Co-existence of Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) and Adobe Campaign v8

[#1]

Brands are increasingly focused on unifying customer data from various sources to create a single, comprehensive view of each customer. As part of this shift, many are moving to Customer Data Platforms (CDP). For instance, a brand may plan to adopt Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) to unify customer data and capture real-time behavioral data. Concurrently, many brands are migrating from Adobe Campaign V7 or Campaign Standard to Campaign V8.

In this context, it is common for brands to utilize both Adobe Campaign V8 and AJO, which are powerful marketing automation platforms. This raises several questions:

• Is it not sufficient to have either Adobe Campaign V8 or AJO to handle business use cases?
• Would it be better to adopt AJO, the latest in the market, instead of migrating to V8 from Adobe Campaign Classic or Standard?
• What is the need for having two marketing automation platforms within the ecosystem?

If these questions have crossed your mind, the details below will provide clarity.

The choice between these platforms depends on the specific needs and goals of the business. However, the following points outline functional and business use cases to demonstrate the suitability of each platform and the benefits of their co-existence.

Disclaimer: Adobe Campaign V8 and AJO are evolving products with more features expected in future updates. Currently, some functionalities are available natively in one platform but not in the other. Certain functionalities can be customized and implemented but may require significant effort and manual involvement, often with limitations.

Functional Use Cases

Adobe Campaign V8

Reporting and Analytics

• Custom Reports: The need to create custom reports.
• Waterfall Counts: Capturing waterfall counts at each step of the workflow, storing the counts, generating a file, and exporting it.

Troubleshooting and Debugging

• Workflow/Campaign Debugging: Debugging workflows or campaigns at each step by enabling interim logs from the UI.
• Delivery Logs: Viewing delivery success/failure logs on the UI at the recipient level.

Data Management

• Data Export: Scheduling data exports in CSV format at frequencies less than every 3 hours and adding additional data to the export.
• Data Manipulation: Easily manipulating (update/delete) recipient data from the UI.
• Ad-hoc Data Enrichment: Enriching ad-hoc data for use in personalized email delivery.
• Hierarchical Data Management: Managing hierarchical structures of organizational units or brands and hiding data from one organization/brand to another.

Segmentation and Audience

• Immediate Audience Creation: Creating segments/audiences/lists immediately once the data is in the system and using them for communications.
• Audience Visibility: Identifying users who are part of the segment/audience/list from the UI.

Campaign Management

• Ad-hoc Campaigns: Sending ad-hoc/on-demand personalized campaigns.
• Campaign/workflows Control: Exercising more control in handling a string of campaigns/workflows, including triggering another workflow from one workflow.
• Social Delivery Channels: Supporting social delivery channels.
• Complex Typology Rules: Implementing complex typology rules.

Personalization and Content

• Batch Campaigns: Using behavioral data in campaign/workflow conditions and message personalization.
• Federated Data Access: Connecting Campaign to one or more external databases, processing information, and using it in message personalization.
• AEM and AMP Integration: Integrating AEM contact templates and AMP.
• JavaScript Compatibility: Supporting JavaScript compatibility.

Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO)

Omni-channel Experience

• Omni-channel Communication: Bringing an omni-channel experience to customers.
• 1:1 Behavior-driven Communications: Communicating with all customers at once through 1:1 behavior-driven communications.

Real-time Targeting

• Event-driven Behavior: Targeting customers in real-time based on event-driven behavior.
• Offer Decisioning: Implementing offer decisioning across all channels.

Channel Engagement

• Code-based Engagement: Supporting code-based channel engagement.

Data Integration

• Real-time Profile: Combining all online and offline data at a granular event level, creating a real-time customer profile.
• Advanced Visualization: Providing advanced visualization of campaign/journey data using out-of-the-box (OOTB) reports.

