Marketing Analytics Glossary

In this glossary we define the main terms related to Marketing Analytics, providing details and practical examples.

Active Users

Active Users count the number of unique users who interacted with your website or app during a specific time period, as tracked by Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This metric helps gauge the overall reach and engagement of your digital property. For example, if 1,000 different people visited your site last week, your active users for that week would be 1,000. For a detailed Active Users report, check out the Google Analytics 4 User Report template.

Add to Cart

Add to Cart is an e-commerce event tracked in GA4 when a user adds a product to their shopping cart. This metric helps track user intent to purchase and is a key step in the conversion funnel. For example, if 100 users add items to their cart but only 20 complete a purchase, you might need to optimize your checkout process. Check Add to Cart values using Rows purchase journey report.

App Installs

App Installs represent the number of times your mobile app has been downloaded and installed on a device, as monitored by Google Analytics 4. This metric is crucial for measuring the success of app marketing campaigns. For example, if your app is downloaded 10,000 times in a month, that represents 10,000 app installs.

Attribution Models

Attribution models are frameworks used by ads platforms and analytics tools to assign credit for conversions or sales to different marketing touchpoints in the customer journey. These models help marketers understand which channels are most effective. For example, the "Last Click" model gives all credit to the final touchpoint before conversion, while "Linear" distributes credit equally across all touchpoints.

Audience Segments

Audience Segments in Google Analytics 4 are groups of users who share common characteristics or behaviors, allowing for more targeted analysis and marketing. For instance, you might create a segment for "High-Value Customers" who have made purchases over $500 in the last 6 months.

Average Engagement Time

The Average Engagement Time in GA4 indicates the amount of time users spend actively engaging with your website or app during a session. This metric helps measure the quality of user interactions. For example, if your average engagement time is 3 minutes, users typically spend that long actively interacting with your content.

Average Order Value (AOV)

The Average Order Value is the average amount spent per transaction on your website or app, as calculated in Google Analytics 4. Calculate it by dividing total revenue by the number of orders. For example, if your total revenue is $10,000 from 100 orders, your AOV is $100. This metric helps track the effectiveness of upselling and cross-selling strategies.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is a metric tracked in GA4 that calculates the average revenue generated per user within a specific period. This metric helps businesses understand the value of their users and assess the effectiveness of their monetization strategies. For example, if your app generates $10,000 in revenue from 1,000 users, your ARPU is $10.

Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU)

Just like ARPU, Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU) is a GA4 metric that calculates the average revenue generated per paying user within a specific period. This metric is crucial for understanding the spending behavior of users who make purchases and optimizing pricing strategies. For example, if your app generates $10,000 in revenue from 200 paying users, your ARPPU is $50.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who land on a webpage and leave without interacting further, as recorded in GA4. For example, clicking on links or navigating to other pages. A high bounce rate often indicates that the content or user experience is not engaging. For example, if 100 people visit a blog post and 70 leave without clicking on anything else, the bounce rate is 70%. On the other end, Exit Rate is the ratio between visitors who left one page to visit another website’s page over the total amount of visitors who land on the page. Use Rows GA4 template to compute the bounce rate of the top performing landing pages.

Browser Type

The Browser type is a GA4 variable that lets you track the web browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari) used by visitors to access your website This information helps ensure your site is optimized for the most common browsers used by your audience. For example, if 60% of your users use Chrome, you might prioritize testing on that browser. For a breakdown of browser usage, check out the Google Analytics 4 templates.

Channel Grouping

Channel Grouping is a method used in Google Analytics 4 to categorize traffic sources into broader groups like Organic Search, Paid Search, Social, or Direct. This helps in understanding which marketing channels drive the most traffic and conversions. For example, you might find that 40% of your traffic comes from Organic Search.

For a detailed Channel Grouping analysis, use the Google Analytics 4 Traffic Acquisition Report template.

Checkout Initiated

Checkout Initiated is an ecommerce event tracked in GA4 that occurs when a user begins the checkout process. This metric helps track how many users move from adding items to their cart to actually starting the purchase process. For example, if 100 users add items to their cart and 50 initiate checkout, you have a 50% cart-to-checkout rate.

Cohort Analysis

Cohort Analysis is a method used in GA4 for analyzing user behavior by grouping users based on shared characteristics or experiences within a defined time-span. This helps understand user retention and behavior patterns over time. For example, you might analyze how users who signed up in January behave differently from those who signed up in February.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is a ratio tracked by Google Analytics 4 that measures the percentage of users who complete a desired action (conversion) out of the total number of visitors. This metric helps measure the effectiveness of your website or marketing campaigns. For example, if 1,000 users visit your site and 50 make a purchase, your conversion rate is 5%.

For detailed conversion analysis, use the Google Analytics 4 Event Conversions Report template.

Content Drilldown

Content drilldown was a built-in report available in Google Analytics UA that showed engagement metrics by page path, allowing users to drill down from folders into subfolders. By breaking down data, marketers can identify which pages or pieces of content are driving more traffic, engagement, and conversions. With Google Analytics 4, you can search by Page Path and create Content Groups based on specific criteria. Rows offers a template to group keywords and analyze clusters performance.

