Comments on Analytics Blog: Segment your Traffic with the User Defined Report

We have a section of our website that has 14 diffe...

2012-04-03T10:56:33.326-07:00

We have a section of our website that has 14 different market segments, each with multiple pages (but each has a different file path based on the 14 segments) and I would like to compare general information between them. Since Analytics limits the amount of segments. What is the best way to set up an analytics report to show them against each other?

Is it possible to store constant value from somewh...

2011-12-14T10:43:55.556-08:00

Is it possible to store constant value from somewhere else to a custom variable?

Is it possible to have a custom variable that stor...

2011-12-14T10:43:21.938-08:00

Is it possible to have a custom variable that store custom value? For instance, I'm interested in storing a constant value from somewhere else to this variable that I created. Is this possible?

Do Custom Variables follow "first association...

2011-10-03T19:38:09.076-07:00

Do Custom Variables follow "first association" of the session for visitor session calculations as well?

Data comes. It works great. Tks

2010-05-07T03:30:36.380-07:00

Data comes. It works great.
Tks

there is a report under visitors where you can see...

2010-03-29T15:51:19.429-07:00

there is a report under visitors where you can see if the data is coming in.

Hi David. I used setCustomVar on my site too. I ...

2010-02-27T02:17:32.666-08:00

Hi David.

I used setCustomVar on my site too.

I add this code:

var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(
['auto._setAccount', 'UA-2894676-20'],
['auto._setDomain', 'none'],
['auto._setAllowLinker', 'true'],
['auto._setCustomVar', 1, 'redattore', 'Gabriele A.', 1]
['auto._trackPageview']
);

but I don't know if it works or not.

How can I check this?
Which report I need to create to verify if my code is right?

Tks

I've not set up any user defined variables, ye...

2010-02-19T10:17:31.026-08:00

I've not set up any user defined variables, yet there are 27 values showing up in the report. The first one, which also has the most visits has a value = (not set). This makes sense.

The rest of them have very few visits, some values make sense and some are cryptic.

Examples "User Defined Value":
guest
None-1
non-member
ANON
Logged Out
User_adsense_styling_A3_User_review_link

I've looked at the page source on several different pages (logged in, not logged in, cart, checkout) and don't see any of the code mentioned in the tutorial.

Anybody else seeing this? Any ideas where these values are coming from? And how to get rid of them?

, so basic, can someone give me an demo video ?

2010-02-07T01:06:21.368-08:00

, so basic, can someone give me an demo video ?

Hello, What is the difference between a user defi...

2010-01-27T13:47:01.685-08:00

Hello,

What is the difference between a user defined variable and a custom variable?

I started setting up custom variables and now my user defined variable report is all mucked up with values like this:

1=MemberStatus=Guests=1,

Here is the code I used to set up my Custom Variables. I am using the Async tag.

var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-94058-1']);
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'MemberStatus', '{group_title}', 1]);
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'Gender', '{gender}', 1]);
_gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'Birth Year', '{birth_year}', 1]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

hi EVC, Tracking the names of users is forbidden ...

2009-11-24T12:34:12.771-08:00

hi EVC,

Tracking the names of users is forbidden by our Terms and Conditions. Please don't do that.

Gabriel from the Google Analytics Team

Is it possible to use a session ID for the variabl...

2009-10-30T06:18:46.230-07:00

Is it possible to use a session ID for the variable? In other words, I want to Identify each individual by name when they purchase. They enter their name in the checkout process. So can I create a variable based on this and insert the name of the variable like this? _setVar('variable')

Great post!

2009-10-19T00:29:47.905-07:00

Great post!

I did your script and I don't see the __utmv g...

2009-08-26T15:56:31.614-07:00

I did your script and I don't see the __utmv get set on Mozilla for an Mac. Have you seen this problem?

This is very useful information. We will implement...

2009-07-31T04:30:05.262-07:00

This is very useful information. We will implement this script code in to our site and let you know the feedback to you all...

Thanks Google
Senthilvel S.P

Is it possible to set a user-defined value on a cl...

