What is the difference between the Number of interactions and Actions in a visit?
When comparing Behaviour or Visitor reports with the Users Flow and Top Paths reports, it helps to understand the difference between Number of interactions and Actions in visit. Each measures a different aspect of user activity and cannot be directly compared.
Actions in visit
Actions in visit is a metric that counts all tracked actions during a visit, and shown in the Visitor Overview, Visitor Log, and Visitor Profile reports.
An Action in Matomo is counted whenever a visitor does something trackable, such as:
- viewing a page,
- clicking a download or external link,
- performing a site search,
- triggering a tracked event.
For example, a visitor who viewed 3 pages and downloaded 1 file would have 4 actions in the visit.
Number of interactions
The Number of interactions dimension is specific to the Behaviour > User Flow and Top Path reports. It does not count raw actions like the Actions in visit. Instead, it measures the sequence step within a visit and refers to the step where the action occurred.
- Interaction 1 = the first measurable step a visitor took, e.g., landing on the homepage.
- Interaction 2 = the next step (to another page), e.g., navigating to a product page.
- Interaction 3 = the following step, and so on, e.g., viewing the shopping cart or going to the checkout page.
Each interaction represents a position in the visitor’s journey through the site. These interactions form the basis of the flow reports, which illustrate how users move from one page or action to another.
When analysing reports, look at Actions in visit to measure overall engagement volume in a session and Number of interactions to understand how users move through your site. Both are also available in Custom Reports and Segments for tailored analysis.