Most marketing still runs on campaigns. But your customers? They move fast. They expect more.
They want you to meet them where they are, every time.
In this Masterclass, Jason Hickey, Director Product Marketing @Adobe will share how Adobe Journey Optimizer differentiates from traditional campaigns and how it can help move brands from siloed campaigns to connected customer journeys.
What you’ll learn
How AJO differs from traditional MA: Understand how AJO works and how it connects with Adobe Experience Platform to power real-time personalization.
Why journeys beat campaigns: Understand how moving away from one-off campaigns improves engagement and customer loyalty.
Features that matter: Learn about the tools that help unify experiences, improve timing, and support smarter decisions using customer data.
What leading brands are doing: Hear how global companies are using AJO to streamline marketing and drive results.
What’s coming next: Get a first look at upcoming features like WhatsApp for Business, RCS messaging, and new decisioning tools.
This is for you if you're:
Re-thinking how you engage customers
Working in marketing, product, CX, or digital strategy
Using (or planning to use) Adobe Experience Cloud
Tired of outdated processes and looking for smarter ways to work
Sign up and watch it on-demand
This session will give you ideas you can use to evolve your customer approach. Join and see how to make the shift from campaigns to journeys.
Watch this exclusive conversation between Kasper and Lily Chiu-Watson, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Adobe, as they talk about how Adobe Mix Modeler (AMM) is changing the way brands measure media performance.
About the session
Media budgets are under more pressure than ever. Yet, most marketers still struggle to answer one simple question: What’s actually working?
In this interview, Lily talks about how Adobe Mix Modeler fits into the marketing measurement landscape and why it’s built differently to help brands unlock more value from their investments.
What we'll cover
What is Adobe Mix Modeler? How it works, why it matters, and the challenges it's built to solve.
How AMM fits into Adobe’s ecosystem: Where it complements tools like AJO, Real-Time CDP, and Customer Journey Analytics.
Client use cases: Real stories from organisations using AMM to get more from their media investments.
MMM vs attribution: How AMM compares with other measurement tools, and when each approach makes sense.
Working with first-party data: What’s required to get started and how AMM uses data from AEP.
Team setup and ownership: Who needs to be involved internally for Mix Modeler to succeed.
Future roadmap: A peek into where AMM is heading next, including AI automation and new capabilities.
Who Should Watch
- Brands looking to get serious about marketing measurement
Many of the websites you use every day, for example Gmail, Facebook, or Twitter, can feel so seamless, fast and smooth. You click, and content just appears, without the whole page blinking and reloading. That's the magic of a Single Page Application (SPA)! These web experiences are designed for speed and fluidity, but they introduce unique challenges when it comes to personalization tools like Adobe Target.
In this post, Santosh Kumar, Principal Consultant at Accrease, shares two real-world challenges that we faced when implementing Target in an SPA, and how our team developed scalable solutions.
What's an SPA?
Imagine a website that's not a series of separate pages, but rather a single, smart canvas. When a user first visits, the browser loads the essential HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. After that, interactions update only the parts of the page that change, without reloading the full page.
Why are SPAs so popular and powerful today?
Faster performance: Because only small chunks of data are exchanged and rendered, SPAs feel incredibly quick and responsive. This results in a significantly faster user experience.
Smooth navigation: The absence of full-page reloads eliminates the jarring "white flash" and makes the navigation feel continuous and fluid, almost like using a native mobile application.
Enhanced Efficiency: With less data being transferred between the server and the client, SPAs reduce server load and bandwidth consumption, leading to more efficient performance overall.
Modern Development: Developers leverage powerful, cutting-edge JavaScript frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js to build SPAs, making the development process more organized and the applications more robust.
For the user, this means a fluid, modern web experience. But for personalization platforms like Adobe Target, it breaks the traditional pattern of reloading and re-evaluating content at each navigation.
The challenge with Adobe Target and SPAs
Adobe Target is a leading personalization and A/B testing tool that empowers businesses to deliver tailored content and experiences to their website visitors. It's all about showing the right message to the right person at the right time.
However, SPAs present a unique challenge for traditional personalization tools. Normally, when a user navigates to a new page, a "hard reload" occurs, and Adobe Target's main script (alloy.js, used for Adobe Web SDK) is re-executed, triggering a new "mbox call" to check for personalized content. In an SPA, this only happens on the very first page load. After that, all subsequent navigations are "soft reloads", dynamic content updates without a full page refresh. This means Target doesn't automatically get the signal it needs to re-evaluate and deliver new personalized experiences.
