What is Custom Events?
Custom events are analyst-defined Event hits that track interactions beyond defaults like Pageview or Screen View. They describe business-specific behaviors—e.g., pricing_cta_click, video_start, signup_submit—and can be flagged as a Conversion or used as a Micro-Conversion.
How Custom Events work
All modern analytics tools (GA4, Plausible, Matomo, Simple Analytics, etc.) accept an event_name plus key–value parameters. Events are tied to a Session and a user identifier like Client ID, contributing to metrics such as Engaged Sessions. Implementation paths:
- Client-side via a Tag Management system (e.g., firing on clicks, form submits, widget interactions).
- Direct SDK calls in web/app code (see also App Event).
- Server-to-server via the Measurement Protocol for back-end actions (purchases, refunds, CRM milestones).
Schema pattern (example)
| Field | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
event_name | Action label | pricing_cta_click |
category | Logical group | cta |
location | UI context | header, footer |
value | Numeric impact | 1, 49.99 |
utm_* | Campaign context | see UTM |
source | Traffic attribution | see Source |
Best practices
- Name consistently: lowercase,
snake_case, verb-first (e.g.,video_play, notVideoPlay). - Model the funnel: emit events for each step; later analyze with Cohort Analysis.
- Attach context: send parameters that explain where and why an action happened (component, variant, plan).
- Avoid PII: never include emails, phone numbers, or free-text form contents.
- Promote to conversion: mark high-value custom events as conversions to power bidding and reporting.
- QA continuously: verify in real-time views and compare counts against UI logs or backend events.
Typical use cases
- Micro-funnel tracking for signups and onboarding.
- Feature adoption in SaaS (toggles, exports, invites).
- Content engagement (scroll depth, video milestones).
- Lead quality signals ahead of a formal Conversion.