Custom (a.k.a SAINT) Classification in Adobe Analytics

This blog post is to guide you through the custom classification steps that a marketer needs to take to complement the data available in Adobe Analytics.

Greetings! This space will be utilized to exhibit the process of producing personalized classification in Adobe Analytics. Campaign data will be employed for this demonstration, and any sensitive client information displayed in the screenshots will be obscured to protect their privacy. Without further ado, let's delve into the topic at hand.

I assume the marketer has access to the Adobe Analytics interface.

Showcases: Custom Classification on Conversion variable

Go to Report Suites under Admin of the Adobe Analytics. Choose the report suite ID to which classification needs to be created. Then hover on Edit Settings to choose Conversion Classifications.

Use the below path to navigate to Conversion Classification Admin > Report Suites > Edit Settings > Conversion > Conversion Classifications.

The above procedure remains unchanged for Traffic Classifications except the navigation path is different Admin > Report Suites > Edit Settings > Traffic > Traffic Classifications.

Add classification columns based on the classification file. For example, The file has two classification files Creative Elements and Campaign Description. For this illustration, I’m using the pictured classification file with three columns. A campaign ID is the classification key that is captured in the conversion variable (s.campaign a.k.a s.eVar0) of the analytics implementation. In other words, the file has two columns excluding the key column i.e. Campaign ID.

I choose the campaign variable on which to apply classification using the drop-down list. Then use the play button to create a classification on Campaign (v0) as highlighted in the snapshot. In our example, we need to create 2 classification columns using the play button as highlighted in the screenshot. The Campaign value is captured in the tracking code (v0) and the data is stored in the report suite.

After having completed the above steps, click the “Classification Importer” tool under the Admin section. The default tab is download template (highlighted grey), select the report suite, and classified variable. In our case, Campaign (v0) is highlighted in the screenshot. Click download and the file "SiteCatalyst Classification" downloads with a tab extension. This file should be opened using Microsoft excel.

Upon opening the file in excel, it should look something like this. The “Key” column is the connector between the classification file and Campaign (v0) variable in the report suite. Copy all the data from the classification file to the SiteCatalyst Classification file, excluding labels. After the coping process is complete, the file should look something like a screenshot. Be careful to not miss align the data in the excel during the copying and pasting process.

Import Classification File: Browse or FTP Import

Browse Import is useful when the upload file size limit is less than or equal to 1 MB. The data changes in reports take up to four hours.

In the final step, choose the “Import File” tab to upload the SiteCatalyst Classification file, pick the report suite, and classified the variable. In this case, Campaign (v0). If everything goes well, there is a success message displayed on the screen with the number of rows uploaded to the system, as shown in the screenshot.

FTP Import is useful when the upload file size is above 1 MB. The data changes in reports take up to 24 hours. The link provides detailed steps to import classifications into Adobe Analytics.

Note: There is no limit to creating classification columns however a 30-column limit exists for Browse and FTP exports. If you download more than 50,000 data rows, use the FTP download option. Remember, you cannot import classifications until this report suite has received data.

I hope you found these steps detailed enough to get your job done. Enjoy!!

Reference Links

https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/reference/c_working_with_saint.html