Different counts for UVs and Visits for same segment when selecting 1 day vs a range

[SM_AP1]

Hi,

Using the same Visit level segment - but get different numbers when selecting 1 day vs selecting a range.     Is this due to visit overlap between 2 days or the sessionization?

Thoughts

Thx

SM_AP1

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

The difference is likely due to whatever segment you have applied at the panel level...

Particularly if the segment is looking at Visitor level.

Let's look at a simple example:

Segment:

VISITOR

        PageName equals "home"

This will return Visitors who came to the home page.. seems simple enough...

But, the segment applies to the panel date... ANY instance of the users hitting the home page will return data for the visitor.

Let's say that I as a user did the following:

• Oct 5
  • Home Page
  • Page X
  • Page Y
  • Home Page
• Oct 5 (second Visit)
  • Home Page
• Oct 6
  • Page Z
• Oct 7
  • Page W
  • Page M
  • Home Page

If I only look at Oct 6, I did not go to the Home page, therefore me as a User and that Visit will not meet the criteria of the segment, so I won't be included.

Now, if we look at Oct 5 - 6, I did go to the home page on Oct 5th (multiple times actually)... now I qualify under the segment, and my Visit and Unique Visitor data will be included for both days (It doesn't matter than I didn't go to the Home page on the 6th... the segment is only looking at Visitors who hit the page within the entire time frame). It also doesn't matter if I hit the Home page once, twice or a hundred times in the Visit... the Visit and Unique Visitor metrics will de-duplicate based on the nature of those metrics... however, if I were to come to the Home Page over multiple visits, the UV will be de-duplicated, but each Visit will be counted as unique within the day. In the example, Oct 5th will count 2 visits.

Similar to if I look at Oct 6 - 7, I hit the Home page on the 7th, so for the entire panel time frame, I will be included on each day that came to the site. The order of when I hit the home page is irrelevant.

So in the sample journey above.

                   UV                   Visits

Oct 5           1                      2

Oct 6           1                      1

Oct 7           1                      1

If you are trying to see people who hit the home page each day, you cannot use a Visitor level segment, you must use a Hit level segment.

Using a segment like:

HIT

        PageName equals "home"

Will return those specific hits.. but when paired with Unique Visitor and Visit, it will ensure that only Visitors or Visits on the specific Day are counted that match the hit criteria.

So in the sample journey above.

                   UV                   Visits

Oct 5           1                      2

Oct 6           0                      0

Oct 7           1                      1

I hope this helps.

[SM_AP1]

thx for the detailed explanation

[Jennifer_Dungan]

You're welcome