Have you ever wondered what scope applies custom metrics?
Custom metrics help you track and measure specific user actions that are important to your business goals.
However, it’s important to understand the different scopes that custom metrics can have, as this can affect how you interpret and use the data.
The scope of a custom metric refers to the level at which it is defined and applied.
There are four different scopes for custom metrics: hit, session, user, and product.
Hit-level custom metrics are associated with a single user interaction, such as a pageview or event.
Session-level custom metrics are associated with a single user session, which includes all the interactions a user has on your site during a single visit.
User-level custom metrics are associated with a single user, regardless of the number of sessions they have on your site.
Product-level custom metrics are associated with a specific product, such as an item in an e-commerce store.
Understanding the scope of your custom metrics is crucial for accurate tracking and analysis.
By choosing the appropriate scope for each metric, you can ensure that you’re capturing the data that is most relevant to your business goals.
In the following sections, we’ll explore each scope in more detail and provide examples of when you might use each one.
What Scope Applies Custom Metrics?
When it comes to custom metrics, the scope of the metric refers to the boundaries within which it is defined and applied.
The scope of a custom metric can vary, depending on the specific objectives and goals, target audience or stakeholders, organizational or project requirements, data availability and accessibility, technical limitations, and resources.
In this section, we will discuss the different scopes that can be applied to custom metrics and how they are used for business analysis, technical analysis, and marketing analysis.
Business Analysis
In business analysis, custom metrics can be scoped at different levels, depending on the business requirements.
Some common scopes for business analysis custom metrics include:
- Company-level scope: Metrics scoped at the company level are used to track overall business performance and help executives make strategic decisions.
- Examples of company-level metrics include revenue, profit, and market share.
- Department-level scope: Metrics scoped at the department level are used to track the performance of specific business units or functions.
- Examples of department-level metrics include sales per employee, customer satisfaction, and inventory turnover.
- Project-level scope: Metrics scoped at the project level are used to track the progress and performance of specific projects.
- Examples of project-level metrics include project cost, project duration, and project success rate.
Technical Analysis
In technical analysis, custom metrics can be scoped at different levels, depending on the technical requirements.
Some common scopes for technical analysis custom metrics include:
- Application-level scope: Metrics scoped at the application level are used to monitor the performance and health of specific applications.
- Examples of application-level metrics include response time, error rate, and resource utilization.
- Infrastructure-level scope: Metrics scoped at the infrastructure level are used to monitor the performance and health of the underlying infrastructure that supports the applications.
- Examples of infrastructure-level metrics include CPU usage, memory usage, and network latency.
- Service-level scope: Metrics scoped at the service level are used to monitor the performance and health of specific services that are part of a larger system.
- Examples of service-level metrics include uptime, downtime, and response time.
Marketing Analysis
In marketing analysis, custom metrics can be scoped at different levels, depending on the marketing requirements.
Some common scopes for marketing analysis custom metrics include:
- Campaign-level scope: Metrics scoped at the campaign level are used to track the performance of specific marketing campaigns.
- Examples of campaign-level metrics include click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per acquisition.
- Channel-level scope: Metrics scoped at the channel level are used to track the performance of specific marketing channels.
- Examples of channel-level metrics include website traffic, social media engagement, and email open rate.
- Audience-level scope: Metrics scoped at the audience level are used to track the behavior and preferences of specific customer segments.
- Examples of audience-level metrics include demographic data, purchase history, and customer lifetime value.
By understanding the different scopes that can apply to custom metrics, you can choose the right scope for your specific business, technical, or marketing requirements.
This will help you collect the right data and gain insights that can drive better decision-making and improve overall performance.
How To Apply Custom Metrics
Custom metrics are a powerful tool for tracking specific data that is important to your business.
They allow you to define your own metrics and track them alongside the standard metrics provided by your analytics platform.
When creating custom metrics, it’s important to understand the scope that applies to them.
Every custom metric that you create can have one of two scopes: hit-level or product-level.
The scope of a custom metric determines how it is applied and calculated.
Hit-Level Custom Metrics
Hit-level custom metrics are associated with all the hit-level dimensions with which they are sent.
This means that the value of the custom metric is only applied to the hit with which the value was sent.
Google Analytics will calculate and send the value for each hit.
Hit-level custom metrics are useful when you want to track data that is specific to a particular page or event on your website.
For example, you might create a hit-level custom metric to track the number of times a particular button is clicked on a page.
Product-Level Custom Metrics
Product-level custom metrics are associated with all the product-level dimensions with which they are sent.
