Segmenting by classifications in Data Warehouse

Today I’d like to draw some attention to (and explain) one of my favorite new features in SiteCatalyst v14.9: segmentation by classifications in Data Warehouse. Gone are the days of adding dozens of raw campaign tracking codes to a segment in Data Warehouse so you can isolate data pertaining to a particular campaign. This may seem like a minor change, but for many of our users this will save many hours of segment creation, allowing them to run reports more quickly and spend more time doing real analysis.

In short, as of SiteCatalyst v14.9 (which was released in October), all of your SAINT classifications are available as segmentation options:

(Bonus: You will notice in the screen shot above that we put the variable/report which serves as the basis of the classification in parenthesis, so you can easily tell which classification you are selecting. As you can see, I have two classifications called “Author Login,” one based on eVar7 and another based on prop7. In some cases I may care whether I am using the eVar or the prop, so Data Warehouse tells me right then and there which one I am choosing.)

SAINT has always been a great way to aggregate your raw values into logical, actionable groups. For example, you can put products into categories and then categories into departments or business units; or, you can group internal search keywords by product type, author, etc. The possibilities are numerous to say the least. Adding the ability to segment by these groups quickly is a huge time-saver for those of you who run Data Warehouse reports frequently. (See my previous post for more information on Data Warehouse segmentation itself.)

For example, let’s say I have a classification on Tracking Code called “Campaign Owner,” and I want to see top pages viewed and revenue per visit for customers acquired only via the campaigns that my colleague, Eliza, created and published. This isn’t difficult conceptually; I would create a segment for “All Visitors where Eliza was the campaign owner.” Setting up the segment is where we’ve improved in leaps and bounds with this latest release. In the past, I would have to add each individual tracking code to the segment, creating something that looks like this:

Now let’s hope Eliza didn’t have 40,000 tracking codes tied to her campaigns. (If she did, let’s hope we set a separate eVar to a consistent value every time someone clicked through one of her campaigns.) As you can see, this was time-consuming in many cases.

Contrast that with segmenting by Eliza’s campaigns in Data Warehouse today:

Personally, I would rather type five letters and be done with it, and on to my next project.

So, there you have it. We hope you take advantage of segmentation by classifications, and that they make your lives as analysts easier than they had been before. We’re confident that it will. Incidentally, this is one idea that we realized needed attention when it quickly garnered votes on the Idea Exchange after it was submitted on day one by Adam Greco. Keep submitting ideas, and keep voting! This is a perfect example of how you can directly help bring about the features that you need.

As always, if you have any questions about anything in this post, or about anything else related to the Adobe Online Marketing Suite, please leave a comment here or contact me on Twitter and I’ll do my best to get you the information that you need.