Now that we have covered the basics of the three Omniture SiteCatalyst variable types, it is time to see how we can use them to our advantage to do analysis. In this post we will learn about Traffic Data Correlations which allow you to leverage the work you have already done by tagging your Traffic Variables (also known as sProps).
Traffic Data Correlations
So what is a Traffic Data Correlation? In the simplest terms, a Traffic Data Correlation is a SiteCatalyst report that breaks down one Traffic Variable by another Traffic Variable. If you have populated a value in two different Traffic Variables, then it is possible to see one broken down by the other. For example, let’s say that you have passed a Page Name value on each page to the Page Name Traffic Variable. By default, SiteCatalyst captures the visitor’s Browser Height in a standard Traffic Variable. Therefore, you can easily see the Browser Height for each Page Name by enabling a Traffic Data Correlation between these two Traffic Variables. To enable Traffic Data Correlations, you simply use the Administration Console and select the Traffic Variables you want to correlate as shown here:
When you “enable” a Traffic Data Correlation, SiteCatalyst creates a new data table dedicated to the Traffic Variables you have specified. Once the Traffic Data Correlation has been created, you can access it by viewing either of the Traffic Variable reports associated with that Correlation and clicking on the green magnifying glass icon as shown here:
In this case, if the SiteCatalyst user clicked on the report highlighted above, they would see a report that shows the Page Names that were viewed by visitors having a Browser Height between 750 and 759 and their associated percentages:
However, when you create a Traffic Data Correlation, you get the ability to see two new reports, not one. This concept confuses many of my clients. In the example shown above, we see a report showing Page Names for a specific Browser Height, but with the same Traffic Data Correlation, we can also see the converse, which in this case, is a report that shows all Browser Heights for a specific Page Name:
Other Things To Know About Traffic Data Correlations
The following are some important things to know about Traffic Data Correlations:
- While not mandatory, it is recommended that you Correlate Traffic Variables that are both present in the same SiteCatalyst image request (normally a Page View). If only one of the Traffic Variables has a value, you will see an “Unspecified” value in the Traffic Data Correlation reports.
- While you can see Page View, Visit and Unique Visitor metrics for any Traffic Variable, SiteCatalyst only shows Page Views in Traffic Data Correlation reports (other metrics can be seen in Omniture DataWarehouse or Omniture Discover).
- Traffic Data Correlations come in several flavors such as 2-item Correlations and 5-item Correlations. You can enable up to fifteen 2-item Traffic Data Correlations in the Admin Console and more can be purchased as needed. 5-item Traffic Data Correlations are a bit more advanced and give you the ability to break down up to five Traffic Variables by each other, but have an additional cost.
- SiteCatalyst provides the ability to create Traffic Data Correlations with many standard Traffic Variables out of the box such as Browser, OS, Resolution, etc…
- Enabling a Traffic Data Correlation allows you to correlate the two Traffic Variables from that point forward, but does not allow you to see the data correlated retroactively.
- Any Traffic Data Correlations for a Traffic Variable will also apply to any SAINT Classification (to be discussed in a future post) for that Traffic Variable.
- In Omniture DataWarehouse and Omniture Discover, all Traffic Variables are automatically correlated with each other!
Real-World Example
In previous posts we have been helping Greco Inc. do more with their SiteCatalyst implementation. One of the items Greco Inc. has implemented is the passing of the Language that each website page was viewed in (“English” or Spanish”) to a Traffic Variable. This allowed them to see the proportion of site Page Views that were viewed in English vs. Spanish. However, what if Greco Inc. would like to see the specific pages that were viewed in English or Spanish? Unfortunately, nothing we have done so far would enable them to see this. We can see Page Views for each Page Name and Page Views for each Language, but not one by the other. This is why we need a Traffic Data Correlation. Since every page of the site has a Traffic Variable value for Page Name and Language, enabling a 2-item Traffic Data Correlation will allow us to see Page Names broken down by Language and Language broken down by Page Name. The result is a report that looks like the one shown here:
Have a question about anything related to SiteCatalyst? Is there something on your website that you would like to report on, but don’t know how? Do you have any tips or best practices you want to share? If so, please send me an e-mail at insidesitecatalyst@omniture.com and I will do my best to answer it right here on the blog so everyone can learn! (Don’t worry — I won’t use your name or company name!)