Discover Adobe's Best Kept Secret

DISCOVER ADOBE’S BEST KEPT SECRET

Adobe Discover is one of the newest digital analytics tools on the market with the most graphically supported interface. Discover creates comprehensive, multidimensional reports and allows layered filtering, giving analysts a deeper level of consumer use.

Discover vs SiteCatalyst

Both analysis tools, Adobe Discover and SiteCatalyst, offer complex trend reports; Discover, however, allows the data to be dynamically segmented anywhere needed. This extra step develops a deeper picture and offers the ability to run quick comparisons. Additionally, Discover can be filtered within layers. Segmented data can be filtered multiple times until a specific criterion is met.

Discover provides its users with the ability to compare different segmentations side-by-side in multiple columns. One column may be used to represent page views from Android devices while another column could display iPhone use. This side-by-side view creates a quick picture of user trending and immediately describe a user story.

The downfall with Adobe Discover is found in its limited pre-defined reports. SiteCatalyst offers a range of ways to examine conversion rates, such as funnel and fallout reports by a few simple clicks. Discover, however, requires a greater range of complexity to determine this same rate of conversion.

Site Analysis

The two most unique and graphically appealing features in Adobe Discover are the Site Analysis and Virtual Focus Group.  Site Analysis is a 3D look at the top page views and flows. This tool can be used for research and immediate presentation. An analyst can move around a multidimensional graphic to show a high level view of its site’s use. Pages with the highest user interaction will appear as the largest cylinders and bidirectional animation will demonstrate where users generally travel after each page.

The Virtual Focus Group randomly chooses a user based on defined criteria and displays the individual’s entire web visit through time-lapse animation. This tool can be especially helpful to determine why users tend to fallout of a shopping experience.

Avinash Kaushik states in Web Analytics 2.0  “SiteCatalyst, its flagship web analytics tool, is now just one of its core offerings...Pretty soon Omniture will be able to wake you up with a gentle tap and help you into your work clothes.” 

Avinash made this comment before Adobe purchased Omniture and released Discover. Today, his statement rings even more true. Discover allows analysts to pull back additional statistical layers and be one step closer to fully understanding  their client base. On top of that, Discover puts these layers into a nice, attractive package ready to be presented. 

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Reference:
Kaushik, Avinash (2010). Web Analytics 2.0. Indiana: Wiley Publishing Co. 3.