What is Event?
In web analytics, an event is any tracked user interaction recorded by your analytics platform—e.g., a button click, form submit, file download, or video play. Events are the atomic units behind KPIs like Engagement Rate, Conversion, and Real-Time Data. Modern tools (GA4, Matomo, Plausible, Simple Analytics, and others) model nearly everything as events, including Pageview on the web and Screen View in apps.
How do events work?
Events are sent from your site/app to an endpoint (via SDKs, tags, or APIs like the Measurement Protocol). Each event has:
- Name — a verb-like label (e.g.,
purchase,form_submit). - Context — user/session identifiers (e.g., Client ID) and traffic source (see UTM).
- Parameters — metadata such as value, currency, content type, or element ID.
Events occur inside a Session. Some are mapped to Macro-Conversion or Micro-Conversion goals. Customization happens either in code (Custom Events) or via a tag manager (see Tag Management).
Event vs. pageview & session
- Event vs. Pageview/Screen View: A page or screen load is just one event type among many. Most engagement happens between loads.
- Event vs. Session: A session is a container; events are the interactions within it. Session quality is often summarized by event density and Engagement Time.
Common event types (examples)
| Type | Example name | Typical parameters | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigation | menu_click | link_url, menu_label | Improves IA & User Flow |
| Lead gen | form_submit | form_id, status | Core to B2B funnels |
| Commerce | purchase | value, currency, items[] | Revenue & ROI |
| Media | video_progress | percent, title | Content performance |
| Mobile | app_install / App Event | campaign, source | Growth attribution |
Implementation tips
- Name events consistently. Use a simple, readable schema (
verb_object:add_to_cart,download_pdf). - Attach business context. Include values, IDs, and states so reports answer “so what?” not just “what happened?”
- Validate & enrich. Fire test events, verify parameters, and enrich sources with UTM tagging.
- Promote the few that matter. Mark only the north-star interactions as conversions to keep reporting clean.