Using Tracking Code in Marketing Processing Rules

[aris-signet]

I'm trying to understand precisely how Tracking Code is evaluated in Marketing Processing rules, so far I've been a little confused by the Adobe documentation and the various options for matching rules.

We're seeing that some visits are falling through holes in our Marketing rules and filling up the "None" bucket for Last Touch Channel.

1. Tracking Code contains
   • Assumption is that the hit must contain the Tracking Code parameter, and if the value passed contains the specified string, this rule will be applied
2. Tracking Code exists
   • Assumption is that if a Tracking Code exists at any time during this users visit, the rule will be applied.

Are both these assumptions correct?

[V_Sirish_Kaushik1 · Accepted solution]

Hi, 

In the context of Adobe Analytics marketing channels, or generally also, the difference between the "contains" and "exists" operators is as follows. The "contains" operator is used to check if a particular value exists within a specified dimension or variable (in our case, Tracking Code). It evaluates whether the value is present in the data, regardless of whether it is the only value or part of a larger set of values.

For example, if you set a rule with the condition "Tracking Code" contains 'Display'", it will match any Tracking Code that includes the term 'Display' within its value. 

The "exists" operator, on the other hand, is used to determine whether a dimension or variable has any value at all. It checks for the presence of any value, regardless of what the value is.

For instance, if you set a rule with the condition "Tracking Code exists", it will match any Tracking Code that has any value assigned to it, regardless of the specific value. This includes all values, regardless of their names or content.

And yes, below two points are to be highlighted (read more about this here)
1. Marketing Channel processing rules determine if a visitor hit meets the criteria assigned to a channel by processing every hit a visitor makes on your site.
2. The rules are processed in the order you specify, and when a rule is met, the system stops processing the remaining rules.

Hope it helps 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

You may also be running into attribution related issues using "Tracking Code" in your rules.. I have never tried using Tracking Code directly here, because I am concerned that the 1 Week Attribution on Tracking Code could skew the results...

It's probably better to check your query string values directly (UTMs or CID, etc). This way you are 100% sure that you are reading the actual value passed on that exact call, and not something that potentially set days before.... 

Your Tracking Code value is reading from your query parameters (I would assume - that is the standard way to populate this)... so why not just check the direct value instead of the attributed value?

Let's use a simple example

1. 3 Days ago, user arrives with "?cid=value"

- tracking code is set to "value" and will retain that value for 1 week

2. You change your Marketing Channel rules today to look for "Tracking Code contains value"

3. User comes to your site tomorrow (with no CID)... will your Marketing Channel Rule read "value" from the previously attributed Tracking Code?

It's better to just look directly in your Marketing Channel Rules to look for "querystring cid contains value"... that way you know that this entry URL specifically contained value.

@V_Sirish_Kaushik1 handled the "exists" (has any values at all) vs "contains" (specific value) nicely.

But when talking about Marketing Channel, you mentioned

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if a Tracking Code exists at any time during this users visit, the rule will be applied

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Marketing Channel rules shouldn't be looking at all pages in the visit.. just the entries to the site....

Marketing Channels are for classifying how people got to / found your site, and if that traffic is associated to Marketing Campaigns trying to get traffic (particularly if they are paying to have ads in Search Engines and Social Media, or are running email campaigns, etc)

You don't want Internal Page to Page traffic to overwrite those... this is why specifically most Marketing Channel "Internal Rule" has a clause that it must be the first page of the visit, to protect your channels from being wiped out when people navigate around your site.