Toggling behaviour - report when a visit sees page A first and then page B ... but exclude those visits who saw page B first, then A and then B

[Biggsy50]

Hi all,

I've spent far too long exploring various posts & my own segments to fathom this out so I hope you can help? 

I might have 1,000 visits going direct from either page A to B ... or from page B to A.

However, I want to report on how many went to A first and then to B, e.g. '600' ... and from B first then to A, e.g. '400'

So when establishig the A>B '600' answer I want to include:

1. A > B
2. A > B > A
3. A > B > A > B etc.
   but exclude:
4. B > A > B
5. B > A > B > A etc.

This is proving more difficult that it ought to as if I exclude #4 it also excludes #3. Any ideas please?

Thanks,

Steven 

[bjoern__koth]

Hi @Biggsy50 

guess sequential segments might be your only chance. 

for your A > B case, maybe try something like this

and B > A

And if you need an immediate page view chain, you could limit the "THEN" condition to "WITHIN 1 Page View"

Let me know if that works.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

What about B > C > A > B?

Are you looking specifically at A > B and B > A directly? Or within the visit in general?

[Biggsy50]

Good question @Jennifer_Dungan

Initially we were looking at direct behavours (B>A>B) rather than eventual behaviours (B>C>A>B). So when we have highly "toggled" pages, being able to see which direction came first: A to B or B to A.

Thanks,
Steve   

[Jennifer_Dungan]

OK, so @bjoern__koth's sample needs a little tweaking... you will have to add "Within 1 Page" to clarify those THEN operators.

THEN is any time in the visit, so long as the order is met

THEN WITHIN X [hit/page view/etc] must be within the specified criteria

This should get you closer to your needs, but otherwise, the structure that Bjorn provided should be good... but test, test, test, lol

[Jennifer_Dungan]

And I just saw that Bjorn did add that at the end... lol.. this is what happens when you are multi-tasking.

[bjoern__koth]

xD

[Biggsy50]

Thanks @bjoern__koth & @Jennifer_Dungan. I gave this a brief try last night but it didn't "seem" to do what I wanted. It certainly could be the way forward I just want to 100% confirm before I set it as the 'Correct reply' 🙂

Thanks,
Steven

[bjoern__koth]

Hi @Biggsy50 

would you mind sharing your segment definitions? Sometimes setting the containers right is a bit tricky.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Yes, we'd be happy to review.

The other thing that might be happening is that you might have 

A > B > C > D > B > A

So this flow would appear in both segments, and since the A > B > A isn't directly in line with one another, it doesn't meet the exclusion criteria...

Sometimes the sequential segments aren't the easiest to get the full granularity of your needs...