Content Grouping

Content Grouping is a GA4 feature that organizes website content into logical categories for analysis. It allows you to group pages or app screens based on your site structure or business needs, enabling performance comparisons at a higher level than individual pages. For example, an e-commerce site might group products into "Electronics," "Clothing," and "Home Goods" to compare pageviews, conversion rates, and user engagement across these categories. This helps identify which content types are most effective in driving desired outcomes. For analysis, use the GA4 Content Group Report template.

Conversions

Conversions are completed actions that are important to your business, such as purchases, sign-ups, or form submissions. In GA4, tracking conversions helps measure the success of your website or app in achieving its goals. For example, if your goal is newsletter sign-ups, each new subscriber would count as a conversion.

Cross-platform Tracking

Cross-platform tracking is the process of tracking user interactions across multiple devices or platforms (e.g., web and mobile app) using Google Analytics 4. This provides a more complete view of the user journey. For example, a user might research on mobile but make a purchase on desktop - cross-platform tracking would connect these interactions.

Custom Dimensions

Custom dimensions are user-defined attributes within GA4 that can be used to analyze specific aspects of user behavior or characteristics not covered by default dimensions. For example, you might create a custom dimension for "User Type" to distinguish between free and premium users.

Custom Metrics

Custom metrics in GA4 are user-defined quantitative measurements that allow you to track specific data points important to your business. For example, you might create a custom metric for "Video Completion Rate" to track how often users watch your videos to the end.

Device Category

Device Category displays the type of device used to access your website or app, typically categorized as desktop, mobile, or tablet in Google Analytics 4. This helps in understanding how users access your content and optimizing for different devices. For example, you might find that 60% of your traffic comes from mobile devices. For a comparison of performance across devices, use the Google Analytics 4 Mobile vs Desktop Report template.

Ecommerce Purchases

Ecommerce purchases are events tracked by GA4 that represent completed transactions on your website or app where a user buys a product or service. This metric is crucial for measuring the success of your online store. For example, if you have 100 ecommerce purchases in a day, that represents the number of successful sales transactions.

Engaged Sessions

Engaged sessions are sessions where users have shown a meaningful level of engagement, such as viewing multiple pages or spending a significant amount of time on the site. This metric is particularly valuable in GA4 for measuring the quality of user interactions. For example, GA4 might define an engaged session as lasting longer than 10 seconds or having 2 or more page views.

Engagement Rate

The Engagement Rate quantifies the percentage of engaged sessions out of total sessions, as calculated in Google Analytics 4. This metric provides insight into how well your content resonates with visitors. For example, if you have 1,000 total sessions and 600 are considered engaged, your engagement rate is 60%. For a detailed analysis of engagement, use the Google Analytics 4 Engagement Rate Report template.

Engagement Time

The Engagement Time is a GA4 metric is the total amount of time users spend actively engaging with your website or app. This metric helps measure the depth of user interaction with your content. For example, if a user spends 5 minutes reading an article, that contributes 5 minutes to your total engagement time.

Event Count

Event count is the total number of times a specific event occurs on your website or app, as tracked by Google Analytics 4. Events can be any user interaction you choose to track. For example, if you're tracking "PDF Downloads" as an event, and users download PDFs 500 times in a month, your event count for "PDF Downloads" is 500.

Events Tracking

Events tracking in Google Analytics 4 is the process of tracking user interactions with content that can be measured independently from a web page or screen load. Examples include button clicks, video plays, or form submissions. Events help track specific actions users take on your site. For instance, you might track "Add to Cart" as an event to measure product interest.

Exit Rate

The Exit Rate is defined in Google Analytics 4 as the percentage of exits from a specific page to another page in the same website, compared to the total number of pageviews for that page. GA4 tracks this metric to help identify which pages users are leaving your site from. For example, if a page has 1,000 views and 200 exits to another page of the same domain, its exit rate is 20%.

First User Source

The First User Source is a GA4 dimension that tracks the original source that brought a user to your website for the first time. For example, if a user first visits your site through a Google search, their first user source would be "Organic Search." For a comprehensive view of user acquisition, check out the Google Analytics 4 User Acquisition Report template.

Funnel Analysis

Funnel Analysis is a method of analyzing the steps users take towards completing a goal, helping identify where users drop off in the process. This feature in GA4 allows you to analyze a purchase funnel: Homepage > Product Page > Add to Cart > Checkout > Purchase. This can reveal which step loses the most potential customers.

In-app Purchases

In-app purchases are transactions that occur within a mobile application, such as buying premium features or virtual goods. GA4 tracks in-app purchases to help measure the monetization of your app. For example, if users buy 500 coins in your game app, each of these transactions is an in-app purchase.

Items per Purchase

Items per Purchase is a ratio that measures the average number of items bought in each transaction, as calculated by GA4. This metric helps understand buying behavior and can inform inventory and marketing decisions. For example, if your total items sold is 1,000 and you had 250 purchases, your items per purchase would be 4.

