Adobe Analytics

aagk123 · 9/20/22

What is difference between "exclude at beginning of sequence" and "exclude at end of sequence" Both looks same but confusing.

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

Jennifer_Dungan · 9/20/22

In this specific case, this is looking at sequences... not just "and" and "or".

If you look closely at the examples, they are using "Then" which denotes a specific order of operation.

In the "exclude at beginning of sequence", the rule is excluding sequences were page B was hit before Page A.

So:

Page A > Page B - fine, and returned in the sequence
Page B > Page A - not included, as the exclusion was set with Page B at the start

In the "exclude at end of sequence", the rule is excluding sequences where Page B was hit after Page A

So:

Page A > Page B - not included, as the exclusion was set with Page B at the end
Page B > Page A - fine, and returned in the sequence

It's really just about the order, since these sequential segments are looking at the order in which something is done....

Step 1 followed by Step 2 followed by Step 3, etc

If you are doing a non-sequential segment, the order doesn't matter.

Item 1 AND Item 2 AND (Item 3 or Item 4) AND Exclude Item 5

could also be written as

Exclude Item 5 AND Item 1 AND Item 2 AND (Item 3 or Item 4)

or

Item 1 AND Item 2 AND Exclude Item 5 AND (Item 3 or Item 4)

it doesn't matter, since there's no order built into it.

I hope that helps clear things up

aagk123 · 9/20/22

I can understand how "Then" works but I am not sure what adobe guide refers to and how it differs for example

If the exclude checkpoint is at the beginning of a sequential segment, then it ensures that an excluded page view did not occur before the first non-excluded hit.

If the exclude checkpoint is at the end of a sequence, then it ensures that the checkpoint did not happen between the last non-excluded checkpoint and the end of the visitor sequence.

Wont these 2 be taken care by "Then" operator?

Adobe says these both method will solve the use cases :

The following are examples of how this type of segment can be used:

Visitors who visited page A and did not visit page B.
A restaurant wants to see inveterate users who avoid the main landing page and go directly to the Order Out page.

Instead of considering only 2 pages in sequence should we consider multiple pages to understand this?

Jennifer_Dungan · 9/21/22

Honestly, I think that was a copy / paste error in the documentation...

Assuming page A is the Order Page, and Page B is the main landing page... there is no way way that adding Page B at the end will solve "A restaurant wants to see inveterate users who avoid the main landing page and go directly to the Order Out page"

This would remove users to went to Order Page, then went to the Landing Page.....

And as for "Visitors who visited page A and did not visit page B", this only applies partially... cause it's not just excluding visitors who visit both pages... it only excludes people who visit them in specific orders....

Looks like that page could use a little brush up on the descriptions to be honest..... cause you're right, that's confusing...

Based on your initial post, I just went straight into the examples, I didn't really look at all the surrounding text...

aagk123 · 9/21/22

Thanks for your time. Now how to reach adobe and inform about this documentation error?

Jennifer_Dungan · 9/21/22

That's a good question.. I am trying to reach out to some of my contacts in the hopes that they know who maintains those documents.....

aagk123 · 9/21/22

Yes try reaching them so that we may get bounty LOL

seanrobinson · 9/21/22

Thanks for finding this error, we're working on fixing the issue. I'll reply here when the document has been updated. In the meantime, take some kudos points!