Marketing Data & Analytics
Adobe is retiring SAINT. Here's what it means for your campaign data.
If you use SAINT to manage campaign classifications in Adobe Analytics, the clock is ticking. Adobe is deprecating it in August 2026, and the migration path you choose will shape how your campaign data works for years to come.
SAINT is going away: Here’s the timeline
If you’ve been using SAINT (the Classification Importer) to manage campaign names, channels, and other reporting dimensions in Adobe Analytics, you already know how central it is to your workflow. It’s how most teams get classification data into their reports. And if you’re using Accutics Standardize to create your tracking codes and namesets, that data has likely been flowing automatically into SAINT every time a tracking code or nameset is created or changed.
Adobe has announced that SAINT will be deprecated at the end of August 2026. After that date, the current import method stops working. No extension, no grace period. It’s a hard cutoff.
That gives you a few months to figure out your next move.
What happens if you don’t act
Once SAINT goes offline, classification updates stop flowing into Adobe Analytics. Your existing classifications won’t disappear overnight, but they’ll go stale. New campaigns won’t get classified and old ones won’t get updated.
The result? Gaps in your reporting. Campaigns that can’t be compared across markets or channels. Manual workarounds that eat up time and still leave you with data you can’t fully trust. And if your team relies on classification data to measure performance or justify spend, those conversations get a lot harder when the underlying data is incomplete.
There are two paths forward… and they’re very different
Adobe gives you two options for replacing SAINT, and they point in different directions. But the good news is that Accutics supports both options.
Option 1: Classification Sets (stay inside Adobe Analytics). This is the closest like-for-like replacement. You can continue managing classifications within Adobe Analytics, using a similar setup to what you have today. If your classification workflows are straightforward and you don’t share that data across other Adobe products, this may be the simplest option.
Option 2: Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) with Lookup Datasets and Summary Data Sources. This is a bigger shift. It moves classification management out of Adobe Analytics and into AEP, where data can be used across multiple solutions. If you’re already investing in AEP or plan to, this path sets you up for a more centralised data architecture long-term.
The choice between these options isn’t just technical, it’s strategic. It determines where your campaign metadata lives, who owns it, and how consistently it gets applied across your teams and reporting stack.
Once you’ve chosen your path, our team can support you in directing your data to these new locations automatically.
The migration is also a chance to fix what was already broken
This is also an opportunity to reflect on your data maturity. In many organisations, campaign classifications get applied after the fact, sometimes days or weeks after launch. Teams use different naming conventions. Agencies follow their own tagging approaches. The result is a patchwork of inconsistent data that reporting processes are constantly patching over.
If you migrate to a new Adobe workflow without addressing any of this, you’re just moving the mess into a new house. Same inconsistencies, different system.
The smarter play is to use this transition as a forcing function. Define your classification standards before you migrate. Agree on naming conventions. Build validation into the process so data is correct at the point of creation, not cleaned up after the fact. If you already use Accutics, great! We can help you with all of this through our Standardize and Validate solutions.
Getting this right pays off beyond the migration
When classification data is consistent and reliable, everything improves downstream. Performance is easier to compare across campaigns, channels, and markets. Reports tell the same story regardless of who’s pulling them. And when someone asks “what’s working?” you can actually answer with confidence.
This kind of data foundation matters more now than it used to. With marketing budgets under more scrutiny and AI-powered tools increasingly dependent on clean inputs, the quality of your campaign metadata is becoming a competitive factor… not just an ops detail.
If you’re evaluating how to approach this transition, Accutics can help you assess your current setup and build a structure where campaign data is correct by design, so platform changes like this don’t disrupt your reporting.
FAQ
SAINT (SiteCatalyst Attribute Importing and Naming Tool) is Adobe Analytics' legacy Classification Importer. It's how most teams upload and manage classification data, including campaign names, channels, and other reporting dimensions that make raw tracking data useful.
End of August 2026. After that, the current import method will no longer be supported.
Classification updates stop flowing into Adobe Analytics. Over time, your campaign data goes stale. New campaigns won't be classified, old ones won't be updated, and your reporting becomes increasingly unreliable.
There are two main paths. Classification Sets keep the process inside Adobe Analytics with a similar workflow. Adobe Experience Platform (using Lookup Datasets and Summary Data Sources) offers a more centralised approach that works across multiple Adobe products.
Start by mapping where SAINT is used today and which reports depend on it. Then decide whether staying in Adobe Analytics or moving to AEP fits your data strategy. Most importantly, use the migration as an opportunity to standardise your campaign data, ensuring naming conventions and validation are in place, so you're not carrying old problems into a new system.