To address this, Adobe Target uses a concept called "views." A view is simply a named state or screen within your SPA. Think of it like a virtual page, even though the browser isn't actually reloading. For example, "homepage," "product-details," "shopping-cart," or "checkout" could all be defined as distinct views. When a user transitions to a new view, we manually tell Adobe Target, "Hey, the user is now on the 'product-details' view!" This manual trigger allows Target to deliver the appropriate personalized content for that specific screen, even without a full page reload.
Solving real-world scenarios with Adobe Target in SPAs
While the "views" concept is foundational, we encountered a couple of significant real-world challenges when trying to implement Adobe Target for more complex personalization scenarios in an SPA environment.
Challenge #1: Personalizing across thousands of similar pages (The "Marketer's Nightmare")
Take a large hotel booking site. It might have thousands of unique hotel detail pages, each representing a different property. In an SPA, each of these pages would typically have its own unique "view" name (e.g., "hotel-london-view," "hotel-paris-view," "hotel-tokyo-view"). Now, imagine a marketing team wants to change a small, universal piece of text, perhaps a call-to-action button or a promotional banner, that appears on every single one of these thousands of hotel detail pages. If they had to set up thousands of individual personalization rules in Adobe Target, one for each unique view name, it would be an incredibly time-consuming, impractical, and unscalable "marketer's nightmare."
Our approach: The generic view name trick
To solve this, making personalization scalable, we implemented a generic view strategy. Instead of sending unique view names for each individual hotel detail page, we sent a single, generic view name (e.g., "hotel-page" or "en: hotel page") for all hotel detail pages. This simple yet effective "trick" means marketers only have to set up one personalization rule in Adobe Target for the "hotel-page" view, and it automatically applies the desired change to all thousands of hotel pages. This dramatically simplifies campaign management and deployment.
Supporting marketers with our Accrease Custom Chrome Extension
Even with a generic view name, Adobe Target’s Visual Experience Composer (VEC) can still be difficult to use in SPAs. The VEC often defaults to the most recent view triggered, which may not be the one marketers want to edit.
To solve this, we developed a custom Chrome extension! This tool is extremely helpful for marketers working with SPAs. It listens for all the "view" names triggered by alloy.js on a page and populates them into a simple dropdown list within the extension. Marketers open the extension, select the exact view they want to work with (such as "hotel-page"), click "Activate." Then that specific view becomes visible and editable in Adobe Target's VEC.
The extension also includes a custom text box, allowing marketers to manually enter and activate any view name, even if it hasn't been implemented in the tag manager yet. This is incredibly useful for planning and setting up campaigns in advance. This tool significantly reduces manual effort, improves efficiency, and accelerates campaign creation for SPA-based sites, particularly for marketers who may lack in-depth technical knowledge.
Here is a closer look at the extension:
Here's a visual representation of how our Chrome extension “Accrease SPA Helper” helps:
Behind the extension:
Building such an extension may sound straightforward, but it requires both strong front-end development skills and a deep understanding of how Adobe Target operates. As Adobe Experience Cloud experts, we combined that knowledge with modern development tools to accelerate the process. AI-assisted coding helped us move faster, but it still took multiple iterations, testing, and refinement before we reached a polished and reliable solution. The end result is what you are seeing today, a tool that makes personalization in SPAs far more accessible for marketers, delivered with both speed and quality.
Challenge 2: Inaccurate goal tracking in A/B tests goal (The conversion discrepancy)
While personalization was now scalable, we noticed another issue: conversion tracking in Target wasn’t aligning with Adobe Analytics data.
For example, in an A/B test where the goal was a visit to the thank-you page, Analytics showed far more completions than Target.
The root cause:
After a thorough investigation, we pinpointed the problem. Since our site is an SPA, most users navigate between pages using "soft reloads." During these soft reloads, the main "mbox call" (which is crucial for Adobe Target to register user actions, evaluate goals, and track conversions) was not being sent automatically. Target was only recording a goal completion if a user happened to perform a full "hard reload" on the "thank you" page. This explained the small number of conversions we were seeing in Target compared to Analytics.
