From e921afb5f19de2565f199737e5c7a2d002672056 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Marko Saric Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2026 17:23:58 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] metrics and benchmarks --- docs/dashboard-faq.md | 4 + docs/ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md | 2 + docs/funnel-analysis.md | 4 +- docs/goal-conversions.md | 2 +- docs/metrics-definitions.md | 206 +++++++++++++++++++---------- docs/scroll-depth.md | 6 + docs/top-pages.md | 2 +- docs/top-referrers.md | 2 + 8 files changed, 156 insertions(+), 72 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/dashboard-faq.md b/docs/dashboard-faq.md index 4e6f41cdc..314046154 100644 --- a/docs/dashboard-faq.md +++ b/docs/dashboard-faq.md @@ -60,3 +60,7 @@ For more details, see our full [troubleshooting guide](troubleshoot-integration. ## How quickly will I see data after installing the script? Data appears in real-time. As soon as the first visit is counted after installing the Plausible snippet, your dashboard will start displaying stats with no delays. If you see a blinking green dot instead of the dashboard, it means we haven't recorded any visits yet. Our testing tool will launch automatically to help you verify the installation. + +## Where can I learn what each metric means? + +See the [metrics definitions page](metrics-definitions.md) for a full explanation of every metric in your dashboard, including typical ranges and guidance on how to interpret them. diff --git a/docs/ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md b/docs/ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md index 211ed001f..eeaa780a3 100644 --- a/docs/ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md +++ b/docs/ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md @@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ When you create a new custom event, you can optionally assign a monetary value t * Total revenue * Average revenue +Total revenue shows your overall performance. Average revenue helps you identify which sources or campaigns drive high-value customers rather than just high volume. A source sending fewer but higher-value orders can be worth more than a high-volume source with a low average order value. + Ecommerce revenue goal top graph The revenue metrics are fully filterable. For instance, you can see the total or average revenue for a particular custom event per any dimension such as a specific date, referral source, marketing campaign, entry page, country or device. diff --git a/docs/funnel-analysis.md b/docs/funnel-analysis.md index 2bfa47068..3a00cc77e 100644 --- a/docs/funnel-analysis.md +++ b/docs/funnel-analysis.md @@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ You can follow the visitor journey from a landing page to a conversion with our * Funnels allow you to analyze the user flow through your website and the different pages * You can go beyond pageviews and use any custom events to build a funnel -* With the conversion rate you understand the percentage of visitors who started the user flow and ended with a conversion event -* With the percentage drop-off between the individual funnel steps, you can spot where you lose the most visitors +* With the conversion rate you understand the percentage of visitors who started the user flow and ended with a conversion event. End-to-end funnel conversion rates vary widely but even small improvements at a high-traffic step can have a large impact on total conversions +* With the percentage drop-off between the individual funnel steps, you can spot where you lose the most visitors. A step with an unusually large drop-off is usually the best place to start optimizing * You can get more granular by [using filters](filters-segments.md) to segment your audience. Filter conversion funnels by marketing campaign, referral source, landing page, device or location for more insights Funnels demo diff --git a/docs/goal-conversions.md b/docs/goal-conversions.md index 71bee8cfc..f0e2716e5 100644 --- a/docs/goal-conversions.md +++ b/docs/goal-conversions.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; Goals allow you to track actions that you want your visitors to take on your site. Actions such as signing up to a newsletter, clicking on a "**Download**" button, registering for a trial account, purchasing a product, clicking on an external link, downloading a file or completing a checkout form of an ecommerce store. -By setting up custom events or pageviews as goals, you can track the number of conversions, conversion rate, referrer sources and entry pages that are driving conversions and the top pages that people convert on. You can also follow the visitor journey using funnels. +By setting up custom events or pageviews as goals, you can track the number of conversions, conversion rate, referrer sources and entry pages that are driving conversions and the top pages that people convert on. You can also follow the visitor journey using