When working with web analytics, you will see lots of reports with combined data about visitors. For example, you’ll see the total number of people who viewed a pricing page but you won’t know who those people are. It’s like looking from a plane high in the air at people on the streets.
With segments, you can group visitors with similar characteristics together and see how they behave from up close. For example, you can group visitors to new and returning ones and observe how differently they move on your website.
There are dozens of conditions by which you can define your segments. So before you start, think which data are important for your website (hence your business). Remember that segmentation lets you easily slice visitor’s data to look at each bite separately.
Now, let us show you how to create and apply segments.
Before you start
Here are some things to know about segments before you begin creating them:
- You can create as many segments as you want to.
- You can create a segment that will be visible only for you or for all users.
- You can set a segment to be visible on all your websites.
- The segment will work for historical data.
- You can copy a segment to other websites.
- Segments created in the Analytics (classic) won’t appear in the Analytics (new), and vice versa.
Create a new segment
To build a new segment, follow these steps:
- Go to Menu > Analytics (new).
- At the top of any open tab like Dashboards, Reports, Custom reports, Goals, or Ecommerce you will find segments. Click the + button.
Note: You can also access segments under Menu > Analytics (new) > Settings > Segments.
- Click Manage segments.
- Click Add new segment.
- Name the segment.
- Choose the Visibility option: Author or All users. The All users option lets you share this segment with other teammates.
- If you want to have this segment available on all websites, mark All websites.
- On the right, pick the dimension that you want to use and drag it to the drop-in section.
- Set the condition. For example,
Page URL contains https://clearbank.com/blog.
- Optionally, drag and drop more dimensions and set conditions.
- When you’re done, click Create segment.
Use segments in reports and on dashboards
When you have segments ready, you can apply them to your dashboards, core reports, and custom reports.
To use a segment, follow these steps:
- Go to Menu > Analytics (new).
- Navigate to Dashboards, Reports, Custom reports, Goals, or Ecommerce.
- Pick the report you want to view.
- On top, click All visitors.
- Pick the segment that you want to use and view the report.
Now, if you want to compare two segments, follow these steps:
- Apply the first segment as described in the previous section.
- Click + button.
- Pick the segment that you want to compare with the first one and view the report.
Copy a segment to other websites
To copy a created segment to one or more other websites, follow these steps:
- Go to Menu > Analytics (new).
- Navigate to Settings.
- On the left, click Segments.
- Click the three-dot icon next to the segment that you want to copy and click Copy segment.
- Optionally, rename the segment.
- Choose Copy segment to other websites and select websites for which you want to copy the segment.
- Choose the Visibility option: Author or All users. The All users option lets you share this segment with other teammates.
- When you’re done, click OK.
- Your copied segment will appear on the segment list on the website you copied it to.
