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Customer Attributes - traffic drop after implementation

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Level 3

Hi

We tried to implement Customer Attributes on our site. As a basis we used Customer ID passed in the eVar. As far as I know we didn't update VisitorAPI.js with setCustomerId method on our side (and were not requested to do so by Adobe.).

As a result we got a partial success but also a significant (up to 25%) traffic loss which we identified with Google Analytics trends. 

After we switched it off our traffic got back to normal. 

Does anyone know what we need to troubleshoot to avoid this happening in the future when we activate customer attributes again? Can somebody help me pinpoint the problem?

Thanks

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20 Replies

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Level 9

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out. Using customer attributes shouldn't affect traffic, but implementing Marketing Cloud ID Service might depending on how it's implemented. Are you implementing Marketing Cloud ID Service? What changes did you make to the implementation? Was it just adding setCustomerID and no other changes?

There is more info on getting started with Customer Attributes here: https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/mcloud/faq-crs.html. Did you complete all of the steps here? https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/mcloud/core_services.html. It may be helpful to see the site you are working on. If you can send me the URL in a private message I can take a look at the implementation. 

Thanks!

Tacia

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Level 3

Hi Tacia

Thanks for your reply. 

We did implement Marketing Cloud ID service and we implemented it well before the Customer Attributes. 

As for the Customer Attributes we didn't use setCustomerID in the visitorID code. Adobe consultant who did it for us used existing eVar and enabled it on the Adobe backend (unfortunately I didn't have a visibility of the process and something definitely went  wrong). At the moment we are trying to figure out what went wrong before enabling Customer Attributes again. 

I will send you the URL of our site in a private message. 

Many thanks

Alla

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Level 9

Hi Alla,

Did you see my private message? Can you walk me through which reports you are looking at to show the decline in traffic?

Thank you,

Tacia

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Level 3

Hi Tacia

I replied to you via private message. 

Basically we are trying to identify what factors could cause the data loss as customer attributes on its own are harmless.

Thanks

Alla

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Level 9

Hi Alla,

I located your Customer Care ticket and reviewed the information provided. Can you walk me through the implementation changes that were made when you added Customer ID? It looks like it was an implementation issue, but in order to pinpoint what that issue is I will need more information on what was changed. What versions of the code were used and what changes were made to the code?

Thank you,

Tacia

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Level 3

Hi Tacia

Here is the process:

We are not using setCustomerID at all. Instead, please find the description of the process applied - provided to us by Adobe staff:

"Customer attribute upload or activation/deactivation of customer source shouldn't impact the analytics reporting. I am not sure on the Target side, this need to be check with Target team.

Basically customer attribute allow to upload offline data (attribute) to the reporting interface, So we pass a customerID value along with mid value in the image request. Than upload offline data against that customerID, this customerID is able to associate with the mid as they both are fired together.

Based on this under visitor profiling, separate report is created for customer attribute. This doesn't remove or affect the existing data in reports like page view, visits, unique visitor or revenue. It's just that as customer attribute reports are based on above association. Other metrics could be applied to the customer attribute report.

Please find the details process which was follow under the engineering ticket.

06/Jul/16 - Issue raised with Engg regarding Data not reflecting for Customer Attributes upload

11/Jul/16 - Exception raise with engg to get update on priority on the issue.

11/Jul/16 - Engg shared that there was an issue with ftp customer attribute upload as service was down. Suggested new customer attribute to get setup. (similar was conveyed, New customer attribute source was created from your end)

14/Jul/16 - File was picked by the system, status completed, but no data in customer attribute report.

15/Jul/16 - As customerID implementation was not as use, customer attribute data was uploaded against evar33, backfill request was run so evar33 could be associate with mid passed along with it. To reflect data in customer attribute report.

16/Jul/16 - Backfill was run but data still appeared under "unspecified".  Engg was informed about the same

19/Jul/16 - Engg shared the customer attribute file uploaded had left "0" padding which resulted data under "unspecified"

20/Jul/16 - Without left "0" padding customer attribute file was re-upload from your end.

20/Jul/16 - Engg request without left "0" padding file.

22/Jul/16 - Without left "0" padding file shared with engg.

27/Jul/16 - Engg confirmed that value are appearing in reports as expected based on the without left "0" padding file which was upload. Information was shared that other values which our under unspecified are due to the previous file which was uploaded with "0" left padding. Suggest to connect with different engineering team, to remove those values.

