Incorrect Segment Average Time Spent on Site

[lunawsi]

Hi,

I have a page view with two eVars set. 

When I use one eVar it shows an Average Time Spent as X mins

When I use eVar1 and eVar2 then Average Time Spent is 50% of what I see when evar1 is taken

How is that possible? Is there something wrong being done from my end?

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi,

I am not sure we have enough detail to what you are doing... when you say "when I use" are you talking about as dimension breakdowns, are you using them in a segment, what and how are you trying to use them?

Remember that all Adobe "Time" metrics are calculations based on timestamps... the way you use the data has a big impact on what is happening... and without those details we can't try to replicate or really dig into the behaviour.

If you can provide more context, screenshots, a detailed step by step of what you are doing, and any other relevant information that would go a long way to helping us to help you.

[lunawsi]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan,

I have a page view which happens on lets say (abc.com)

In that Page View - I have evar1 - Page Name/Title (Example: abc)

evar2 - full Page URL (Example: abc.com/xyz)

While creating a segment when we see the details (panel populating, visits, views, etc). I see two sets of numbers

Segment 1 : Page Name = abc

Segment 2 Page Name = abc AND Page URL = abc.com/xyz

As they belong or populate in the same page view, why there are different numbers populating? There has not been any new tagging or changes implemented.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

What is the scope of your segments? Are you looking at Hit?

- If you are looking at Visits or Visitors, then this will be pulling back more pages than just the ones specified, and everything that any visit or visitor that saw that also saw the specific page

Could you have multiple pages with the same "Page Name"

- depending on how your site is tracked, the same page name could be used on multiple pages?

Does your Page URL field also collect parameters?

- As in do you have URLs like:

• abc.com/xyz
• abc.com/xyz?utm_source=something

- If you are collecting the full URL, and your segment is looking only for equals "abc.com/xyz" then you might not be getting all the pages with page name "abc" but only the subset of pages that don't have any query parameters

- Does your site allow the same page to be loaded using www and no www (www.abc.com/xyz and abc.com/xyz), does your site allow for both trailing and non-trailing slash (abc.com/xyz and abc.com/xyz/)

The most likely culprit is URL variation, and your second segment is looking for an exact match, but your eVar collects everything... 

[lunawsi]

@Jennifer_Dungan 

What is the scope of your segments? Are you looking at Hit? 

- I am looking for a Visit based segment.

Could you have multiple pages with the same "Page Name"

- I have the same page Name but I have eVars that keep changing. In some cases it is different as well.

The URL does not track any params and it is different query string that is actually a page name itself.

Now, what I do not get is that when I use the THEN operator in a Visit level my Average Time on Site is different from when it is Hit Level. Also, when I use the Visits with and without the THEN operator it shows different.

Can you help me understand why does that happen like that? 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

OK, 

So first off, a VISIT level segment will return ALL hits in a visit that had any page with page name "abc", it won't just return the specific "abc" pages.

If you have multiple criteria in a VISIT level segment, if you have containers or not can also affect what is returned.

Example:

Visit 1

• Page A
  • page name = "abc"
  • page url = "abc.com/xyz"
• Page B
  • page name = "abc"
  • page url = "abc.com/abc"
• Page C
  • page name = "xyz"
  • page url = "abc.com/xyz"

Visit 2

• Page D
  • page name = "abc"
  • page url = "abc.com/xyz"

Visit 3

• Page E
  • page name = "abc"
  • page url = "abc.com/abc"

Visit 4

• Page F
  • page name = "zzz"
  • page url = "abc.com/zzz"

For instance:

VISIT [

    page name equals "abc"

]

Will return pages A, B, C, D and E (from Visits 1, 2 and 3)

A segment written like this:

VISIT [

    page name equals "abc"

    AND

    page url equals "abc.com/xyz"

]

Will return pages A, B, C and D (from Visits 1 and 2)

A Segment written like this:

VISIT [

    HIT Container [

        page name equals "abc"

        AND

        page url equals "abc.com/xyz"

    ]

]

Will also return pages A, B, C and D (from Visits 1 and 2)

But, if we were to do a similar segment:

VISIT [

    HIT Container [

        page name equals "abc"

        AND

        page url equals "abc.com/abc"

    ]

]

This will only return pages A, B, C (from Visits 1), because I am looking for a single HIT that has both the specified name and URL, and only one hit has that combination.... but I still get all hits from the visit, because the scope of the segment is VISIT

As for your second point, you said that you can have multiple pages with the same name, and different URLs? Without seeing your data I am not sure I will be able to help here... I'm a bit confused.