funnels. For definitions of conversion rate, unique conversions and total conversions, see the [metrics definitions page](metrics-definitions.md). Once a goal is configured, it appears in the "**Goals**" section of your dashboard after the first conversion is recorded. Then you can click on the particular goal to filter your dashboard by it and get all the insights on the traffic that has converted on that specific goal. diff --git a/docs/metrics-definitions.md b/docs/metrics-definitions.md index 3d0049432..f6fc7c242 100644 --- a/docs/metrics-definitions.md +++ b/docs/metrics-definitions.md @@ -4,151 +4,221 @@ title: All metrics and their definitions import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; -## 404 Error Pages +These are the metrics you'll find across your Plausible dashboard. They're grouped by category to help you understand how they relate to each other. -Automatically track the 404 error pages on your site. This feature isn't enabled by default so you need to [follow these steps](error-pages-tracking-404.md) to enable it for sites where you want to track 404 error pages. +--- -## Average Revenue +## Traffic -The average revenue of orders tracked. This is a part of the [revenue attribution tracking](ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md). +### Unique Visitors + +The number of people who visited your site. We are privacy-friendly so we don't use cookies and other persistent identifiers. If a person visits from multiple devices or on multiple days, they are counted as separate visitors. Within the same day, a person counts as one unique visitor even if they have multiple sessions. You can learn more about [how we count unique visitors](https://plausible.io/data-policy). + +### Total Visits (or Sessions) + +A session (also known as a visit) is a set of actions a user takes on your site. A visit starts when a visitor first lands on your page and ends when no action is taken for 30 minutes. + +Think of it like a shopping trip. It begins when you walk in and ends when you leave or when you haven't been active for 30 minutes. One person can have multiple sessions if they return later in the day or on another day. This is why Total Visits is often higher than Unique Visitors. + +### Total Pageviews + +The total number of times your pages were loaded by your visitors. A single visitor loading 5 pages counts as 5 pageviews but 1 unique visitor. The ratio between the two gives you a rough sense of how much people explore beyond their landing page. + +### Current Visitors -## Bounce Rate +The number of people currently on your site. This metric does not depend on the filters applied to the dashboard. It includes all visitors who have loaded a page in the last 5 minutes. You can click on the number to see what pages they are viewing. + +--- + +## Engagement + +### Bounce Rate The percentage of visitors who land on a page and leave without meaningfully engaging with your site. By default, Plausible marks a visit as a bounce unless the visitor does at least one of the following: * Views more than one page * Triggers a [custom event](custom-event-goals.md) -Some events fire automatically or in the background and you may not want to count them as engagement. You can mark any such event as "non-interactive" to exclude it from the bounce rate calculation. Like this: +Think of a bounce like someone walking into a shop, glancing around and walking straight back out without picking anything up or speaking to anyone. + +**Typical ranges:** Below 40% is excellent. 40-60% is common for most sites. Above 70% may suggest visitors aren't finding what they expected. + +Content-heavy sites and blogs naturally trend higher. Single-page apps and landing pages often need [custom events](custom-event-goals.md) to produce an accurate bounce rate since there are no additional page loads to signal engagement. If your bounce rate seems high, setting up custom events for meaningful actions visitors can take (button clicks, video plays, form interactions) is the recommended approach. Any custom event a visitor triggers counts as engagement and removes them from the bounce count. + +If you use custom events for broader tracking purposes and don't want them to affect the bounce rate, you can mark them as non-interactive: ```js plausible('Custom Event', {interactive: false}) ``` -Non-interactive events are still tracked and recorded normally. However, visitors who only trigger these events will still be counted as bounced unless they also view another page. +Non-interactive events are still tracked and recorded normally, but visitors who only trigger them will still be counted as bounced unless they also view another page. -## Browser +### Visit Duration -Shows the browsers used by your visitors. We only show the brand of the browser and when you click on the brand you can see the version number too. Metrics are shown as a percentage of all visitors and the total number of unique visitors. +The amount of time visitors spend on your