08/Aug/16 - Follow up was done to confirm, if client care team could further engage with concern engineering team to remove the left "0" padded value. (Note: no further action has been taken by engg or client care team to remove these value, we are still waiting on further confirmation to proceed)."

As a result we got 20-25% traffic drop. So, we had to switch Customer Attributes off. 

As for the libraries we are using - AppMeasurement v.1.5 and Marketing Cloud ID v.1.6

Many thanks

Alla

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Employee

@zloi_dvornik,

I'm sorry the story about getting Customer Attributes up and working has been long and painful.  What I don't understand is your "As a result we got 20-25% traffic drop..." Drop in what on which report?  If you didn't change your implementation, as you mention you didn't.  Then nothing customer attributes does, will impact like your key metrics report with visits and page views etc.  It doesn't touch your base traffic numbers at all.  And switching it on or off wouldn't impact that at all.  What traffic drop on which report are you talking about?

-Seth

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Level 3

Hi Seth

We got drop in visits, unique visitors, orders and revenues. Page views drop also happened but it was less. I know this from the comparison with GA which runs in parallel and back end (in regards to orders and revenue). Normally we have discrepancy about 5-7%. After Customer Attributes went live the discrepancy increased to 25-30%. When we switched Customer Attributes off all metrics went back to normal within two hours. 

Therefore we are trying to investigate what in Customer Attributes and some other factors (?) could cause this issue. 

One issue which we are not sure about is that eVar33 -CustomerID may be related to many MCIDs as this is Customer ID for the company rather than for individual. Hence, we may have 10-20 unique visitors who may use the same Customer ID. What happens after the Customer Attributes were enabled in this case if user is not logged in? How does Adobe treats multiple users?

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Level 9

Hey Alla,

What are the exact dates it was enabled versus disabled?

Thanks!

Tacia

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Level 3

Hi Tacia

Customer attributes was activated weeks before the 26th but ID’s were matched as of the 25th/26th (the backfill will have done this) but I didn’t get a confirmation email from client care to say it had been done so I don’t know when exactly the backfill took place. We deactivated it at 8:30 Friday morning.

 

Thanks

Alla

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Level 9

Hi Alla,

Thanks for providing those dates. In the report suite as a whole (i.e. key metrics report) I don't see a dip in data for those dates. I don't have any segments applied and I'm looking at visits, UV, and page views. Can you message me a copy of the reports you are viewing that show the dips? To your previous comment, even if the customerID crossed multiple unique visitors it wouldn't affect order data. The only things that affect order data are the purchase ID's. If you see a dip in orders and it's not an issue with traffic it's an issue with the purchase ID being a duplicate (an id that has previously been sent), or the purchase event not being passed on the purchase page.

-Tacia

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Level 3

AT the moment I can provide you with page views report (no segment applied). I will provide other metrics data later. 

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Level 3

AT the moment I can provide you with page views report (no segment applied). I will provide other metrics data later. 

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Level 3

This is revenue and orders data. You can see that difference between Adobe and other data sources increased to 25% on the 26-28 July 2016. I sent it in the private message. Visits and UVs to follow. 

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Level 3

I am attaching here anomaly detection report for visits and UVs. It clearly shows anomaly drop on 26 and 27 July 2016 for both metrics. 

We have Google Analytics country profiles, so we'd have to apply segments and it can be overcomplicated. The comparison between GA and Adobe clearly shows that difference in these metrics increased during 26-28 July 2016. 

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Level 9

Hi Alla,

Viewing your ticket this morning, I see Customer Care is actively working this issue. I show that you are cc'd on the thread. Since Customer Care is actively looking into the issue, I will hand this issue over to them to continue their deep dive analysis. I will continue to monitor the ticket and follow up with you when the Customer Care ticket is resolved.

Sincerely,

Tacia

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Level 3

Thanks, Tacia

At the moment we still cannot find any cause for this data loss. I would be happy if you continue monitoring our ticket. 

Kind regards

Alla 

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Level 10

Hi Alla,

Just wanted to follow up on this open thread. Was Customer Care able to resolve the issue? If so, would you mind posting a quick summary of what happened in case others face this same issue in the future?

Thanks,
Jantzen

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Level 3

No, Client Care was not able to find a solution. Later we redeployed it on the single marked RSID and monitored closely. It worked fine this time. Then we expanded it to other markets.

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Level 10

Thanks for following up. That's very interesting. As a few of my colleges have pointed out, enabling customer attributes shouldn't impact traffic metrics.

To clarify, have you been able to redeploy Customer Attributes on the web property that originally showed a loss of traffic, or have you only deployed it on other web properties?