CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-analyticsweb-analytics
Juvaly
Juvaly

Reputation: 261

Different Active Users count when using segments

I would love to understand what I'm looking at - why are the numbers different in this report when I add a segment?

This is the report without any segmentation:

Without Segments

This is the same report with the Mobile Traffic segment:

With Segments

Upvotes: 1

Views: 493

Answers (2)

Max
Max

Reputation: 13334

You are victim of sampling: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2637192?hl=en

Sampling applies when:

  • you customize the reports
  • the number of sessions for the report time range exceeds 500K (GA) or 100M (GA 360)

The consequence is that:

  • the report will be based on a subset of the data (the % depends on the total number of sessions)
  • therefore your report data won't be as accurate as usual

What you can do to reduce sampling:

  • increase sample size in UI (will only decrease sampling to a certain extend, but in most cases won't completely remove sampling)
  • reduce time range
  • create filtered views so your reports contain the data you need and you don't have to customize them

Upvotes: 0

Tushar Gupta
Tushar Gupta

Reputation: 15923

There two methods that Google uses to identify the number of users.

Calculation 1: Pre-calculated data This calculation relies only on the number of sessions in the given date range and the time of each session. (This is determined by technology managed on the device, like a web browser, and is often referred to as the client-side time.) Because the result of this calculation can be added to the pre-aggregated data tables, Analytics can reference the table to quickly retrieve and serve this data in a report, including when you change the date range.

Calculation 2: Data calculated on the fly Calculation 2 is based on the way you assign, collect, and store persistent data about your traffic. There are many solutions you can implement to customize this, but the most common way this data is going to be assigned and stored is through cookies managed via a web browser.

Adding a segment will force GA to calculate the data on the fly and that's why you are seeing a difference in the numbers.

Are you using GA free or 360? and the time range you are using is same in both reports?

You can also have a look into the Google article https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2992042?hl=en

Upvotes: 1

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