The fix:
We escalated this issue to Adobe Client Care, who involved their engineering team. After several rounds of analysis and communication, they confirmed our findings and recommended a crucial adjustment to our tag manager setup, specifically, the order in which Target calls were being fired.
Before (The problematic setup):
On Hard Reload:
mbox call (decisionScope = __view__)
view call 1
view call 2
view call 3
On Soft Reload:
view call 1
view call 2
view call 3 (No mbox call here)
As you can see, the critical mbox call was absent on soft reloads, preventing Target from registering goal conversions.
After (The solution: Adobe's suggested Fix):
The fix involved ensuring the mbox call was always present, even on soft reloads, and crucially, fired after all view calls.
On Hard Reload:
mbox call (decisionScope = __view__)
view call 1
view call 2
view call 3
On Soft Reload:
view call 1
view call 2
view call 3
mbox call (decisionScope = __view__) ✅
By adding the mbox call at the end of soft reloads, Target is now able to evaluate goal conversions correctly, regardless of whether the user navigates via a hard or soft reload. This simple but vital change ensures accurate conversion tracking for all A/B tests.
What does this mean for marketers?
SPAs deliver the modern experiences users expect, but they also require rethinking how personalization and testing are implemented. Our work with clients has shown that:
Scalability matters. Using generic view names transforms personalization from unmanageable to efficient.
Ease of use is critical. Tools like the Accrease SPA Helper extension empower marketers to manage personalization without heavy technical support.
Accuracy is non-negotiable. Ensuring conversions are tracked correctly builds trust in testing results and enables data-driven decisions.
At Accrease, we bridge the gap between technical implementation and marketer usability. The result is personalization that’s not only possible in SPAs, but also scalable, reliable, and effective.
SPAs are here to stay, and personalization tools must adapt. By rethinking view management and conversion tracking, our team at Accrease has helped clients work the full potential of Adobe Target in SPA environments.
If your organization is facing similar challenges, we’d be happy to share our approach and explore how to make personalization more scalable and marketer-friendly in your setup. Contact us here
Acknowledgements
About the Author Santosh Kumar, has more than a decade of experience in Digital Marketing and the Adobe stack. He holds more Adobe certifications than is humanly possible. When no one else can fix it, you call for Santosh.
A special thanks to Kurian George for his support in investigating these challenges, co-developing solutions, and ensuring smooth implementation. His expertise was essential in making these results possible.
We believe data should do more than inform... it should inspire action. That’s exactly what Martine, our Senior Consultant, set out to demonstrate at the latest Adobe Analytics event in London. With years of experience in Adobe Analytics, Customer Journey Analytics (CJA), and the Adobe Experience Cloud, Martine shared two practical tips that can help businesses quickly identify their top-performing products and focus their resources where they matter most.
In this short recording she shares the same tips she presented live at the event in London. Whether you’re an analyst, marketer, or business leader, these strategies will help you visualize performance more clearly and focus your efforts where they deliver the most impact. Scroll down and click the link to see the tips in action.
The Event: The Adobe Analytics Rockstar session brings together industry experts, practitioners, and data enthusiasts to share best practices and innovative approaches. It’s a space where actionable insights take center stage and Martine’s session was a clear highlight.
Shortly on tip 1: Visualizing Product Performance with a Growth Matrix Martine showed how a growth matrix, paired with a scatter plot in Adobe Analytics, can categorize products into strategic quadrants based on market share and growth potential. This visual method helps decision-makers quickly spot where to invest, adjust strategy, and align with long-term business goals.
Shortly on tip 2: Applying the 80/20 Rule for Revenue Optimization The Pareto Principle, that 80% of results often come from 20% of efforts is a powerful framework for product analysis. Martine demonstrated how to identify the top 20% of products generating 80% of revenue using Adobe Analytics data enriched with Excel. This approach allows for targeted marketing and smarter resource allocation, ensuring your team focuses on the biggest drivers of business success.
Why It Matters: These are practical frameworks you can integrate into your analytics workflows today. By combining strategic thinking with Adobe Analytics capabilities, businesses can cut through the noise and act faster.
Let’s Talk: Want to see how these strategies could work for your business? We help organisations unlock the full potential of Adobe Analytics and the wider Adobe Experience Cloud, turning complex data into clear, actionable steps.
When migrating a client to Adobe’s Web SDK, we encountered a specific challenge that required creative problem-solving, and we believe it’s worth sharing.
