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Adobe Adds Predictive Analytics Through OptiMine

Adobe-House

Adobe's acquisition of Omniture continues to influence its marketing tools. The latest involves a partnership with OptiMine Software to build out the Adobe SearchCenter+, a search marketing management system in the Adobe Online Marketing Suite. The deal integrates keyword performance predictive analytics and analyzes unique characteristics of individual keywords to -- in theory -- deliver a higher return on investment (ROI) compared with cluster-based modeling, where bids are defined in groups of similar keywords.

The idea, similar to offerings from Efficient Frontier, is that Adobe's data and OptiMine's algorithms can automate bid optimization to not only gain higher ROI, but generate increased leads and better conversion rates. Between six and eight customers have begun testing the combined platforms, according to Tim Waddell, director of product marketing at Adobe.

Waddell admits that Adobe's strength resides in data and analytics, but does not have a team of PhDs to build out the tools -- so the partnership provides keyword-level statistical modeling, which captures and analyzes the unique characteristics of individual keywords in paid-search campaigns. Tests done by OptiMine with search marketers with keyword modeling have shown improved performance of 25% or more, but that is prior to the integration with SearchCenter+.

Powered by Omniture's platform, the Adobe Online Marketing Suite offers a series of tools to optimize campaigns. Using the data, marketers can identify marketing strategies and ad placements across digital marketing channels, such as onsite, display, e-mail, social, video and mobile.

In a perfect world, marketers can pass a year's worth of data at the keyword level into the OptiMine platform. The OptiMine software analyzes the keywords to determine the most impactful variables that apply. The platform analyzes the keywords based on about 116 variables to determine -- from a set of 24 models -- the one that will have the most impact for a specific keyword. Through the combination of variables and models, they determine the best bid based on historic data. That sets the paid-search campaign bids.

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