AEM Analytics: Ways AEM Can Make or Break Your Customer Data
Implementing web analytics on a site is an essential aspect for a site to gather data that is both useful for the business and the developers in order to create a better user experience. On the business side, web analytics is important for assessing how effective different marketing strategies are received by the users. The data can also be interpreted by developers to improve the user interface and parts of the functionality by tracking what aspects of a website are attracting users and what aspects are not. When using AEM, a company can seamlessly integrate analytics to obtain this data and allow these different groups to analyze it for their purposes. For an even better analytics experience, a company can integrate Adobe Analytics (formerly known as SiteCatalyst) with AEM.
Tracking User Interactions With AEM
In order to track user interactions, AEM uses events to gather user data based on interactions with a site. The data is stored in a key value pair map-based system so that the events are recorded and the metrics that are desired based on an event are attached to the event before it is stored. These events can be triggered either on page load or after page load. The first being utilized to evaluate site performance with respect to what gets loaded on the page and the latter used for tracking what a user decides to interact with when on a page. To get the most out of this process values obtained from the client context, user information tracking included in AEM, can also be used to store customer data when events are fired.
Adobe Analytics does have some significant advantages over the OOTB analytics in AEM. When utilizing Adobe Analytics the biggest advantage is that it essentially adds another level of detail when an event is triggered. Instead of a developer defining the value for an event’s key value within the code it provides an authorable interface where customizable Adobe Analytics variables can be attached to an AEM component’s event options. By removing the need to rework code for changes to Adobe Analytics’s variables it allows for faster and easier modifications to be made.
Improved Reporting Capabilities
There are also improvements to the reporting capabilities of the data gathered by adding more interpretations of the data that will analyze the customized variables. One of the most powerful tools it provides is called the Report Builder which is a plugin for Excel that can be downloaded from Adobe Analytics. It allows the user to consolidate, evaluate, and organize the flood of information into more concise reports that can be examined more easily.
When configuring analytics in Adobe Analytics there is an easy to use interface for mapping the events to the reporting values. The interface is primarily broken up into two tabs which are the CQ and Adobe Analytics views. In the CQ view, you can drag and drop Adobe Analytics tracking variables, typically name eVar, and associate them with different interactions that can occur on every component. In the SiteCatalyst view, you can map the eVar variables to CQ variables like the page title or write a javascript expression to obtain the data.
Out-of-the-Box or Adobe Analytics?
Between these two options using Adobe Analytics is the recommended route for getting the most out of the analytics from your AEM site but the OOTB method is effective as well. Once properly configured you can accurately track the activity of users on your site to produce more innovative marketing and web design geared towards a better user experience. Attaching analytics to a site is a source of valuable user feedback due to silently observing their interactions instead of asking for direct feedback.
When coupled with data gathered from the client context the data gathered can not only tell you about the events that occurred during a visit but also obtain different user metrics to even further target diverse user groups.
Be on the lookout for future blog posts on analytics and how to integrate them with your site. In the meantime feel free to contact us about any questions or comments you might have on analytics or anything AEM related.