Now, on to you question about THEN... THEN is for sequences, only Visits that hits the specified values in the order denoted will be returned.

Let's use a simpler example to the above:

Visit 1:

• Page A
• Page B

Visit 2

• Page B
• Page A

Visit 3

• Page A

If I have a segment for:

VISIT [

    Page Name equals A

]

All 5 pages from all three Visits will be returned

If I have a segment for:

VISIT [

    Page Name equals A

    and

    Page Name equals B

]

Only the 4 pages from Visit 1 and 2 will be returned, as the 3rd visit didn't see Page B

Now, if I do a segment:

VISIT [

    Page Name equals A

    THEN

    Page Name equals B

]

Only the 2 page views from the first visit will be returned, because the visit must see page A and THEN page B in that order... though the second visit saw both pages, Page B was before Page A and therefore isn't a match.

I don't have the full series of articles completed, but you should read:

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/perspectives/the-magic-behind-the-curtain-complex-segments

and watch:
https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/events/the-skill-exchange-recordings/analytics/aug2024/se... 

[lunawsi]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan 

VISIT [

    page name equals "abc"

]

Will return pages A, B, C, D and E (from Visits 1, 2 and 3)

Should have only A,B,D,E and not C as it doesn't have that page name right?

VISIT [

    HIT Container [

        page name equals "abc"

        AND

        page url equals "abc.com/abc"

    ]

]

Why will the Page E not be included in this? Only Page B should include and not the other from the Visit 1 right. But you mentioned all the pages will from Visit 1.

VISIT [

    Page Name equals A

]

All 5 pages from all three Visits will be returned

This should have 3 from All visits and Not 5. Am I confused in my interpretation?

Any articles that you will suggest if you feel I am lost somewhere in my understandings?

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

---

VISIT [

    page name equals "abc"

]

Will return pages A, B, C, D and E (from Visits 1, 2 and 3)

Should have only A,B,D,E and not C as it doesn't have that page name right?

---

No, because you are using VISIT scope, so every page in a visit that has "x" will be returned.

VISIT [

    page name equals "abc"

]

will find pages that match "abc" and return ALL HITS from the Visits that have a match. So, Page C will definitely be included.

---

VISIT [

    HIT Container [

        page name equals "abc"

        AND

        page url equals "abc.com/abc"

    ]

]

Why will the Page E not be included in this? Only Page B should include and not the other from the Visit 1 right. But you mentioned all the pages will from Visit 1.

---

Again, the segment is at a VISIT scope, but there is a HIT Container inside the logic...  Sorry, I forgot that Page E also matched that logic. You are correct, Page E (and all the hits in that visit should have been included). It's hard trying to scroll up and down in the small text window to check the examples.

So breaking it down, let's look at the HIT portion

HIT Container [

    page name equals "abc"

    AND

    page url equals "abc.com/abc"

]

This will match Page B (Visit 1) and Page E (Visit 3), as these are the only two pages that have BOTH the page name of "abc" AND the url of "abc.com/abc".

Now, we wrap that logic in a VISIT scope segment, and ALL the hits from Visit 1 AND Visit 3 will be returned.

---

VISIT [

    Page Name equals A

]

All 5 pages from all three Visits will be returned

This should have 3 from All visits and Not 5. Am I confused in my interpretation?

---

Like the others, the segment scope is VISIT. All three visits have a page A, therefore all pages from all visits will be returned.

If you only want the specified pages to be returned, you need to use a HIT level segment. Hit is the only scope that will return only the page / action that is specified in the match.