Occurrences vs Instances

[erin_zentz]

When I pull occurrences in aggregate in Workspace, the number matches instances as reported by Analytics. However, when I break down occurrences by a conversion variable, occurrences is much higher than instances. Other metrics - such as page views - are consistent. Are instances and occurrences supposed to match? Why would the breakdown by conversion variable be changing the result?

[TanmayMathur · Accepted solution]

Hi Erin,

Instances are the number of times a variable was defined in an image request whereas Occurrences are the total number of hits a variable value was either defined or (for conversion variables) persisted. The metric is in essence the sum of page views and page events.

Occurrences higher than Instances is expected for conversion variables, as occurrences also includes the number of times the variable was defined (instances).

I hope that helps.

TM