Event
An event is a specific interaction or action that occurs on a website or application, which is tracked and measured for analysis purposes. Events help us understand user behaviour beyond simple pageviews, providing insights into how users engage with specific elements or features of a digital property.
Events typically consist of four main components:
- Category: A broad grouping of events, such as “Videos” or “Downloads”.
- Action: The specific type of interaction, like “Play” or “Pause” for videos.
- Label (optional): Additional information about the event, such as the name of a video played.
- Value (optional): A numerical value associated with the event, like video duration.
Events are particularly useful for tracking actions that don’t result in a new page load, such as:
- Video plays, pauses, or completions
- File downloads
- Form submissions
- Clicks on outbound links
- Scroll depth on long pages
- Interactive element engagement (e.g. expanding accordion sections)
Implementing event tracking typically involves adding custom code to a website. This allows for flexible and detailed tracking without modifying the site’s core code for each new event.
In analytics platforms, events provide valuable data for assessing user engagement, content popularity, and the effectiveness of various site elements. They can be used to create goals, allowing businesses to track conversions for specific interactions that are important to their objectives.
Event data can be analysed to gain insights such as:
- Which content types are most engaging
- How users interact with key site features
- Which calls-to-action are most effective
- How far users scroll on long-form content
By combining event data with other metrics and dimensions, analysts can create a comprehensive picture of user behaviour, informing decisions on content strategy, site design, and overall user experience improvements.
However, it’s important to plan event tracking carefully to avoid collecting unnecessary data and to ensure that the events tracked align with business objectives and provide actionable insights.