If you’ve ever had to deal with GDPR or cookie consent in a setup involving Audience Manager (AAM), you’ll know how tricky it can be to keep your tech compliant while still sending the right data. In this article, you will learn how we tackled it.
Sampsa Suoninen, Principal Consultant
The problem: Web SDK doesn’t support conditional data forwarding
In our project, we needed to use AAM, but only if the user had given consent for marketing. That sounds simple, but there’s a catch.
In the old setup (using AppMeasurement), we could use a flag to control when data should be forwarded to AAM. Easy.
But Web SDK doesn’t have that option. Once it’s configured to send data to AAM, it just... does. Even if the user hasn’t given marketing consent.
This meant we needed a way to dynamically control where the data goes, depending on the user’s consent, without writing custom code or compromising on compliance.
The workaround: use Adobe tags + multiple datastreams
Our solution was to use Adobe Tags (formerly Launch) and create two versions of every datastream:
- One with AAM enabled (for users who say yes to marketing)
- One without AAM (for users who don’t)
So instead of 3 Datastreams (for dev, staging, and production), we created 6 in total, doubling up to cover both consent scenarios.
Then we used Data Elements inside Tags to switch between them based on consent. Here’s how.
The setup: step-by-step
This solution doesn’t require any custom coding and can be managed directly in Adobe Tags.
1. Create static data elements for each datastream
Make a separate static Data Element for each Datastream. This makes it easy to update Datastream IDs later without digging into code.
2. Create “conditional” data elements per environment
These will check the user’s consent and return the correct Datastream ID. For example:
- If consent for marketing is true, return the AAM-enabled ID
- If consent is false, return the AAM-disabled ID
To do this, we used four supporting Data Elements:
- Marketing Allowed – checks if the user gave marketing consent
- Marketing Allowed Value – what value counts as “yes” (e.g., true)
- Datastream – Prod – AAM Enabled – the ID with AAM
- Datastream – Prod – AAM Disabled – the ID without AAM
You can do the same for other environments (dev/staging) as needed.
3. Apply these in the Web SDK extension
Go into the Web SDK settings in Tags, and change the Datastream input to "Enter values" instead of selecting a fixed Datastream.
Then, reference your conditional Data Elements here.
This allows the Web SDK to dynamically choose the right Datastream based on the user's consent status at the time.
One more thing: handling page loads and SPAs
There’s one limitation with Web SDK: the settings are locked when the library loads. So if the user gives or changes consent after the page loads, the SDK won’t automatically switch to the right Datastream.
This is especially problematic in single-page applications (SPAs) where the library might only load once per session.
To solve this, we also added the same conditional logic in the “Configuration override” section of the Web SDK rules that send data (like “Send Event”).
This ensures that even if the SDK doesn’t reload, the data is still sent using the correct Datastream, based on the user’s current consent status.
The outcome
With this setup, we’re now able to:
- Fully respect the user’s consent choices
- Ensure data is only sent to AAM when allowed
- Avoid unnecessary custom code.
- Adapt to changes mid-session (even in SPAs)
If you’re working with Web SDK and dealing with consent-driven data routing, this approach is a flexible, scalable solution that can save time and keep your setup compliant.
Want to see this implemented in a live setup or need help applying it to your environment? Contact us we’re happy to walk you through it.
It’s been a week since Adobe Summit 2025 concluded in Las Vegas, and after digesting the wealth of announcements and insights shared, it's clear we're entering an exciting new era, one driven by intelligent automation and seamless collaboration.
As expected, Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) once again took center stage, but the depth of innovation this year was remarkable. Adobe has accelerated the transition from assisting marketers to orchestrating entire workflows through AI, bringing practical applications front and center.
Let’s dive into the most impactful announcements and explore what they mean for your business.
Agentic AI: Meet Your New Virtual Team
One of the most exciting announcements was the introduction to Adobe’s Agent Orchestrator in AEP, complete with 10 specialized AI agents. Imagine automating your content production, web optimization, audience segmentation, and journey management, all with AI "team members" managed from a single interface. These pre-built, compliance-ready agents simplify tasks previously requiring significant manual effort or technical expertise, allowing marketers to focus on strategic initiatives.
