Act-On Analytics: Answers

In Act-On Analytics, Answers are individual data or business questions answered with charts, reports, and visualizations.

To get your Answers, either ask your data or business questions directly to Act-On's AI, build your query manually, or apply pre-built queries to your data. You can make adjustments to get exactly the information you want. Then, pin your Answers to Liveboards, save them individually, or add KPI Answers to your watchlist.

Some features require the purchase of the Dynamic Business Analytics or Premium AI Analytics packages. Please contact your Act-On account manager for these.

How to Tell
If, under Reports on the left, you see this:

...you do not have either of the analytics packages yet, so contact your Act-On account manager for an upgrade!

• To access the Act-On Analytics home page, go to Reports > Analytics.

Ask a Data or Business Question

1. In the question bar at the top, choose what you want to ask about on the left:
   
   
   
   In the Select data source dialog, choose a worksheet on the left and click Select (to use AI Answer choose one with ). Sample questions related to your choice appear below the question bar.
   
   
2. Type your data or business question in the bar & click Go.
   Tip: See our Keyword Reference for a list of useful words that work well when asking a question in Act-On Analytics.
   For example:

Your AI-Answer appears at the top, with other results from existing Answers and Liveboards shown below (these results also appear for users without the AI Analytics package).

At the lower left of the AI-Answer, click Edit to tailor your answer to what you want.

Edit Options Example

• Change the visualization (chart) type and date range:

• Filter by data sources on the left, for example, to exclude test messages sent from a specific email address:

• Narrow the results, for example, exclude results below a threshold and highlight results above a threshold:

• To rename your Answer, click the title and edit.

When you have finished editing, Save Your Answer (see below).

Explore Data: Build Your Answer Manually

If you have a good idea about what Answer you want, you can build your Answer manually.

1. On the Act-On Analytics home page, click the Explore Data tab at the top left.
2. Click Select a Data Source and in the dialog that appears, choose a worksheet on the left and click Select. The following are available:
   • Measures: Numeric values you get meaningful results from, for example, total emails opened or a Click-to-open rate.
   • Attributes: Text values such as message title or creator name.
   • Dates: Timestamps when activities or actions occurred, such as send or opened date.
     
     Order these by popularity, category, or A to Z:
     
     
     A glossary explaining the Measures, Attributes, & Dates is available here.
3. To build your Answer, either select the checkboxes on the left or type in the Search bar and then click Go:
   
   
   
   
4. Edit and rename it to your requirements. For some ideas, see the Edit Options Example above.
5. When you have finished editing, either pin it to a Liveboard or save it as an individual Answer. See Save Your Answer below.

Use a Standard or Existing Answer

A simple way to get started is to use a standard Answer from Act-On or a previously created Answer that has been shared.

1. On the Act-On Analytics home page, in the main list at the bottom find an answer to use, for example, use the main list filters to show only Answers, and choose the author Act-On Software:
   
   
   
   
2. Open the Answer you want to use, click  and choose Make a copy:
   
   
   
   
3. Rename the Answer and edit it to your requirements. For some ideas, see the Edit Options Example above.
   
   
4. When you have finished editing, either pin it to a Liveboard or save it as an individual Answer. See Save Your Answer below.

Save Your Answer

To save your answer, either pin it to a Liveboard:

1. Click Pin (upper right), find the Liveboard you want (search is available), or create one:
   
   If the Liveboard has tabs, select one or create a new one.
2. Click Pin. Your Answer is now in the Liveboard. See Act-On Analytics: Liveboards to learn more.

...or save it as an individual Answer:

1. Click  (upper right) and click Save:
   
   Edit the Name & add a description if you want.
   Select the checkbox to share your Answer with other users who are part of the same user group as you and have access to the data source on which this content is built.
2. Click Save answer. Your Answer is now available in the main list on the Analytics home page.

KPI Answers

When creating or editing your Answer, with appropriate measures/attributes/dates chosen (that can be represented as a KPI), select the KPI chart type, for example:

Then when pinned in a Liveboard or saved as an Answer, it can be chosen as a KPI:

KPI Alerts

Set up an e-mail alert for any KPI-style data point, for example, to advise you if your email delivery rates fall significantly, so you can act quickly.

1. Find the KPI Answer you want, hover over it, and click Create alert:

2. Choose a Threshold alert or set up a regularly Scheduled alert.
3. If creating a threshold alert, set a Condition and Threshold value, for example, the value decreasing by 5%.
   If setting an alert on a rate (a number from 0 to 1), make sure you include a zero before the decimal point. In the example below, the "Less than" condition's threshold value should be "0.9", not ".9"
4. Set how often to check the value against the threshold (or when to send a scheduled alert).
5. Type an Alert name.
6. Add subscribers (even non-Act-On users) who will receive the alert in their inbox.
7. Add a custom message, for example, explaining the action needed.
8. Click Create alert.

Download Your Answer

To download an Answer, for example, to use in a report or an email attachment, find the Answer you want in a Liveboard, a saved Answer in the home page main list, or an Answer made in the Explore Data tab. Then, at the top right of the Answer, click  > Download and choose the format for your Answer download: PNG, XLSX, or CSV.