The anatomy of an event, example events and best practises
Custom events consist of four primary components which need to be configured, only two of which are required:
- Category (Required) – This describes the type of events you want to track. For example, Link Clicks, Videos, Outbound Links, and Form Events.
- Action (Required) – This is the specific action that is taken. For example, with the Video category, you might have a Play, Pause and Complete action.
- Name (Optional – Recommended) – This is usually the title of the element that is being interacted with, to aid with analysis. For example, it could be the name of a Video that was played or the specific form that is being submitted.
- Value (Optional) – This is a numeric value and is often added dynamically. It could be the cost of a product that is added to a cart, or the completion percentage of a video.
The specific values for each of these components are completely customisable. The only requirements are that every Event must contain a Category and an Action, and if you include a Value then it must be a number.
Example Event Configurations
Tracking Brochure Downloads
- Event Category: Downloads
- Event Action: PDF Brochure Download
- Event Name: Matomo Event Tracking Brochure
- Event Value: blank
Tracking User Reviews
- Event Category: Reviews
- Event Action: Published Matomo Review
- Event Name: blank
- Event Value: 10
Best Practices For Setting Event Tracking Names
When creating Custom Events in your analytics it is important to consider the names you use carefully, as they will remain there forever. You should use descriptive names so it is easy to understand your reports, even when you can only see the Event Category or Event Action, for example.
Letter case is important when defining Event Tracking values. Video, video, VIDEO, and ViDeO would all count as different events. Using consistent and descriptive names ensures that you will be able to understand and analyse the measured event data.