What are Custom Events? Examples of Custom Events in Analytics

Custom events

User-defined analytics events to track specific interactions like clicks, form submissions, and video plays for deeper behavioral insights.

Why Custom Events Matter

• Capturing specific user actions

  Track interactions like button clicks, form submissions, and video plays to uncover how users engage with your product beyond page views.

• Aligning with business goals

  Define events that directly map to your organization’s KPIs—such as sign-ups, purchases, or feature adoptions—to ensure analytics focus on what matters most.

• Enhancing funnel analysis

  Use custom events to build detailed funnels, pinpointing where users drop off in multi-step processes and optimizing each stage for better conversion rates.

Custom vs. Standard Events

• Standard events

  Default events automatically tracked by analytics tools (e.g., page_view, scroll, session_start in GA4). They provide basic insights but may lack context for unique behaviors.

• Custom events

  User-defined events that capture interactions tailored to your product, such as newsletter_signup or video_played. They require manual setup in your tracking code.

• When to use each

  Use standard events for general user activity and performance benchmarks. Employ custom events for business-critical or specialized actions that require deeper analysis.

Implementing Custom Events

• Plainsignal example

  Include the PlainSignal script on your page, then call PlainSignal('event', ...) to track custom interactions. For example:

  <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
  <script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/PlainSignal-min.js"></script>
  <script>
    // Track custom event with PlainSignal
    PlainSignal('event', 'button_click', {
      buttonId: 'signup-button',
      page: '/pricing'
    });
  </script>
  

• Google analytics 4 example

  Use the gtag.js library or Google Tag Manager to send events. For example, with gtag.js:

  <!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) -->
  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
  <script>
    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
    gtag('js', new Date());
  
    gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX');
  
    // Track custom event
    gtag('event', 'form_submission', {
      event_category: 'Contact Form',
      event_label: 'Homepage Banner',
      value: 1
    });
  </script>
  

Best Practices for Custom Events

• Consistent naming conventions

  Adopt a clear, standardized naming scheme (e.g., snake_case or kebab-case) and include meaningful prefixes or categories to avoid confusion.

• Limit event volume

  Track only the most critical interactions to prevent data overload, reduce processing overhead, and maintain report clarity.

• Include relevant parameters

  Attach metadata (e.g., product id, user role, plan type) to events for deeper segmentation and richer analysis.

• Test and validate

  Use debug mode and browser network tools to verify events fire correctly, and compare against expected parameters and timestamps.

• Document and share

  Maintain an event taxonomy document detailing names, descriptions, and parameters to align stakeholders and facilitate onboarding.

Analyzing Custom Events

• Event reports in ga4

  Navigate to the ‘Events’ section in the GA4 interface to view event counts, user engagement metrics, and top event parameters. Use exploration reports for custom analyses.

• Dashboards in plainsignal

  PlainSignal offers a simple dashboard showing event trends over time. Filter by event name or parameters to spot patterns and anomalies quickly.

• Segmentation and funnels

  Create user segments based on event triggers or build funnels to visualize user journeys and identify drop-off points across custom events.

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