The Semantic Implementation

Semantic Implementation

As implementation specialists, we need to think like product-builders. Our product is the implementation. This product has 2 end-users: stakeholders who use reports and teammates who help maintain the implementation. To get the most out of this article, we have to agree that reliable data is good and that you don’t want to spend your … Read more

Event-Driven Data Layer (EDDL) Demo

EDDL Demo

Since posting about the EDDL (Event-Driven Data Layer), I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how this works. If you’re a user of Google Tag Manager, you’re likely already familiar. For everyone else, this concept might be a little foreign. For instance, on the surface it doesn’t seem as readable as the W3C. I want … Read more

You Need a Data Layer

Data Layer

We’ve talked about how relying on CSS Selectors is unsustainable. We’ve reviewed the most efficient and sustainable way to implement a data layer. It’s worth taking a step back to review why one would implement a data layer in the first place. So many organizations don’t have one and it’s incredibly difficult to scale this. … Read more

The Event-Driven Data Layer

Event-Driven Data Layer

Recently, I wrote an appeal to Adobe suggesting they implement first-party support for an event-driven data layer in Adobe Launch. I specifically mentioned an “event-driven, asynchronous data layer”. Let’s just call it the Event-Driven Data Layer (EDDL) to keep it simple. Since the article’s release, I’ve had a number of good conversations on this topic. … Read more

Adobe Launch Data Layer: An Appeal

Adobe doesn’t have a recommended way to send/receive a data layer for Adobe Launch and I think they should. I’m not talking about your schema. Send whatever data you want in whatever naming schema makes sense for you or your business. I believe Adobe should take a stance on how the data is sent to Adobe … Read more

Pixel Loader: Adobe Launch Extension Review

Pixel Loader Review

There are thousands of vendors out there. Dozens have already created Adobe Launch extensions to load tracking pixels specific to their product. For everything else, there’s the Pixel Loader by 33Sticks. My first reaction when seeing this was: “Pasting snippets into rules is easy. Why would I need this?” In fact, Adobe DTM was intentionally … Read more

Data Layer or CSS Selectors?

JS and CSS Selectors

So… should you use a data layer? Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes. I’ll explain why. This is a simple concept, but I’ve worked with enough experienced analysts who still do not buy into this best practice. I’ve heard every excuse of why someone won’t implement a data layer and as I get older it’s … Read more

Data Element Viewer for Adobe Launch

Data Element Viewer

Last Updated: 9/6/2023 – Added improvements suggested by Guillaume Hermans View all of the values of all of your Data Elements with the Data Element Viewer for Launch, by Adobe. The Data Element Viewer is a bookmarklet that returns an object in your console. The basis of this was to mitigate the amount of tedium … Read more

The Price Tag of Analytics Precision

Precision in digital analytics is unobtainable. This isn’t an edgy statement, it’s a fact. You will never achieve precision in your Adobe Analytics account. Your A/B test data will always contain noise. If your company is larger than a mom-and-pop shop then your automated QA tools will never be totally comprehensive. As an analyst, you must figure out … Read more