site. Visitors who only view one page are counted with a duration of 0 seconds rather than excluded. Average visit duration is the sum of all session lengths divided by the number of sessions, which includes those 0 second visits (bounces). -## Channels +**Typical ranges:** 1-3 minutes is common for most sites. Documentation and content-heavy sites often run higher. -Channels show a breakdown of your traffic sources categorized into high-level groups such as "Organic Social", "Paid Search" and "Email". Learn more [here](top-referrers.md). +### Views Per Visit (or Pages / Session) -## Conversion Rate (or CR) +Views per visit (also known as pages per session) shows the average number of pageviews per visit. Repeated views of a single page are included. -The percentage of visitors that take a desired action such as subscribing to a newsletter or signing up for an account. Calculated as follows: unique conversions for a goal / unique visitors, where both values depend on the filters applied to the dashboard. +**Typical ranges:** 1.5-3 pages per visit is average for most sites. Higher numbers suggest visitors are exploring broadly beyond their entry page. -## Custom Properties (or Custom Dimensions) +### Time on Page -You can attach custom data when sending pageviews and custom events in order to create custom metrics. Learn more [here](/custom-props/introduction) +The average amount of time spent per visitor viewing a particular page on your site. -## Current Visitors +Unlike visit duration which measures the whole session, time on page is scoped to a single page. It's useful for understanding which specific pages hold attention and which ones people abandon quickly. -The number of people currently on your site. This metric does not depend on the filters applied to the dashboard. It includes all visitors who have loaded a page in the last 5 minutes. You can click on the number to see what pages they are viewing. +To measure this accurately, our script sends an `engagement` event each time a visitor navigates to a new page or switches tabs. This means time spent on a page in an inactive tab is not counted, and visitors who bounce are included rather than ignored. -## Direct / None +### Scroll Depth -Includes visitors who typed your URL into their browser or clicked a link in an email. It also includes other visitors who were [missing a referrer header](https://plausible.io/blog/referrer-policy). +Measures how far visitors scroll down a webpage. It represents the percentage of a page's total height that visitors have reached on average. You can learn how we calculate it [here](http://plausible.io/docs/scroll-depth). -## Entry Pages +A scroll depth of 50% means visitors reach halfway down the page on average. If a key call-to-action sits below that point, low scroll depth is a signal to either move it higher or improve the content above it. -Shows the first page people view on your site. +### Exit Rate -## Exit Pages +Shows how often people exit from a specific page. It's calculated as the number of exits divided by the number of total pageviews for that specific page. -Shows the last page people view on your site. +A high exit rate on a checkout or signup page is more concerning than a high exit rate on an order confirmation page where leaving is expected. -## Exit Rate +--- -Shows how often people exit from a specific page. It's calculated as the number of exits divided by the number of total pageviews for that specific page. +## Sources & Campaigns -## File Downloads +### Source -Automatically track the number of file downloads. This feature isn't enabled by default so you need to [follow these steps](file-downloads-tracking.md) to enable it for sites where you want to track clicks on files. +See all referral sources that are sending you traffic. A source is reported when a person clicks through to your site from another site. -## Funnels +### Channels -You can follow the visitor journey from a landing page to a conversion with [funnel analysis](funnel-analysis.md). +Channels group your traffic sources into high-level categories such as "Organic Social", "Paid Search" and "Email". Think of Channels as the category and Source as the specific referrer within it. Learn more [here](top-referrers.md). -## Goals (or Events) +### Direct / None -You can use goals to track desired actions people take on your site. Goals can be based on people [visiting a particular page](pageview-goals.md) or [triggering a particular event](custom-event-goals.md) such as subscribing to a newsletter or signing up for an account. You can even use custom properties to create your own metrics to collect and analyze data that Plausible doesn’t automatically track. +Includes visitors who typed your URL into their browser or clicked a link in an email. It also includes visitors who arrived via links shared in messaging apps like WhatsApp, Slack or Discord, since those apps don't pass a referrer header. This is known as dark social and is a common reason for a