In case you’ve been caught up in the whirlwind of the holiday season and having fun digging around with features like Customer Match or Structured Snippets for Black Friday, you may have missed a new feature in Google Analytics: Calculated Metrics!
Calculated metrics are specialized calculations that can be made from either standard measurements that Google Analytics already has, or custom ones that you specify. Standard measurements include things you’re used to seeing in there, such as how many Pageviews happened, or how many Users visited. Custom metrics are things that you set up as a user, like Goals.
If you’ve ever had to whip out a calculator to calculate metrics that Google Analytics doesn’t do out of the box, that’s where Calculated Metrics come into play. You can create them by applying basic arithmetic to get new calculations for yourself. Maybe you want to know the cost per AdWords session, or some other crazy combination.
How Do I Create Them?
Log into Google Analytics and click on “Admin.” Then click on “View Settings.”
Then you’ll see an option for Calculated Metrics:
Once you click on it, you’ll be taken to a list of your Calculated Metrics. If you have none, that’s ok. Just hit the big red button to start creating one. You will get a screen like this:
You will create a Name, which you’ll see in that main list screen. The External Name will automatically populate as you create your Name, and it’s used for API queries.
You then choose your Format Type, which is basically the kind of number you need, like if it’s currency or a decimal, etc.
Finally, you plug in your formula! As you start to type in a metric, it will pre-populate some choices for you. You can use a plus, minus, division, or multiplication symbol, but note that a minus sign will NOT create a negative integer for you – this feature isn’t currently supported.
You’re on your way to create all your very own calculations!
Need Some Ideas?
There’s a great list here of 25 calculated metrics you might want to start with.
