Segment Comparison, Visit Number = 1 (Visit Level vs. Visitor Level)

[skala18]

Hi All,

I want to understand why I get different Visit metrics count when I compare two segments using the same rules but different containers (visit and visitor). I am trying to create a metric to count new visitors every month

Visit Container 

  

Visitor Container

Technically, If I am using the visit number = 1 to identify new visitors, I should get the same visit or unique visitor count. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Can someone please explain why the numbers will be different?

Thanks,

Suchin

[bjoern__koth]

HI @skala18 

can you post a screenshot of the actual segment previews as well as applied on a freeform table?

Also, I don't think the exclusion condition makes much of a difference since it is implicitly included in Visit Number equals to 1.

Technically yes, the numbers should match since there should not be any deduplication happening on Visitor level if it is limited to exactly one Visit.

So, seeing the numbers might help better understand the discrepancy.

@Jennifer_Dungan would be great to get your two cents on this one

[MandyGeorge]

Hi @skala18 , the reason that you are getting the difference is because of your exclusion criteria.

In the first segment you've got a Visit segment, excluding any hit where visit number is greater than 1. As the visit number should be the same in every visit, this should be working ok.

For your second segment, however, you're using a visitor exclude. Meaning that you're excluding any visitor who has a visit number of 2 or higher.

So basically, the first visit you're including all of visit 1, regardless of if they have a second visit. Your second segment, you're excluding anyone that has a second visit or more, only including people who have ever had 1 visit. 

What you want to do depends on what are you trying to answer.

Do you want to return information for visit 1 and ignore any subsequent visits? (segment 1)

Do you want to return information for people who have only ever visited the site once? (segment 2)

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi, 

Let's break down the logic of your segments.

Scenario 1

VISIT [

    Visit Number equals 1

    AND

    HIT container (exclude) [

        Visit Number is greater than 1

    ]

]

This will return any visits that are the user's first ever visit. The exclude here really isn't doing anything, since the Visit Number is a "per visit" value.

Visit 1

• This matches the "Visit Number equals 1"
• Exclude doesn't apply as this is 1

Visit 2

• This does not match "Visit Number equals 1"
• Technically the exclude would exclude this, but the first clause is already doing the work

** Segment will return Visit 1 and not Visit 2

Scenario 2

VISITOR [

    Visit Number equals 1

    AND

    VISITOR container (exclude) [

        Visit Number is greater than 1

    ]

]

So this one, because you are dealing with the "Visitor", you are actually applying logic that looks at all the visitor's visits with the time frame. The exclude here actually means that you are only returning visitors that Visited the site for the first time, and ONLY visited the site that one time within your time frame... IF the visitor came back to the site, their first visit is now being removed from your data because you are excluding everything about that visitor.

VISITOR 1

• VISIT 1
  
  • This matches the "Visit Number equals 1"
  • As this is the only visit for this user, the exclude won't apply, this will be returned

VISITOR 2

• VISIT 1 (Nov 1)
  • This matches the "Visit Number equals 1"
  • IF you are watching the current month for instance, this might be included (as in if you are looking at the report between Nov 1 and Nov 14), until their second visit, when this entire visit/visitor will be excluded because of the second visit on Nov 15
• VISIT 2 (Nov 15)
  • This Visit doesn't match "Visit Number equals 1", but you aren't looking at visit scope, you are looking at Visitor, and this visitor did have a Visit 1
  • Because of the exclusion at the VISITOR level for "Visit Number greater than 1", this and all previous and subsequent visits for this user will be excluded

VISITOR 3

• Visit 246
  • This Visitor and Visit, because Visit Number is an all time metric would never meet the criteria to be included since their first visit is outside the date range

** Only VISITOR 1 will be returned. VISITOR 2, despite having a "visit number 1" will be excluded because they also had a visit that was not Visit Number 1.

So you can see, that using Visitor scope has some nuances.... by adding an exclusion at the visitor level, your segment is actually removing those visitors as soon as they meet that criteria.

The VISIT level segment will show you "First Time Visitors Ever" within your time frame, the VISITOR level segment will show you "First Time Visitors Ever that ONLY visited the site that one time"

Now, if you are looking for "first time ever visits", your first segment is the closest... though, since Adobe provides an out of the box segment for this (First Time Visits) which is a simple Visit scoped segment where Visit Number equals 1, you technically don't have to make your own..

If you are looking for "New or Repeat Visitors" within your reporting period, you might want to check this out:

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/events/the-skill-exchange-recordings/analytics/may2023/ro...

This will show you how to create non-overlapping segments for a specific time frame...