higher-than-expected Direct/None share. It also includes other visitors who were [missing a referrer header](https://plausible.io/blog/referrer-policy). -## Locations +### UTM Parameters -Shows the list of countries, regions and cities your visitors are based in. +To minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "Direct / None" category, you can add special query parameters (UTMs) to your links. UTMs help you better understand where your traffic is coming from. Plausible Analytics supports `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. -## (Not set) +For example, a link in your email newsletter might look like: -When it is not possible to identify a specific metric such as a browser name, we will group those visits under the `(not set)` entry in our reports. Chances are you won't see this entry in your reports as it stands for a very tiny percentage of all traffic. +``` +https://yoursite.com/blog/post?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=april-launch +``` -## Operating System +Read more about [tagging your links](top-referrers.md). -Shows the operating systems used by your visitors. We show the brand of the operating system and when you click on the brand you can see the version numbers too. Metrics are shown as the total number of unique visitors and as a percentage of all visitors. +### Referrer Drilldown -## Outbound Link Clicks +You can click on any source to drill down and view the individual pages linking to your site and the traffic they've sent over time. -Automatically track the number of clicks on the external links. This feature isn't enabled by default so you need to [follow these steps](outbound-link-click-tracking.md) to enable it for sites where you want to track clicks on external links. +--- -## Referrer Drilldown +## Goals & Conversions -You can click on any source to drill-down and view the individual pages linking to your site and the traffic they've sent over time. +### Goals (or Events) -## Screen Size +You can use goals to track desired actions people take on your site. Goals can be based on people [visiting a particular page](pageview-goals.md) or [triggering a particular event](custom-event-goals.md) such as subscribing to a newsletter or signing up for an account. You can even use custom properties to create your own metrics to collect and analyze data that Plausible doesn't automatically track. -Shows the devices used by your visitors. Devices are categorized into desktop, mobile or tablet. This is derived from the User-Agent HTTP header. The full User-Agent is discarded. Metrics are shown as the total number of unique visitors and as a percentage of all visitors. +### Conversion Rate (or CR) -## Scroll Depth +The percentage of visitors that take a desired action such as subscribing to a newsletter or signing up for an account. Calculated as follows: unique conversions for a goal / unique visitors, where both values depend on the filters applied to the dashboard. -Measures how far visitors scroll down a webpage. It represents the percentage of a page’s total height that visitors have reached on average. You can learn how we calculate it [here](http://plausible.io/docs/scroll-depth). +**Typical ranges:** These vary widely by goal type. E-commerce purchase rates often sit at 1-3%. Newsletter signups on content sites typically run 1-5%. Free trial signups for SaaS products often range from 2-10%. These are rough reference points. The most useful comparison is your own rate over time. -## Source +### Unique Conversions -See all referral sources that are sending you traffic. A source is reported when a person clicks through to your site from another site. +When a visitor converts for a particular goal they'll be counted as a unique conversion. -## Time on Page +### Total Conversions -The average amount of time spent per visitor viewing a particular page on your site. +If the same goal is completed multiple times by the same visitor, all the completed conversions will be counted within the total conversions. -Similar to scroll depth, this metric relies on `engagement` events being sent by our tracking script for every pageview when the user navigates to a new page or switches tabs. This allows us to provide you with a more precise and reliable measure of user engagement which includes visitors who bounce away from your pages and which does not include time not spent actively on your pages. +### Funnels -## Total Conversions +You can follow the visitor journey from a landing page to a conversion with [funnel analysis](funnel-analysis.md). -If the same goal is completed multiple times by the same visitor, all the completed conversions will be counted within the total conversions. +Think of a funnel like a leaky pipe. Visitors enter at the top (for example, a landing page) and you can see exactly at which step most people drop off before reaching the end goal (such as a completed signup). This helps you focus improvements where they'll have the most impact. -## Total Pageviews +### Custom