry)
• Page C
  • Page View is triggered
  • Occurrence is triggered
  • Prop1 is not set (as it is Hit expiry)
  • eVar1 maintains value "Y" (due to Visit level expiry)
  • eVar1 Instance is not triggered (because eVar1 is not explicitly set)
• Page D
  • Page View is triggered
  • Occurrence is triggered
  • Prop1 is not set (as it is Hit expiry)
  • eVar1 maintains value "Y" (due to Visit level expiry)
  • eVar1 Instance is not triggered (because eVar1 is not explicitly set)
• Page E (campaign "Z" in the same visit)
  • Page View is triggered
  • Occurrence is triggered
  • Prop1 is set to "Z"
  • eVar1 is set to "Z"
  • eVar1 Instance is triggered (because eVar1 is explicitly set)
• Page F
  • Page View is triggered
  • Occurrence is triggered
  • Prop1 is not set (as it is Hit expiry)
  • eVar1 maintains value "Z" (due to Visit level expiry)
  • eVar1 Instance is not triggered (because eVar1 is not explicitly set)

Pages (regardless of Campaign), With Click associated to the Page

			Page Views	Occurrence	Visit
Pages			6	7	1
	Page A		1	2	1
		Click Action	0	1	1
	Page B		1	1	1
	Page C		1	1	1
	Page D		1	1	1
	Page E		1	1	1
	Page F		1	1	1

Pages Broken Down by eVar1

				Page Views	Occurrence	eVar1 Instance	Visit
Pages				6	6	2	1
	Page A			1	1	0	1
	Page B			1	1	1	1
		eVar1		1	1	1	1
			Y	1	1	1	1
	Page C			1	1	0	1
		eVar1		1	1	0	1
			Y	1	1	0	1
	Page D			1	1	0	1
		eVar1		1	1	0	1
			Y	1	1	0	1
	Page E			1	1	1	1
		eVar1		1	1	1	1
			Z	1	1	1	1
	Page F			1	1	0	1
		eVar1		1	1	0	1
			Z	1	1	0	1

Pages Broken Down by prop1

				Page Views	Occurrence	Visit
Pages				6	6	1
	Page A			1	1	1
	Page B			1	1	1
		prop1		1	1	1
			Y	1	1	1
	Page C			1	1	1
		prop1		0	0	0
			Y	0	0	0
	Page D			1	1	1
		prop1		0	0	0
			Y	0	0	0
	Page E			1	1	1
		prop1		1	1	1
			Z	1	1	1
	Page F			1	1	1
		prop1		0	0	0
			Z	0	0	0

• Page Views are only triggered for Page Views (not actions)
• Occurrences are triggered for both Page Views and Actions (also, an occurrence is triggered for eVars that are set or maintain the value
• eVar Instances are only set when the eVar is explicitly set, not maintaining (persisting) a value

As for setting eVars and Props the same, there is little reason to do this any longer... Back in the days of "Reports and Analytics", you couldn't correlate props with eVars, so a lot of implementations called for tracking the values in separate dimension types.. but Workspace allows for full correlation...  (I think Report Builder may still have similar correlation issues, but trying to correlate in Report Builder has some difficulties anyway... even within the same dimension type)

The lines between props and eVars is much smaller now... I will use eVars (set to Hit) expiry to make them work like props (i.e. details that pertain to the page and don't need to be maintained), but make use of the additional character length (props take a max of 100 characters, whereas eVars allow for a max of 255), so things like URLs, or "Page Names", etc. If I need a attribution model, this is where I also use eVars.

I don't double track content in both an eVar and prop any longer (I haven't for over 10 years) (I mean aside from legacy implementations that I just haven't cleanup up yet) I see no reason to waste my dimensions like that....

[skatofiabah]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan ,

Thank you for the prompt response. I have some follow up questions:

• I can still look at the "page views" metrics with both a Prop and eVar set to be each other, correct? Persistence isn't an issue with this metric since it will get reset for each new page or page refresh?
• In your example, let's say just eVar1, let's treat it as a tracking code that gets explicitly set on the landing page. Let's also say it persists on visit (expire on visit). If I create a hit level segment for that tracking code, it's going to bring all the "hits" after the explicit set on the landing page, correct? Because it persists? For example, eVar1 is set on the landing page, then a user clicks a link, then a user views another page. The hit segment for eVar1 tracking code would capture those later activities in workspace, correct?

[Jennifer_Dungan]

"Page Views" will be available on every page that has a value set (regardless of whether it is explicitly set, or if it persists.

If you create a HIT based segment, with the default settings, both the "set" and "persisted" values will also be returned... you are correct. Every hit (no matter how its set, will be returned)

If you only want the explicitly set values, you will need to change the attribution model settings on your eVar in the segment definition to use "Instance", instead of "Repeating (default)":

(or pair it with "eVar Instance" exists)

[skatofiabah]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan ,

Thank you for this in detail! You are super knowledgeable and one of the best in Adobe. I understand the first half of your response. Can you explain the second half in more detail about what the non-repeating instance is in the attribution? Is there documentation on this on Adobe's site? Instance makes sense in that it's only when the variable is explicitly set. I don't undertstand repeating (default) and non-repeating instance in your example above.

Thanks!

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

Basically the non-repeating means it will ignore it if it's "twice in a row".

Let's use a campaign as an example... 

Someone comes to your site on https://www.domain.com/?cid=x

• Page A
  • campaign x is set
• User clicks on button
  • campaign x is set (again) - as in the click didn't use the visit attribution
• Page B
  •  campaign x is persisted through the Visit
• Page C
  •  campaign x is persisted through the Visit

Now let's look at the settings:

• Default (Repeated) will return pages A, B and C and the button click
• Instance will return page A and the button click (but maybe this is causing an "inflation" by what you are trying to achieve
• Non-Repeating Instance will only return Page A (since the button click is right after it)

This also pertains to potentially people refreshing the page (triggering the tracking multiple times in a row), or maybe some oddities with a cookie compliance flow that causes the values to be explicitly set multiple times.

See:

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/analytics/components/segmentation/segmentation-workflow/s...

[skatofiabah]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan ,

Thank you for your answer. Super clear and easy to follow.

[skatofiabah]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan ,

Does the repetition have to come exactly in the subsequent hit in order for non-repeating instances to be recognized? Or could it be set 2 hits later and still count?

[Jennifer_Dungan]

It's specifically subsequent.

So if we extend the previous example:

• Page A
  • campaign x is set
• User clicks on button
  • campaign x is set (again) - as in the click didn't use the visit attribution
• Page B
  •  campaign x is persisted through the Visit
• Page C
  •  campaign x is persisted through the Visit
• Page D (campaign again - let's pretend multiple links from the same newsletter, hence the same campaign)
  • campaign x is set
• Page E
  • campaign x is persisted through the Visit

Repeated (Default) will return all of the above

Instance will return Page A and Page D, and the Button Click (which was directly after Page A)

Non-Repeating Instance will return only Page A and D

[skatofiabah]

@Jennifer_Dungan You are the best

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I am just happy that I can help you understand.