This means that the value of the custom metric is applied to all hits associated with the product.
Google Analytics will calculate and send the value for each hit associated with the product.
Product-level custom metrics are useful when you want to track data that is specific to a particular product or group of products.
For example, you might create a product-level custom metric to track the number of times a particular product is added to a cart.
In conclusion, understanding the scope that applies to custom metrics is crucial when creating and tracking data in your analytics platform.
By defining your own metrics and tracking them alongside standard metrics, you can gain valuable insights into your business and make data-driven decisions.
Benefits Of Custom Metrics
Custom metrics offer several benefits and advantages that can help organizations measure specific aspects that standard metrics may not adequately capture.
Here are some of the benefits of using custom metrics:
1. Focus On Specific KPIs
Custom metrics enable organizations to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with their unique goals and objectives.
By defining custom metrics, you can track and analyze data that is relevant to your business, which can help you make more informed decisions.
2. Improved Data Analysis
Custom metrics can help you gain deeper insights into your data.
By measuring specific aspects of your business, you can identify patterns and trends that may not be visible with standard metrics.
This can help you make more accurate predictions and better understand your customers’ behavior.
3. Better Decision Making
Custom metrics can provide you with the information you need to make better decisions.
By tracking and analyzing data that is relevant to your business, you can identify areas where you need to improve and make changes accordingly.
This can help you optimize your business processes and improve your bottom line.
4. Increased Efficiency
Custom metrics can help you streamline your data analysis processes.
By measuring specific aspects of your business, you can focus on the data that is most important to you.
This can help you save time and resources, which can be used to improve other areas of your business.
In summary, custom metrics can help you measure specific aspects of your business that standard metrics may not adequately capture.
By defining custom metrics, you can focus on key performance indicators that align with your unique goals and objectives, gain deeper insights into your data, make better decisions, and increase efficiency.
Limitations Of Custom Metrics
When using custom metrics, it is important to keep in mind their limitations.
Here are some limitations to consider:
Hit-Level Scope
Custom metrics with hit-level scope only apply to the hit they are associated with.
This means that if you want to track a metric across multiple hits, you need to set the metric value for each hit.
This can be time-consuming and may result in data inconsistencies if the metric is not set correctly for each hit.
Data Sampling
If you have a large amount of data, Google Analytics may sample your data when generating reports.
This means that not all of your data will be used to generate the report, which can result in inaccurate metrics.
To avoid data sampling, you can use the Google Analytics 360 suite, which offers unsampled data reporting.
Cost
Custom metrics can be expensive, especially if you have a large amount of data.
You may need to upgrade to a higher tier of Google Analytics to use custom metrics, which can be costly.
High-Cardinality Dimensions
High-cardinality dimensions, such as unique IDs per user, should not be used as custom dimensions or metrics.
This is because they can result in a large number of unique values, which can cause data processing and storage issues.
Technical Limitations
Custom metrics are subject to technical limitations, such as the maximum number of custom metrics that can be created and the maximum length of the metric name and value.
It is important to be aware of these limitations when creating custom metrics.
Overall, custom metrics can provide valuable insights into your website or app’s performance.
However, it is important to keep in mind their limitations and use them appropriately to avoid data inconsistencies and inaccuracies.
Key Takeaways
When it comes to custom metrics, understanding the scope is crucial.
Here are some key takeaways to keep in mind:
- Scope defines the boundaries of custom metrics: The scope of custom metrics refers to the boundaries within which they are defined and applied.
- It’s important to consider factors such as specific objectives and goals, target audience or stakeholders, organizational or project requirements, data availability and accessibility, technical limitations, and resources.
- Different calculation methods can be used: There are different ways to calculate custom metrics, depending on what you’re trying to measure.
- Some methods include counting the number of times something happens, dividing one metric into another, subtracting one metric from another then dividing it into another number to express a metric as a percentage, and amalgamating various data points into a table to provide added context.
- Analytical views help visualize custom metrics: Analytical views, such as process maps, can help visualize custom metrics by displaying an aggregated value for all events with the same activity value.
- This can be useful for identifying patterns and trends, as well as areas for improvement.
- Custom metrics can be sent to Azure Monitor: If you’re using Azure Monitor, custom metrics can be sent via several methods, such as using the Azure Application Insights SDK, installing the Azure Monitor agent on your Windows or Linux Azure VM, or using a data collection rule to send performance counters to Azure Monitor metrics.
By understanding the scope of custom metrics and using the right calculation methods and analytical views, you can gain valuable insights into your data and make informed decisions.