Properties (or Custom Dimensions) -The total number of times your pages were loaded by your visitors. +You can attach custom data when sending pageviews and custom events in order to create custom metrics. For example, you could track which pricing plan a user signed up for, which author wrote a post that was read, or which product variant was viewed. Learn more [here](/custom-props/introduction). + +--- -## Total Revenue +## Revenue + +### Total Revenue The total revenue of orders tracked. This is a part of the [revenue attribution tracking](ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md). -## UTM parameters +### Average Revenue + +The average revenue of orders tracked. This is a part of the [revenue attribution tracking](ecommerce-revenue-tracking.md). + +--- -To minimize the amount of traffic that falls within the "Direct / None" category, you can add special query parameters (UTMs) to your links. UTMs help you better understand where your traffic is coming from. Plausible Analytics supports `utm_source`, `utm_medium`, `utm_campaign`, `utm_content` and `utm_term`. Read more about [tagging your links](top-referrers.md). +## Dimensions -## Unique Conversions +### Locations -When a visitor converts for a particular goal they’ll be counted as a unique conversion. +Shows the list of countries, regions and cities your visitors are based in. -## Unique Visitors +### Browser -The number of people who visited your site. We are privacy-friendly so we don't use cookies and other persistent identifiers. If a person visits from multiple devices or on multiple days, they are counted as separate visitors. You can learn more about [how we count unique visitors](https://plausible.io/data-policy). +Shows the browsers used by your visitors. We only show the brand of the browser and when you click on the brand you can see the version number too. Metrics are shown as a percentage of all visitors and the total number of unique visitors. -## Views Per Visit (or Pages / Session) +### Operating System -Views per visit (also known as Pages per session) shows the average number of pageviews per visit. Repeated views of a single page are included too. +Shows the operating systems used by your visitors. We show the brand of the operating system and when you click on the brand you can see the version numbers too. Metrics are shown as the total number of unique visitors and as a percentage of all visitors. -## Visit Duration +### Screen Size -The amount of time visitors spend on your site. It only shows people who visit more than one page. For those who visit one page only we default to 0 seconds. Average visit duration is the sum of all session lengths divided by the number of sessions, which includes the 0 second visits (bounces). +Shows the devices used by your visitors. Devices are categorized into desktop, mobile or tablet. This is derived from the User-Agent HTTP header. The full User-Agent is discarded. Metrics are shown as the total number of unique visitors and as a percentage of all visitors. -If you have issues with high bounce rates on your site, you can try to set up some [custom events](custom-event-goals.md). Custom events are by default considered interactive and will count towards bounce rate and visit duration too. +### Entry Pages -## Total Visits (or Sessions) +Shows the first page people view on your site. High-traffic entry pages are your most important landing pages since they set the first impression for new visitors. + +### Exit Pages + +Shows the last page people view on your site. Some pages naturally have high exit rates, such as order confirmation or contact success pages. Others, like pricing or checkout pages, may warrant a closer look if visitors frequently leave from them. + +--- -A session (also known as a visit) is a set of actions that a user takes on your site. A visit is started when a visitor first lands on your page and ends when no action is taken on your site for 30 minutes. +## Auto-tracked features + +These features are available in Plausible but are not enabled by default. Each requires a short setup step. + +### 404 Error Pages + +Automatically track the 404 error pages on your site. This helps you find broken links or mistyped URLs that are sending visitors to dead ends. [Follow these steps](error-pages-tracking-404.md) to enable it. + +### File Downloads + +Automatically track the number of file downloads. [Follow these steps](file-downloads-tracking.md) to enable it. + +### Outbound Link Clicks + +Automatically track the number of clicks on external links. [Follow these steps](outbound-link-click-tracking.md) to enable it. + +### Form Submissions + +Automatically track form submissions on your site. All submissions are recorded under a single goal called `Form: Submission`, which you can then break down by page, referrer, location and device. [Follow these steps](form-submissions-tracking.md) to enable it. + +--- + +## Other + +### (Not set) + +When it is not possible to identify a specific metric