Matomo is a my favorite tool for measuring website traffic statistics. It offers comprehensive dimensions and reports. But we’re going to see that it’s possible to bring useful information to enhance the data.
What is a custom dimension?
A custom dimension in Matomo is used to measure data not covered by Matomo’s default dimensions. A custom dimension is a key-value pair that can be assigned to visitors or page views.
There are two types of dimensions with specific scopes.
Visit Scoped Custom Dimensions
This type of dimension allows you to track specific information about visitors to your website. For example, you could create a custom dimension to track the age category or type of device used by visitors. Custom visit dimensions help to understand user demographics and preferences.
Be careful when using this type of dimension: it is possible during the session to modify a value previously attached to the visit.
Action Scoped Custom Dimensions
This type of dimension is used to track specific user actions on your website. For example, you can create a custom dimension to track sharing actions on social networks or interactions with interactive elements on your site. This allows you to measure user engagement in detail.
What are custom dimensions used for?
Custom segmentation
Custom dimensions help you to segment your data more finely. You can create specific reports based on these dimensions to analyse user behaviour according to these criteria. This gives you a better understanding of the habits and interests of different groups of users.
Custom reports
Custom dimensions can be used to customise your reports in Matomo. You can create specific dashboards based on custom dimensions, allowing you to view data in a way that directly meets your needs.
Performance of content types
You can create a custom dimension to assign specific categories to your pages, such as “News”, “Products”, “Calendar”, “Portfolio” or “Tutorials” etc.
This makes it easier to analyse user behaviour according to content type.
Measuring visitor interest
Your site covers several subjects or themes and you use the category taxonomy to classify your articles. Thanks to customised dimensions, you’ll be able to find out which subjects are of most interest to your visitors.
Measuring customised objectives
You can use customised dimensions to measure objectives specific to your website or business. For example, if you have an e-commerce site, you can track data such as the type of product most consulted or the type of transaction carried out.
Governance
Customised dimensions provide more precise and specific data for making informed decisions. You can use this data to adjust your content strategy, advertising or other aspects of your website.
In short, the custom dimensions in Matomo extend the tracking and analysis capability, allowing you to tailor your tracking to better meet your specific needs. This provides a better understanding of your users’ activity, which can lead to targeted improvements and greater website efficiency.
