Adobe Analytics: Custom analytics, advanced reporting, and connection to Google Ads

When we talk about advanced digital analytics, Adobe Analytics is the name that always comes up. It’s not the easiest or fastest tool to implement, but it is the most powerful when you want complete control over your data, funnels, and business decisions. And if you connect it with your Google Ads campaigns and visualize everything in a 360 dashboard, the combo is killer (in the best way possible).

In this article, we’ll show you what makes Adobe Analytics unique, how it integrates with paid media like Google Ads, and how at Adsmurai we take it to the next level with dashboards that not only show data… they turn it into decisions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is Adobe Analytics?
• What sets it apart?
• Advanced reporting: beyond the decorative dashboard
• Integration with Google Ads: yes, it’s possible (even if it doesn’t look like it)
• Integrated Dashboards: Adobe Analytics

What is Adobe Analytics?

Adobe Analytics is Adobe’s enterprise-level digital analytics tool. Designed for brands with complex measurement needs, it allows you to fully customize everything—from the data you collect to how you analyze and visualize it.

What makes it special:

• Custom data model: forget about predefined events. You decide what to track and how. Want to track how many times a user watches a video for over 15 seconds? You can. Need to match that with the type of product purchased? Also doable.
• eVars, props, and events: the technical trio that lets you measure everything on your site or app with surgical precision.
• Workspace: a drag & drop analysis environment where you can cross variables, build funnels, analyze cohorts, and compare audiences without needing a tech team.
• Integration with the Adobe ecosystem: from onsite personalization with Adobe Target to audience activation via Adobe Audience Manager.

What sets it apart?

This isn’t just about “seeing how many visits your page gets.” This is about:

1. 100% customizable data model

• Forget about “pageview” and “session” as your only pillars.
• Adobe works with custom variables like:
  
  
  • eVars: conversion variables like product category, acquisition channel, SKU, etc.

• • props: traffic variables used to analyze navigation and paths.

• • events: actions the user performs (purchase, add to cart, scroll, etc.).

• You decide what to track, how to name it, group it, and attribute it.

🎯 Example: You can have an eVar tracking the assigned sales rep code, match it with the purchased product, and calculate campaign commissions—without touching your back office.

2. Workspace: an analysis playground

Adobe Analytics Workspace is a visual analysis tool where you can:

• Drag dimensions, metrics, segments, or dates.
• Create tables, charts, funnels, heatmaps, cohorts, and contribution analysis.
• Use ad hoc filters, nested segments, and real-time comparisons.

🚀 Advantage: You can count on the Adsmurai team.

3. Advanced segmentation and activation

You can create complex segments in seconds:

• Users who visited more than 3 times, added a product to their wishlist, but didn’t purchase.
• Leads who came from YouTube campaigns and converted via email.

These segments can be:

• Analyzed in depth.
• Compared against each other.
• Pushed to other platforms (via Adobe Audience Manager) for campaign activation.

4. Advanced attribution

Adobe lets you define your own attribution models, beyond the classic "last click". Options include:

• Rule-based: linear, position-based, decay.
• Data-driven: algorithmic attribution powered by AI.
• Customer Journey Analytics (if you have CJA): merges sources and builds real multi-touch journeys.

📊 Example: A brand noticed influencer campaigns had low direct conversions but high impact as the first touchpoint. They changed their attribution model and increased awareness investment by 30%.

Who uses Adobe Analytics (and why)?

It’s not a tool for everyone. It’s ideal for:

• Large retailers with complex ecommerce operations.
• Banks and insurance companies with nonlinear journeys (simulators, forms, approvals, etc.).
• Telcos and SaaS companies with multiple steps before conversion.
• Global brands needing multi-country, multi-channel, multi-language reporting.

🧠 Typical use case:
A telecom brand with over 30 acquisition, migration, and retention journeys uses Adobe to track:

• Form interactions.
• Chat waiting times.
• Clicks on buttons or comparison tools.
  And they cross-reference all of this with paid media campaigns, geographic origin, device, and type of product contracted.

Advanced reporting: beyond the decorative dashboard

If there’s one thing Adobe excels at, it’s intelligent reporting. We’re not talking about just opening a report to see sessions. We’re talking about understanding what users do, in what order, from which channel, and with what impact on the business.

What can you do with Workspace?

• Build custom tables and visualizations using any metric and dimension.
• Apply real-time segments to analyze specific audiences (e.g., mobile users who abandoned their cart but returned after 3 days via a YouTube campaign).
• Analyze complex funnels step by step, even if the user changed device, channel, or campaign.
• Create calculated metrics (adjusted ROAS, weighted abandonment rate, engagement score… you name it).
• Use custom attribution models: linear, decay, data-driven… or your own logic tailored to your business.

🚀 Advantage: You can rely on the Adsmurai team. Integrate your Adobe Analytics dashboard and get advanced reports to improve campaign performance and make strategic decisions in real time.

Integration with Google Ads: yes, it’s possible (even if it doesn’t seem like it)

Even though Adobe and Google aren’t exactly best friends, yes, you can integrate them. And when done right, the value you get is huge.

How do they connect?

1. Structured UTMs + classifications: Adobe can properly classify Google Ads campaigns if the UTM parameters are correctly set. This enables analysis by channel, keyword type, device, etc.
2. Importing cost, clicks, and impressions: Adobe doesn’t receive these metrics natively, but you can import them via FTP, APIs, or third-party tools. This lets you calculate real KPIs like ROAS and CPA directly inside Adobe.
3. Audience sync (via Adobe Audience Manager): build segments in Adobe, activate them in Google Ads. For example, users who viewed a specific category but didn’t convert.

🎯 Real case:
A fashion brand integrated Adobe with Google Ads and discovered that brand keyword campaigns had low ROAS on mobile. Thanks to unified reporting, they optimized their landing pages and restructured their campaigns. Result: +23% conversion rate.

📈 Integrated dashboards: Adobe Analytics

This is where we come in. At Adsmurai, we don’t just measure. We connect the dots.

We create custom dashboards that combine:

• Adobe Analytics data (behavior, funnels, microconversions).
• Paid media data (Google Ads, Meta, TikTok…).
• Business data (sales, stock, margins, CRM…).

We do it in Looker Studio, in custom dashboards inside AMP, or by integrating everything into your data warehouse (like BigQuery) if you need more control.

Adobe Analytics is not for everyone, but for brands that want control, precision, and strategy—there’s no better tool. And when you integrate it with paid media and smart visualization, the leap is massive.

At Adsmurai, we help brands to:

• Measure better (with proper Adobe implementation).
• Connect channels and platforms (media + analytics + business).
• Visualize clearly (360 dashboards ready for action).
• Truly optimize (with actionable data—not just pretty charts).

Adobe Analytics is your best ally.

Want to see how this could work for your brand? We’ll show you with real use cases, templates, and solutions that are already delivering results.