Adobe Brand Concierge: Conversational AI Made Personal
Another groundbreaking innovation is Adobe Brand Concierge, a powerful conversational AI that creates immersive, personalized customer interactions. Built directly into AEP, this tool not only engages customers but coordinates seamlessly with your existing customer data and content. From answering product questions to scheduling follow-up actions, Brand Concierge is poised to redefine how businesses engage across digital channels.
Experimentation Accelerator: Optimizing Journeys with AI Precision
Adobe Journey Optimizer received a major upgrade with the new Experimentation Accelerator. This AI-driven feature takes the guesswork out of optimization by recommending the next best actions based on real-time, cross-channel data analysis. Businesses can now systematically test and improve customer journeys, significantly boosting marketing efficiency and ROI.
The announcements around Adobe GenStudio and Firefly expansions are equally transformative. GenStudio Foundation streamlines content creation and delivery into a single cohesive workflow, while Firefly now supports advanced generative AI capabilities for video and 3D content. These advancements enable marketers to quickly create and localize content at scale, dramatically shortening production cycles and amplifying content effectiveness across all markets and channels.
Strategic Partnership: Adobe Meets Amazon & AWS
One strategic partnership stood out. Adobe’s deeper integration with AWS and Amazon Ads. This collaboration unlocks powerful first-party data matching and targeting capabilities, streamlines ad creative workflows directly within Adobe Creative Cloud, and simplifies the deployment of Adobe Experience Cloud applications within AWS environments. It’s a strategic leap towards better performance, compliance, and seamless cross-platform experiences.
Adapting to the AI-driven Era
Beyond technology, the Summit emphasized the significant shift businesses must embrace to fully leverage these innovations. As AI continues to redefine workflows and customer expectations rise, marketers and IT teams must collaborate more closely. Adobe stressed the importance of clear executive ownership, cross-functional agility, and ongoing experimentation to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape successfully.
Key Takeaways for Businesses
Leverage AI agents to scale personalization effortlessly
Embrace conversational AI for richer customer engagement
Adopt systematic, AI-driven experimentation to optimize customer journeys
Streamline content workflows with advanced generative AI solutions
Utilize strategic partnerships to enhance data-driven advertising and deployment flexibility
Final Thoughts
Adobe Summit 2025 was a testament to Adobe’s bold vision of integrated, AI-driven customer experiences. The advanced tools announced promise exciting opportunities for marketers and businesses ready to embrace these innovations. However, success hinges not just on adopting new technologies, but on fostering a culture of agility, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
To explore these innovations and their implications further, we recommend joining upcoming Adobe events or scheduling a session with our specialists at Accrease. The future of customer experience is here, so let’s navigate it together. Contact us here 😉
Adobe Summit 2025 is almost here, and we're sorting through all the sessions and announcements to keep our clients ahead of the curve.
With 306 in-person sessions and 28 online, there's a ton to choose from. And if you can't make it in person, no worries. The sessions should be recorded, just like in past years.
Not sure where to start? Whether you're looking to sharpen your Adobe Analytics skills, explore AI-powered personalization, or fine-tune your omnichannel engagement, this year's lineup has something for everyone.
To help you make the most of your time, we asked our experts to share the sessions they're most excited about. Here are their top picks:
Emma Walderlo
Emma is our data-driven Paid Search expert who is always turning insights into high-performing campaigns. With experience from Avanza Bank, she’s all about smart strategies and sharp analysis.
Reason: I’m looking forward to attending the session on calculated metrics in Adobe Analytics. This session feels especially relevant to me as it gives me the opportunity to learn more about how to create more precise metrics and gain a deeper understanding of how I can flexibly generate tailored insights, conduct more accurate analyses, and extract better insights from data.
No matter how much experience you have with Adobe Analytics, there’s always something new to learn and smarter ways to work. I believe that this session will provide me with the right tools to do just that. If you, like me, want to optimize your analyses and take your work in Adobe Analytics to the next level, I highly recommend checking out this session.
Jonas Nielsen
Former Consulting Manager at Adobe and Founder of Accrease. Jonas is a Swiss army knife for the Adobe stack, particularly AEP, and often finds himself by a whiteboard drawing the client's architecture around AEP.
Reason: This is the session I always attend at every Summit I have attended, and that is quite a few. It is a super fun format, and I love the passion.
Reason: AJO is one of the solutions we see generating a lot of value for our customers. It allows us to use all of the data we have available in AEP to communicate something relevant to the customer, no matter the channel and wherein the customer's journey the person is. So, learning more about the roadmap and innovations will be super interesting.
