Underrated – Event metric

Event is yet another misunderstood metric that if comprehended correctly, can provide insightful information on the visitor and visitor behavior.  The success of the using the event metric does require some user interaction.  An event represents a specific action that can be assigned a time and date to be recorded.  The user will need to setup event tracking within the analytics measurement service, indicating the specific event that the user would like to track.  For example, these “events” can include newsletters signups, blog comments, or rewards program registrations.  Similar to the entry page metric previously discussed, event can also be used to track specific campaigns.  For example, if a campaign was set to encourage rewards program signups, event tracking could be setup to count the number of successful events.  This tracking along with other metrics such as entry page (if a specific page was setup) or referrer (tracking the referring link) could indicate the success of such a campaign. 

Other ideas for event tracking include:

1.      External links

2.      Downloads

3.      Time spent watching videos

4.      Social media buttons

5.      Widget usage

Any element that your visitors interact with can be tracked with events (4 Google Analytics Goal Types That Are Critical To Your ... , 2012).

The event metric can be used as, “transactional triggers and is intended to reveal the status of "live" business process, (Bielski 2007) following the step by step of the visitor in the event process.  An example of this would be event tracking to find if a visitor has read an article.  As Virgillito outlines, this is not a simple event setup and done.  Each action that would indicate the visitor is reading or has read the article would call for its own event with related tracking setup. 

As seen in the above Google Analytics examined by Virgillito, each step has been assigned as an event:

·         ArticleLoaded – tracking a viewed page

·         StartReading – tracking reading of a page

·         ContentBottom – tracking finishing reading a page

·         PageBottom – tracking reaching the bottom of the page

As the viewer completes each event, it is indicated in the tracking.  At the end, only 15 finished the article of the 26 that started reading the piece.  A lower completion rate could indicate that the article is not as popular while the opposite could be said for higher completion rate.  Event can indicate what content should be placed on a webpage.  An engaging video on a webpage could be tracked in a similar fashion with events tracking the start and finish of the video and the time that it actual takes the viewer to get from one of those points to another. 

Events have a specific date and time detailed and these timestamps can indicate how long it takes the visitor to complete the action.  Events could even be setup within a registration or questionnaire.  In examining the timestamps and any patterns, difficult or confusing questions could be indicated.  Events can also be related to conversions to understand how many started conversions are actually successful.  If an event was setup at the start of an e-commerce transaction and looked at in comparison to the conversion rate, this could indicate trouble that a visitor might be having in completing the transaction.

Event is a tricky metric in that the benefits of setting up and examining it are not out rightly obvious.  In taking some time and thought, event can be a helpful metric in many instances. 

References:

4 Google Analytics Goal Types That Are Critical To Your ... (2012). Retrieved October 24, 2016, from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/critical-goal-types/ ..

Bielski, L. (October 01, 2007). KPI: Your metrics should tell a story. American Bankers Association. Aba Banking Journal, 99, 10, 66-68.

Virgillito, D. (2016). How to Track User Engagement with Google Analytics ... Retrieved October 24, 2016, from https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/how-to-track-user-engagement-with-google-analytics

Website Analytic Formulas – KPI’s - Contractor Gorilla. (2013). Retrieved October 24, 2016, from http://contractorgorilla.com/website-analytic-formulas-kpis/