Floodlight activities and Adobe Analytics metrics

Search Ads 360 automatically creates a Floodlight activity for each metric you add from a report suite. The name of the Floodlight activity exactly matches the name you specify when you add the metric. You can rename these Floodlight activities without affecting the collection of data from Adobe Analytics or reports, formula columns, automated rules, or bid strategies that refer to the activities.

By default, Search Ads 360 creates an action Floodlight activity. Action activities are used to report non-revenue metrics, such as the number of conversions. Data from action activities appears in the Floodlight Actions column, which can be used in bid strategies that maximize the number of conversions. You can also create custom Floodlight columns to report on the specific Floodlight activities that Search Ads 360 created for your Adobe Analytics metrics.

Reporting revenue requires two metrics in Adobe Analytics

Search Ads 360 and Adobe Analytics have different approaches to reporting revenue.

In Search Ads 360, a single Floodlight transaction activity tracks both the number of transactions and the amount of revenue from your site. For example, a Floodlight transaction activity named "Shopping cart" tracks both the number of shopping cart purchases and the total amount of revenue from each purchase.

In Adobe Analytics, you need two separate metrics to track the number of transactions and the amount of revenue from a single transaction.

To reconcile these two approaches, when you add a metric that reports revenue from a specific transaction, you also need to add a metric that reports the number of transactions. Both of these metrics will be mapped to a single Floodlight transaction activity. 

Data from the transaction activity is included in the Revenue and Trans Floodlight columns and can be used in bid strategies that maximize revenue. You can also create custom Floodlight columns to report on the specific Floodlight activities that Search Ads 360 created for your Adobe Analytics metrics.

Activity groups

For each report suite you add, Search Ads 360 creates a Floodlight activity group to contain all of the action activities associated with the report suite's action metrics. The naming convention for action activity groups is:
ID of Report suiteACTION
Adobe Analytics creates the report ID, and Search Ads 360 displays it on the Adobe Analytics Integration page in the Report Suite column.

If you add revenue metrics, Search Ads 360 also creates a Floodlight activity group to contain all of the transaction activities for the report suite. The naming convention for transaction activity groups is:
ID of Report suiteTRANSACTION

Example

For example:

1. You add a report suite named Adobe Analytics - Hoopers Store.
   In Adobe Analytics, the ID of this report suite is hoopersstore.

2. To report revenue from the site's shopping cart, you add two metrics from this suite and map them to a Floodlight transaction activity:

   • Number of purchases
   • Purchase revenue

3. Search Ads 360 creates the following Floodlight group and activity:

   • A Floodlight group named: hoopersstoreTRANSACTION
   • A Floodlight transaction activity that can report both the number of purchases and the amount of revenue from the shopping cart

4. Periodically, Search Ads 360 automatically downloads reporting data from the Adobe Analytics report suite and stores the data in the Floodlight activity it created.

5. To report on the number of purchases from the shopping cart, you add the Trans Floodlight column to a report or  create a custom Floodlight column that reports the Trans metric for the specific Floodlight activity Search Ads 360 created for your metric.

6. To report on the amount of revenue from the shopping cart, you add the Revenue Floodlight column to a report or  create a custom Floodlight column that reports the Revenue metric for the specific Floodlight activity Search Ads 360 created for your metric.