such as a browser name, we will group those visits under the `(not set)` entry in our reports. Chances are you won't see this entry in your reports as it stands for a very tiny percentage of all traffic. + +--- You can read more about how you can use these metrics to [measure your website's or startup's progress and make better decisions](https://plausible.io/blog/analytics-metrics-definitions). diff --git a/docs/scroll-depth.md b/docs/scroll-depth.md index 9a223238c..54baf1183 100644 --- a/docs/scroll-depth.md +++ b/docs/scroll-depth.md @@ -48,4 +48,10 @@ Next, click on the "**Add goal**" button to return to the goals page. When you n Scroll Depth goals only display the "Uniques" and "CR (conversion rate)" metrics, and not the "Total" metric like the pageview goals and custom event goals do. This is because scrolling is an action that gets measured continuously during a pageview and it's not possible to count the total number of "scroll depth events" that occurred. +## What's a good scroll depth? + +This varies by content type and page length. For most pages, an average above 50% suggests visitors are engaging meaningfully with your content. Blog posts and long-form articles typically see 50-70%. Landing pages often run lower since visitors make quick decisions near the top of the page. + +If your scroll depth is low on a page with an important call-to-action, the most direct fix is moving that element higher. If it's low on a long article, the content itself may not be holding attention past the introduction. + If you'd like to learn more about what scroll depth is, what's a good metric to have, and more, you can check out our blog post [here](https://plausible.io/blog/scroll-depth-tracking). diff --git a/docs/top-pages.md b/docs/top-pages.md index df8d91812..cd4cc1e0b 100644 --- a/docs/top-pages.md +++ b/docs/top-pages.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ title: Top content, landing pages and exit pages import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; -Your "**Top Pages**" report shows which pages your visitors are visiting the most often. You can use it to identify the most popular content on your site. Click on any page to segment your audience by those who visited that particular page. You can also click the "**Details**" button to see the full list of pages with additional metrics. The number of pageviews, bounce rate, time on page and scroll depth for the individual pages are included too. Click on any metric heading to sort and arrange your data in ascending or descending order. +Your "**Top Pages**" report shows which pages your visitors are visiting the most often. You can use it to identify the most popular content on your site. Click on any page to segment your audience by those who visited that particular page. You can also click the "**Details**" button to see the full list of pages with additional metrics. The number of pageviews, bounce rate, time on page and scroll depth for the individual pages are included too. Click on any metric heading to sort and arrange your data in ascending or descending order. For an explanation of what each of these metrics means, see the [metrics definitions page](metrics-definitions.md). You can also see the traffic flow by looking at the "**Entry Pages**" and "**Exit Pages**" reports. You can click the "**Details**" button to see the full list with additional details. For entry pages, details include visit duration for visits that started on a specific page and for exit pages, details include the exit rate percentage. Click on any metric heading to sort and arrange your data in ascending or descending order. diff --git a/docs/top-referrers.md b/docs/top-referrers.md index 01e9a7518..865905373 100644 --- a/docs/top-referrers.md +++ b/docs/top-referrers.md @@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ The "**Top Sources**" report displays acquisition channels, referral sources and You can click on any individual entry within the "**Top Sources**" report to segment your audience by that source and view the best performing landing pages or highest converting goals. Click the "**Details**" button to access additional insights such as the visit duration and bounce rate for the individual entry. In the "**Details**" view, you can sort and arrange your data in ascending or descending order by clicking any metric heading. +These metrics help you assess traffic quality beyond raw visitor counts. A source with a high bounce rate or very short visit duration may be sending visitors who aren't finding what they expected. A source with a low bounce rate and longer visit duration suggests strong alignment between that audience and your content. + Using [the "**Filter**" button on the top of your dashboard](filters-segments.md), you can filter the stats by multiple channels, sources or UTM tags simultaneously for more powerful traffic segmentation. You can also exclude traffic from a specific channel, referral source or UTM tag. Top Referrers - multiple filters