Adobe Server-Side Forwarding with Real-Time CDP: How It Works

Introduction

With third-party cookies fading away and growing demands for performance and privacy, server-side architectures are gaining ground. Adobe’s take on it? Event Forwarding, available through Real-Time CDP Connections.

🌐 What is Adobe Event Forwarding?

It’s a server-side event redirection mechanism, built on Adobe Experience Platform.

The flow looks like this:

1. 🧑‍💻 A user interacts with your website.
2. 🧩 Adobe Tags (formerly Launch) collects the data client-side.
3. 🌍 The data is sent to Adobe Edge Network.
4. 🚀 From there, it’s forwarded server-side to other destinations like GA4, Meta Ads, TikTok, etc.

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🎯 Why use it?

Here are the main benefits:

• ✅ Performance: fewer JS scripts = faster pages
• ✅ Privacy: centralize logic server-side = easier consent and regulation handling
• ✅ Flexibility: transform and enrich data before sending it out

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🧰 How does implementation work?

Within Adobe Experience Platform, the Event Forwarding UI lets you:

• Define server-side rules (triggers, conditions, actions)
• Use prebuilt extensions (Meta Ads, GA4, TikTok…)
• Write custom JS logic if needed

🎥 Adobe provides a short, clear video here:
https://experienceleague.adobe.com/fr/docs/experience-platform/tags/event-forwarding/overview

🗣️ Scripted version (for video, training or onboarding)

🎬 Intro

Hey there! Today we’re going to break down how server-side forwarding with Adobe Real-Time CDP Connections works — also known as Event Forwarding.
We’ll cover what it does, why it’s useful, and how to set it up.

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🎯 Why Event Forwarding?

If you’re using Adobe Tags (formerly Launch), you’re probably triggering marketing tags client-side — in the browser.
The downside? That means:

• Heavier pages (more JS)
• Risk of data loss (ad blockers, network issues)
• Harder compliance with privacy laws

With Event Forwarding, we still collect data client-side — but the routing happens server-side, through Adobe.

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🔁 How it works

1. A user interacts with your site (click, scroll, purchase…)
2. Adobe Tags collects the data in the browser
3. It gets sent to the Adobe Edge Network
4. From there, it’s forwarded server-side to GA4, Meta, TikTok, or other tools

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🛒 Real example:

Let’s say someone completes a purchase.

• A purchase event is fired in Adobe Tags
• It reaches Adobe Edge Network
• You’ve set up a rule in Event Forwarding that then sends it to GA4 and Meta — without firing anything else in the browser

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🧰 What do you configure?

In Adobe Experience Platform:

• Create an Event Forwarding property
• Add a rule with a condition (event.name == "purchase")
• Add an action (GA4 extension, custom JS code, API call…)

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✅ Why it rocks

• Fewer scripts → faster site
• Server control → better privacy & consent handling
• All logic centralized in Adobe → better observability and debugging

🎥 That’s it! You now have a modern server-side tracking setup, built into the Adobe stack.

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🛠️ Practical Guide – How-To Adobe Event Forwarding

1. Requirements

• Access to Adobe Real-Time CDP with Connections
• Working Adobe Tags setup that already sends data to Adobe Edge (ex: purchase event)

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2. Create an Event Forwarding property

1. Go to Adobe Experience Platform > Tags
2. Click “New Property”
3. Choose Event Forwarding as property type
4. Name it clearly (e.g. ecom-server-routing)

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3. Create a rule

1. In your Event Forwarding property, go to Rules
2. Create a rule called Purchase to GA4
3. Add a condition: jsCopyEditreturn event.name === "purchase";
4. Add an action:
   • Either use a prebuilt extension (GA4, Meta, TikTok, etc.)
   • Or write custom JavaScript to send data to external APIs

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4. Test your flow

• Use Adobe Debugger to inspect events sent to Edge
• Confirm that server-side rules are triggering correctly
• Check API responses or logs in your destination platforms

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5. Pro tips

• Add console.log statements in custom actions for debugging
• Use data elements server-side to access specific values
• Create a “debug all” rule that logs all incoming events from Edge

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🧪 Example: E-commerce event forwarding

Let’s take an add_to_cart event:

• You fire it via Adobe Tags on the browser
• It’s forwarded server-side to GA4, Meta Ads, and TikTok — without extra client-side hits

Result:

• Fewer requests on the browser
• Cleaner data
• Better cross-platform orchestration

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⚠️ Things to keep in mind

• 💰 Requires Adobe Real-Time CDP (a premium product)
• 📚 Has a learning curve (especially if you’re new to AEP)
• 🛡️ Strong data governance is essential

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📌 Final thoughts

Adobe Event Forwarding via Real-Time CDP is a modern solution that checks the right boxes for performance, privacy, and flexibility.
It’s not the easiest to roll out — but it’s one of the most powerful if you’re already in the Adobe ecosystem.

👉 Want to move server-side without giving up your tag manager? This might just be the bridge you need.