2009-07-22T10:18:01.852-07:00

Is it possible to set a user-defined value on a click from a third-party website?

Specifically, I want to track all visitors from a Facebook CPC campaign so that I can check how many conversions we receive. (Unfortunately, due to the limitations of our shopping cart it's not possible to just tag the URL in the normal way and look at conversions from this source.)

The Google Analytics IQ course contains a lesson o...

2009-07-16T15:42:02.424-07:00

The Google Analytics IQ course contains a lesson on using setVar:
http://services.google.com/analytics/breeze/en/customvisitorsegmentation/index.html

@webmaster - add the statement to the rest of the ga.js script, on the page where you want the custom variable to get set.

@Yiu Pang - thanks for trying it out -- yes, you'll only have one custom variable.

If i have a page with is a item listing page using...

2009-07-13T02:31:27.032-07:00

If i have a page with is a item listing page using _setVar('list-type')
and a detail page using _setVar('catalog')

if i visit from listing and the to detail, will it bring the cookie from listing page to detail, so that will have 2 _setVar cookie on a single page?

becoz i using custom define segment report, i choose 2 of my custom var,
i found that the listing page contain detail page custom setVar cookie
eg: all visit:1,list-type1, catalog : 1

but it should not happen, right?

Not sure if I understand where to add the onClick=...

2009-07-10T10:02:12.523-07:00

Not sure if I understand where to add the onClick="pageTracker._setVar('Needs Help');" statement. Do you add it to the a href link code? Or add it to the rest of the ga.js script?

Hello, Great tutorial, it's exactly what I loo...

2009-07-10T05:33:24.954-07:00

Hello, Great tutorial, it's exactly what I look for !

That's right but more visual steps are needed....

2009-07-09T22:48:11.884-07:00

That's right but more visual steps are needed.

wow, many thanks for posting this. the user-define...

2009-07-09T12:34:22.796-07:00

wow, many thanks for posting this. the user-defined section was growing cobwebs because it seemed over my head. Makes much more sense now that you've presented some great examples of usage.

Thanks everyone for your replies! @anelson - It&#...

2009-07-09T11:54:47.880-07:00

Thanks everyone for your replies!

@anelson - It's a great use for websites that use a "Live Chat" or "Need Assistance" applet. You can then zero-in on what pages this group of people visited and where on the website they may be having trouble

@Alistair - You are correct. Selecting the "Visits with Conversions" or "Visits with Transactions" Advanced Segments will show you all of the data pertaining to those groups.

In those Conversion / Transaction situations, it can definitely be used in lieu of a User-Defined label. However, there are many more uses for User-Defined - like, assigning a label to a visitor based on a form selection (and not necessarily completing the form). Or, using the "setVar" function on visitors who download a certain PDF document from your site.

Keep in mind that Advanced Segments cannot be applied to the Absolute Unique Visitors report, Keyword Positions, or the Funnel Visualization report.

@Tara - You definitely touch on a very interesting part of the whole analytics space. There are a lot of data points to take into account, and it's sometimes very difficult (even for me) to figure out what's REALLY important, and what other stuff is just medium-important.

I like to look at Goals, Events, and Labels like this:

Goals: Actions that you want visitors to perform on your site (Contacting you, buying from your store, filling out an RFP form)
Events: Actions / activities that visitors happen to perform while on your site (playing your flash-based game, viewing your latest video, click-and-dragging your latest homepage AJAX applet)
Labels: These are rarely-changing identifiers for specific visitors (customers, managers, owners, high annual salary, etc...)

Great comments!

I'm curious how you know this is working. Doe...

2009-07-09T10:16:42.991-07:00

I'm curious how you know this is working. Does the filter only filter during the reporting stage (i.e. when I look at my stats) or does it filter during the data gathering stage (i.e. my visit does not get recorded)?

I tried to disable the filter, but didn't see any change in my stats and the User Defined value did not record my value.

Thank you so much GA team! :)

2009-07-08T14:28:49.043-07:00

Thank you so much GA team! :)