Switching from Adobe to Google Analytics: Key Considerations

I’ve had numerous conversations with clients migrating from Adobe Analytics to Google Analytics 360 or investing in both tools simultaneously. The frequency of these discussions has increased dramatically, but many companies underestimate what this transition actually involves.

Two Critical Considerations Before You Switch

Don’t expect switching tools to fix data problems. If you lack confidence in your current data, switching platforms won’t magically solve underlying issues. The best approach is auditing and fixing your implementation while ensuring analysts receive adequate training. Tool migration only works when accompanied by these foundational improvements.

Calculate the true cost of switching. While Google’s pricing is typically more transparent than Adobe’s, I’ve seen cases where companies pay more for GA 360. Factor in the complete cost of starting over: rebuilding backend processes, importing data into warehouses, and recreating vendor integrations.

Key Feature Differences

Intended Audience

Google Analytics takes a democratic approach with a UI designed for new analysts to use easily. Most GA analysts rely on readily available reports that are fast and digestible.

Adobe gives customers more rope to hang themselves. With numerous reports available and unclear implications for mixing dimensions and metrics, analysts can quickly get lost in Analysis Workspace’s complexity. This difference is intentional – the tools target different markets.

Sampling

Adobe doesn’t use sampling – reports always include 100% of collected data. Google has dramatically reduced sampling impact with several workarounds:

• Default reports are unsampled without secondary dimensions
• Unsampled reports can be downloaded when needed
• GA 360 customers get 100 “custom tables” per property for unsampled reporting
• BigQuery provides unsampled data for SQL-proficient analysts

GA 360 has much higher sampling thresholds (100M sessions vs. 500K in free GA), making sampling less problematic for enterprise users.

Events

The term “event” means completely different things in each tool:

Adobe events are variables used to count occurrences or currency amounts, becoming metrics in reports. Companies get 1,000 success events that can be serialized and used throughout reporting tools.

Google events track user interactions with category, action, label, and value dimensions. There’s no Adobe equivalent – they’re like combining 3 props with a success event into one report that can become cluttered with non-pageview interactions.

Conversion and E-commerce Reporting

Key differences include:

Variable expiration: Adobe eVars can expire after hits, visits, success events, or custom timeframes. Google custom dimensions only expire after hits, sessions, or never.

Attribution: Adobe eVars support first-touch or last-touch attribution, while Google custom dimensions are always last-touch.

Merchandising: Adobe’s merchandising feature allows associating different values with products in ways that have virtually no Google equivalent. This is crucial for complex e-commerce analysis where the same product can be found through different methods by different customers.

Enhanced E-commerce: Google provides a robust, standardized suite of e-commerce reports covering the entire purchase funnel. Adobe requires more customization but offers more sophisticated options like merchandising.

De-duplication: Adobe automatically prevents duplicate order counting using order IDs, while Google requires custom implementation for this functionality.

The Bottom Line

Both tools can drive success – your processes, structure, and culture matter more than which platform you choose. Adobe focuses on customizability while Google emphasizes standardization. Before switching, carefully consider whether you’re solving the right problems and factor in all hidden costs of migration.

Companies often underestimate the analyst and developer burden of switching analytics platforms. Make sure you’re prepared for the complete scope of this undertaking before jumping in.

Questions: 1) have you been able to get Adobe products to work with Google Analytics data?