Reason: Because Accrease is already working with many leading telcos worldwide, I would love to learn more about how T-Mobile delivers personalized customer experiences using Adobe technology.
Reason: To succeed with Adobe solutions, you need to invest in building the right teams to work with the solutions. Nordea has always impressed me with building good teams to support Adobe technology, and I always love to see one of our customers present at Adobe Summit.
Martine Jørgensen
Martine is our Adobe Analytics and CJA expert, as well as a Danish champion in bench press! Data or dumbbells, she lifts it all.
Reason: A must-watch for any Adobe Analytics user looking to master the latest tips and tricks from industry experts. Learn insider techniques to optimize your analysis, uncover deeper insights, and make the most of your data.
Reason: This can be very insightful for Analysts and B2B marketers. This webinar dives into how Customer Journey Analytics can drive revenue, optimize sales funnels, and improve lead conversion. A must for anyone looking to connect marketing efforts with business growth.
Reason: This one goes through AA reporting and shows how advanced metrics can transform Adobe Analytics dashboards. I would say this is ideal for analysts who want to elevate their storytelling and level of insight with data and drive smarter decision-making.
Martin Björklund
Martin is an expert in digital analytics—mastering tracking, measurement, and setting up Analytics. And yes, he’s a big fan of Excel, believing it’s one of the most fantastic tools out there!
Reason: I typically like the hands-on sessions, and customer journey analytics is the future of analytics tools, so from that perspective, the class is very promising. One of the most difficult things is to show relevant insights so that everyone understands how brilliant they are. This session will give you some tools to master later the ability to tell a clear and good story about your most valuable insights!
Samuel Rajkumar
Marketo specialist unlike any other. Experienced in building digital strategies using technologies like CDP and combining them with Marketing Automation.
Reason: Performance optimization is a recurring challenge in Marketo, and this session offers hands-on insights directly from Adobe field engineers. From Smart List inefficiencies to campaign processing time, it covers the core elements that can impact system performance.
I find this session particularly valuable because performance bottlenecks often go unnoticed until they impact deliverability, scalability, and reporting. Learning how to proactively optimize Marketo setup, identify inefficiencies, and mitigate bot-related data pollution is critical for maintaining a clean and efficient instance.
Reason: Webinars continue to be a core part of marketing strategies, but leveraging Gen AI for enhanced engagement and personalization takes it to the next level. This session dives into end-to-end webinar creation in Marketo, including promotion, delivery, and post-event follow-ups.
I find this particularly relevant because recorded webinars often lose engagement over time, and using AI-powered tools to personalize on-demand experiences and repurpose content dynamically makes a huge difference. Learning how to integrate webinar insights into Marketo for improved lead quality and nurturing aligns well with how B2B marketers can maximize ROI.
Mette Riis Bach
Whether it’s navigating the post-cookie world or optimizing customer journeys, Mette knows how to connect the dots and make things happen.
Reason: I find it interesting to hear more about how companies and agencies can work together in a post-third-party cookie world. Both in terms of ensuring privacy focus and at the same time being able to fully leverage all the benefits of having an RTCDP. Personally, I find this session interesting because it provides insights into how companies can work seamlessly with external partners to enhance advertising and co-marketing efforts across channels like Connected TV, commerce media, and walled gardens. Something I know for sure can be an obstacle for many companies.
Reason: Today, it is inevitable to talk about personalized, omnichannel engagement strategies without mentioning Adobe Journey Optimizer, which fully allows us to put the customer at the centre of the experience. My second recommendation is this roadmap session, which I believe would help anyone better understand the direction of the product and allow us to be on top of new features.
Kasper Andersen
Former Manager at Adobe for Proof of Concepts in EMEA & JAPAC. He has been working with Adobe Analytics since it was known as SiteCatalyst; however, his favourite solution is still and always will be Adobe Target.
Reason: Obviously there's a lot of focus on AEP solutions and this is of course the direction Adobe would like everyone to move in. However, a lot of customers are still using Adobe Target and Adobe Analytics, so I was excited to see that the solutions listed for the Prudential case were the good old AA and AT.
Combine that with AI personalization and a lift of a whooping 135% and you got yourself a perfect Summit session...if you ask me.