Business Use Cases

Adobe Campaign V8

Campaign V8 can be utilized for batch-oriented, scheduled, marketing-initiated, and audience-focused campaigns, such as:

• Promo Campaigns
• Announcements
• Newsletters
• Nurturing
• Loyalty (batch)
• Winback
• Birthdays
• Anniversaries

Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO)

AJO can be utilized for real-time, 1:1 focused, customer-initiated, and offer decisioning-focused journeys, such as:

• Geo-location
• Onboarding
• Cart or Form Abandonment
• Real-time Loyalty
• Operational
• Customer Service
• Check-in
• Buy Online Pickup

Conclusion

Adobe Campaign and AJO are two distinct marketing automation platforms. These tools can be integrated with each other, unlocking new use cases. It is recommended for brands to leverage both tools to engage, retain, and gain customers, ultimately improving ROI.

[#2]

This is well-written @Anuhya-Y . I've observed many clients misinterpreting the capabilities of these features and anticipate the deprecation of v7/v8 for AJO licensees.

[#3]

Thanks Pradeep !

[#4]

Do you know customers which use both V8 and AJO?

[#5]

@Michael_Soprano I am aware of a few brands that use both AJO and Adobe Campaign. While specific brand details cannot be disclosed publicly, Adobe has several high-profile clients across various industries likely using both tools to optimize their customer journeys and manage campaigns. For more publicly available information on brands, you can visit Adobe's Customer Success Stories.

[#6]

@Anuhya-Y, thank you for this article! Very helpful. Would you say that the considerations are similar for co-existence of AJO and Adobe Marketo Engage?

[#7]

Thank you @ShannonKelly 

Yes, the co-existence of AJO and Adobe Marketo Engage applies with respect to the business use cases mentioned in the blog. However, in a scenario where more than 100 subdomains need to be delegated for email channel setup, please consider Adobe Marketo Engage for email communications.

[#8]

@ShannonKelly ICYMI: https://business.adobe.com/products/journey-optimizer-b2b-edition.html  

[#9]

Thank you for sharing, @AndreaBriceno . I know AJO B2B is in beta -- looking forward to hearing more!

[#10]

AJO B2B moved to general Availability in August - https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2024/Adobe-Transforms-B2B-Marketing-with-Generative-AI-Powe...

[#11]

Hi @Anuhya-Y Thank you for this excellent article. I have couple of questions

- AJO supports batch campaign and having highest throughput as 60M (without offer) and 30M(with offer)

- V8 support emails up to 20M per hours

If a customer has all the data onboarded into AEP, should they use the Batch Campaign functionality of AJO instead of sending the segment to AC V8 and target?

If, the campaign requires some more filtration/enrichment of the data before it can be delivered, should the customer onboard that extra piece of data in AEP itself instead of sharing the segment with AC?

[#12]

@itsme Thank you! The answer is 'Yes' to both questions. AJO can indeed be used for batch campaigns in the use case mentioned.

[#13]

Hi @Anuhya-Y , Thanks for sharing the information. it's really helpful.

Could you please help me to understand difference Adobe Campaign V7 and Campaign V8? is the functionally wise both are same? does both offer same features or is there any difference in these products?

Thank You!!

[#14]

Thank you @Prady12  

Adobe Campaign v8 offers enhanced infrastructure, security, deliverability, and monitoring over v7. It supports both client and web consoles (unlike v7's client console only) and is available as a Managed Cloud Service at this point (vs. Managed Cloud, on-premise, or hybrid for v7). While most features from v7 are available in v8, a few have been deprecated.

Check out https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/campaign/campaign-v8/new/v7-to-v8

[#15]

@Anuhya-Y thanks for this overview of AJO & Adobe Campaign 

I have a question: do you think AJO will cover most of the use cases covered in Adobe Campaign? 

[#16]

Thank you @riballor .

The answer is both yes and no. If the business use cases are straightforward, AJO can be used to achieve the business use cases listed for Adobe Campaign. However, if the business use case requirements involve multiple layers, such as the functional use cases mentioned in the blog under Adobe Campaign, it would be better to implement those business use cases with Adobe Campaign rather than AJO.