Lifetime Value (LTV)

The Lifetime Value (LTV) is the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account throughout their relationship. LTV, as calculated by GA4, helps in understanding the long-term value of acquiring a customer. For example, if a customer spends an average of $50 per year and typically remains a customer for 5 years, their LTV would be $250.

New Users

New Users is a GA4 metric that sums the number of users who interact with your website or app for the first time within a given date range. This metric helps measure the growth of your audience. For example, if 500 people visit your site for the first time this month, you have 500 new users.

Page Views

Page Views in GA4 represent the total number of pages viewed on your website. Repeated views of a single page are counted. This metric helps measure overall site engagement. For example, if a user visits your homepage, then a product page, then returns to the homepage, that counts as 3 page views.

For a detailed analysis of page performance, use the Google Analytics 4 Page Comparison Report template.

Pages/Screens per Session

Pages/Screens per Session, as calculated in Google Analytics 4, is the average number of pages or screens users view during a session on your website or app This metric helps measure how deeply users engage with your content. For example, if your site had 1,000 total page views across 250 sessions, your pages per session would be 4.

Path Exploration

Path Exploration is a feature in GA4 that allows you to visualize the routes users take through your website or app. This helps understand user behavior and identify popular or problematic pathways. For example, you might discover that users often go from your blog to your product pages, informing your content strategy.

Purchase Revenue

Purchase Revenue is a GA4 metric that tracks the total revenue generated from purchases on your website or app.. For example, if you sell 100 products at $50 each, your purchase revenue would be $5,000.

Realtime Reports

Realtime Reports in GA4 show data about active users on your site or app in real-time (typically within the last 5-30 minutes). This feature helps monitor immediate effects of new content or campaigns. For example, you might see a spike in active users right after sending out a promotional email.

Screen Resolution

Screen Resolution is the dimensions of a user's screen in pixels, as tracked by Google Analytics 4. This information helps in designing responsive websites and apps that look good on all devices. For example, you might find that many users have a screen resolution of 1920x1080 and optimize your design for this size.

Scroll Depth

Scroll Depth in GA4 measures how far down a page users scroll, often measured in percentages (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%). This metric helps understand how much of your content users actually see. For example, you might find that only 30% of users scroll to the bottom of your blog posts, suggesting you should put important information higher up.

Session Duration

Session Duration is a GA4 metric that measures the length of time a user spends on your website in a single session. This metric helps measure user engagement. For example, if a user spends 5 minutes browsing your site before leaving, their session duration is 5 minutes.

User Sessions

User Sessions, as defined in GA4, are groups of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame. A single session can contain multiple page views, events, or ecommerce transactions. For example, if a user visits your site, browses several pages, and makes a purchase before leaving, all of these interactions constitute one session.

Traffic Source

Traffic Source is the origin of your website traffic, such as search engines, social media, or direct visits. GA4 helps in understanding traffic sources to evaluate the effectiveness of different marketing channels. For example, you might find that 40% of your traffic comes from organic search, indicating strong SEO performance.

For a detailed breakdown of traffic sources, use the Google Analytics 4 Traffic Acquisition Report template.

User Acquisition

User Acquisition is the process of gaining new users or customers for your website or app. In GA4, this metric helps track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts in attracting new users. For example, if you gain 1,000 new users in a month through various channels, that represents your user acquisition for that period. For a comprehensive view of user acquisition, check out the Google Analytics 4 User Acquisition Report template.

User Engagement

User Engagement is a GA4 metric that quantifies the level of interaction users have with your website or app, often measured through metrics like time on site, pages per session, or event frequency. High user engagement generally indicates that users find your content valuable. For example, if users spend an average of 5 minutes per session and view 4 pages, that suggests good engagement.

User Explorer

User Explorer is a feature in Google Analytics 4 that allows you to analyze individual user behavior on your site or app. This can provide insights into how specific users interact with your content over time. For example, you might see that a particular user visited your site 5 times before making a purchase.

User Journey

User Journey is the path a user takes from their first interaction with your brand to conversion and beyond. GA4 allows you to analyze user journeys to understand the typical route users take before completing desired actions. For example, a user journey might start with a Google search, followed by a blog visit, then a product page view, and finally a purchase.

For insights into user journeys, check out the Google Analytics 4 Purchase Journey Report template.

User Retention

User Retention is the ability of your website or app to keep users coming back over time. In GA4, this metric helps measure the long-term success of your digital property. For example, if 100 users sign up in January and 40 of them are still active in February, your one-month retention rate is 40%.

For a detailed retention analysis, use the Google Analytics 4 Retention Report template.

User Source

User Source is the channel through which a user arrives at your website or app, such as organic search, paid ads, or social media. GA4 helps in understanding which marketing efforts are most effective. For example, if a user clicks on your Facebook ad to reach your site, their user source would be "Paid Social."

User Stickiness

User Stickiness is a key metric in GA4 that measures how frequently users return to your website or app. It's often calculated as the ratio of daily active users to monthly active users. Higher stickiness indicates more loyal users. For example, if you have 1,000 monthly active users and 100 daily active users, your user stickiness is 10%.