What is the difference between sessions and visits in Adobe Analytics?

Okay, so, Adobe Analytics and its sessions vs. visits…it can be a little confusing, right? It’s like, what’s the actual difference? I remember when I first started using it, I was totally baffled.

Basically, think of it this way: a visit is like popping into a store. You browse around for a bit, maybe try a few things on, then leave. In Analytics, that “leaving” is after 30 minutes of inactivity – you’ve wandered off, so to speak. The visit ends. But what if you’re browsing online, and you leave the tab open, grab a coffee, come back 45 minutes later, and start clicking around again? That’s a new visit within the same session. See? Tricky!

A session, on the other hand, is more like your entire shopping trip that day. You might visit several different stores (visits!), but the whole trip is one outing (session!). In Analytics terms, the session only ends when you close your browser window – like driving home after your shopping spree. So, yeah, one session can totally have multiple visits in it. Makes sense now, doesn’t it?

I used to work on a website for a recipe site, and we used this data to figure out how people were using it. Were they quickly grabbing a recipe and closing the window (short session, one visit)? Or were they leaving the browser open while they cooked, coming back to check the next step every so often (long session, multiple visits)? That kind of info was gold for understanding user behavior. It’s not just dry data; it tells a story, you know? So, yeah, sessions and visits… different beasts entirely. Hopefully, this clears it up a bit!