Which session is my runner-up, you ask? Okay, nobody asked, but I'm telling you anyway. As mentioned the solutions within AEP is getting a lot of focus and at Accrease we have a lot of clients migrating from AA to CJA. So keeping it within that space, then Mix Modeler is a really interesting solution and there's been some incredible cases with huge ROI.
Alright, that's our take for now. Check back after Summit, and we'll summarise the biggest and most important takeaways.
Imagine pouring endless hours and resources into designing personalized marketing campaigns only to discover they’re based on flawed customer profiles….It’s like throwing darts in the dark. In today’s multi-device, hyperconnected world, this is an all-too-common scenario.
Shared devices and fragmented data inputs can lead to “collapsed profiles,” where behaviours and preferences from multiple users are mistakenly merged into one. The result? Wasted marketing budgets, diluted brand experiences, and missed opportunities to connect meaningfully with your audience.
But how can your businesses rise above this challenge? In the following blog post, Senior Consultant Santosh Kumar will show you the hidden cost of collapsed profiles and how advancements in Identity Stitching are revolutionizing the marketing game.
The cost of collapsed profiles
The challenge of maintaining accurate customer profiles has long been a headache for marketers striving for precision. Consider this: A father and son share a tablet. The father’s browsing history includes luxury watches, while the son spends his time looking up video games. If these distinct behaviors are collapsed into a single profile, the resulting data is an unhelpful mix. This misrepresentation makes it nearly impossible to deliver truly personalized marketing messages, leading to missed opportunities and diminished customer engagement.
Understanding collapsed identity graphs
To visualize the issue, let’s look at two types of identity graphs:
Healthy identity graph:
In a well-maintained graph, each CRM ID (customer identifier) is correctly associated with multiple ECIDs (device/browser identifiers). This ensures all behaviors across devices are tied to the same individual.
Collapsed identity graph:
In contrast, a corrupted graph features multiple CRM IDs and ECIDs tied to the same profile. This creates confusion and undermines the foundation of personalized marketing.
Breaking through with Advanced Identity Stitching
The good news? Advancements in identity stitching are revolutionizing how we understand and engage with our audiences. With Adobe’s Identity Optimization algorithm, marketers can finally combat profile collapse and regain control over their data.
A new era of identity stitching
Adobe’s innovative algorithm leverages both deterministic (exact match) and probabilistic (best guess) techniques to create accurate identity graphs. This hybrid approach ensures each individual is represented by a singular, reliable profile no matter how complex their digital footprint.
Key features driving its success include:
Unique identifiers By prioritizing stable identifiers like CRM IDs over transient ones like cookies, businesses can dramatically reduce the likelihood of corrupted profiles.
Adaptive algorithms Adobe’s machine learning-powered system continuously evolves, refining its ability to differentiate between users and devices over time.
Data hierarchy Marketers can define the priority of various identifiers, ensuring the most reliable data sources take precedence when building profiles.
Real-Time insights for dynamic marketing
One of the standout features of Adobe’s Identity Optimization is its real-time functionality. Marketers can adapt campaigns on the fly, leveraging up-to-date profiles that reflect current user behaviors. This agility is critical in a competitive digital landscape where timely and relevant messaging can make all the difference.
Implementing Adobe’s Identity Optimization
Excited to take your marketing efforts to the next level? Adobe’s Identity Optimization is currently in Limited Availability, but here’s how you can get started once it’s rolled out in full:
Step-by-Step Guide
Understand your identities. Navigate to AEP > Sandbox > Customer > Identities > Browse. Identify key identifiers like CRM IDs and ECIDs. The rest of the default identities are not in use.
2. Simulate the graph.
Optionally you may navigate to “Graph Simulation” tab and play with the configuration to understand how the new solution help not corrupting the profiles. The order of the things you do is highlighted in the screenshot below.
3. Set up the graph. Finally, go back to the "Browse" tab and click the settings button in the top right corner to access the setup options. Here, start by ordering your cross-device IDs, such as CRM ID, phone number, etc. Next, specify whether each identity is unique. In this example, we've marked the CRM ID as unique to ensure only one CRM ID is added to the identity graph, preventing profile collapse.
4. Adjust browser identities.
Once completed, scroll down to see the list of browser identities, such as ECID, which also need to be ordered.
You can use your mouse to click and hold an identity, then drag it up or down to adjust its position in the list. Note that cookie namespaces cannot be marked as unique within a graph, as it's not feasible in real-time scenarios.
5. Save and activate.
In the final step, review the order of your identities and click the "Finish" button. After saving the configuration, it may take some time for the changes to activate.
Challenges and opportunities
While this innovation is a game-changer, it’s not without its limitations.
Historical collapses: Past corrupted profiles won’t be automatically fixed. Businesses may need to work with Adobe to clean up legacy data.
Data representation gaps: Underserved user groups highlight the need for diverse, comprehensive data collection.
However, these challenges present an opportunity for growth. Businesses that invest in refining their data strategies today will be well-positioned to leverage these advancements fully. The payoff? Highly personalized customer experiences that drive engagement and loyalty.
What this means for marketers
For marketers, identity optimization represents a game-changing opportunity to:
Enhance personalization: Craft messages tailored to individuals, not blurry profiles.
Boost ROI: Stop wasting budget on inaccurate targeting.
Build trust: Deliver relevant experiences that show you truly understand your audience.
Let’s discuss.
Have you encountered challenges with collapsed profiles? We’d love to hear your thoughts and help you out.
About the Author Santosh has more than a decades experience in within Digital Marketing and the Adobe stack. He holds more Adobe certifications than what's human possible. When no one else can fix it, you call for Santosh.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
As you implement Adobe’s Identity Optimization, you will wihtout a doubt run into questions or technical challenges. Check out Adobe’s official documentationor contact us and request to get passed through to Santosh 😉
Do you want to learn how to pinpoint, troubleshoot, and resolve common data issues in the Adobe Web SDK?
In this 20-minute Mini Masterclass, our very own Sampsa Suoninen will walk you through how to spot errors early, resolve them efficiently, and keep your data collection on track.
Why should you watch this Masterclass?
Many organizations are embracing the Adobe Web SDK or migrating from Adobe Analytics (AA) to Customer Journey Analytics (CJA).
When data streams are disrupted, reporting and insights can suffer.
Who should attend?
Developers, analysts, and marketers who use or plan to use the Web SDK.
Teams preparing to migrate from AA to CJA, looking for a seamless data collection process.
What you will learn:
Core concepts: Understand how the Web SDK combines data collection for Analytics, Target, and other Adobe products.
Troubleshooting method: Follow a clear, step-by-step approach to prevent and fix data flow issues.
Essential tools: Learn how to use the Adobe Experience Platform Debugger to track network requests and verify setup.
Data safeguards: Discover ways to record requests and maintain integrity, even when errors occur.
Real-world scenarios: See how other teams tackled common challenges and kept their data flowing.
Who Should Attend?
Developers, analysts, and marketers who use or plan to use the Web SDK.
Teams preparing to migrate from AA to CJA, looking for a seamless data collection process.
Bonus: In the session, you will be able to download a concise PDF checklist outlining the key debugging steps for the Web SDK—your quick reference guide whenever issues arise.
What if you could pinpoint your most engaged users, understand what makes them tick, and tailor your strategies to boost conversions and retention?
In this webinar, our very own Jude Felix, Data Scientist at Accrease will show you how to activate an engagement score and drive significant business impact. Discover how engagement scoring can turn your customer data into actionable insights that fuel growth and improve outcomes.
Here's what you can expect:
How Can Engagement Scoring Impact Your Business? Understand why engagement scoring matters and how it directly contributes to driving meaningful results for your business.
Introduction to Engagement Scoring: Learn what engagement scoring is, its role in analytics, and why it's crucial for effective decision-making.
Role of Adobe Analytics & Customer Journey Analytics: Compare key features and benefits of Adobe Analytics (AA) and Customer Journey Analytics (CJA), and understand how these tools help bring engagement scoring to life.
Data Requirements: Identify relevant data sources, understand the types of data needed, and address data quality and integration challenges.
Building Your Engagement Scoring Model: Learn the steps to define key metrics, collect data, develop, and validate an effective engagement scoring model.
Implementing and Activating the Model: Discover how to integrate your engagement scoring model into AA and CJA, and how to monitor and adjust it for maximum impact.
Takeaways
Bonus: As an added bonus, all attendees will receive a complimentary pre-counseling offer! This includes a free one-on-one consulting session with Jude to help you get started. This offer is for those who use Adobe Analytics and are ready to activate their data for engagement scoring.
