Understand your path analysis

Understand how the different modules of path analysis work and how to interpret the data they contain.

Template structure​

The following modules are available in the template:

• Measure module
• Path (events) module
• Visualization module

Measure module​

The Uniques converted of field in the measure module shows the number of actors who took a path, counting the first conversion for each actor. It contains a selector that lets you choose an actor dataset to analyze based on the selected event pattern and actor segments. You can also use blocks in this section.

Events module​

Specify all the events you want to see in your path analysis.

• The first field, For Users paths, lets you choose the type of path you want to track: Starting from, Ending at, or Centered on a point.
• The next field lets you set the focal and matching events. The Focal event is the main event in the path analysis, and this can be an event dataset or a property value. You can set the Event Occurrence in this section. Specify whether you want to start the analysis before or after the first or last occurrence of the specified event. You can choose from three options: for the first time in the time range, for the first time ever, or for the last time.
• The Show paths including field lets you define matching events that form the nodes in the path. If you want to use a Timestamp instead of an Event, click Timestamp in this section.
• The Ignore Repeats toggle lets you ignore repeated events in your analysis.
• Labels let you customize the title of the nodes in your path analysis.
• Bounds let you determine the number of steps before and after the focal event or timestamp to include in the paths.

Analytics also lets you choose JSON columns in this module. When you click a JSON column, it expands to display all the keys that are available for that particular column. You can choose a key and click Apply. When this is done, the path of the selected field is used as the display name for that column.

Visualization module​

Run and view the analysis as a chart. The module also lets you edit the visualization, examine the underlying SQL query, and add the chart to a dashboard.

There are three important sections in this module.

• Time range and grain – Lets you configure time range and time grain for the analysis.
• Sampling – Lets you configure sampling and responses for the analysis.
• Edit visualization (other actions) – Lets you inspect a query, edit visualization, add an analysis to a dashboard, and download as CSV.

Time range and grain

You can configure the time range and time grain for the analysis using a drop-down list or choose from the quick options and iterate through different choices of time range and time grain without leaving the chart. You can also set a lag by clicking Offset and setting the Ending.

Sampling

In the visualization module, you can configure sampling modes for your exploration by clicking the lightning icon. The drop-down list displays two sampling modes: Enabled Faster Response or Enabled Higher Precision.

Edit visualization

Next to Sampling, click More (...) to expand a drop-down list menu with four options: Inspect Query, Add to Dashboard, Edit visualization, and Download As.

• Inspect Query​ – Opens a query inspector with three tabs: SQL, Warehouse SQL, and NetScript. You can make changes to the SQL and NetScript queries by clicking Open as SQL Explore and Open as NetScript Explore in the respective sections.
• Add to Dashboard​ – Lets you add the exploration that you have created to a dashboard. You can choose from two options: Pick a dashboard or New Dashboard.
• Edit visualization –​ Includes all the chart settings with two sub-sections: Data and Style.
  • The Data tab has information about the X and Y axes and lets you select and customize the data you want to display on the chart axes.

    

  • The Style tab lets you configure the following:

    • Display legend – Control the display of the legend on the chart.
    • Legend position – Configure where you want to position the legend. The options available are Top, Bottom, Left, and Right.
    • Stacked chart – Enable this option if you want to see values for different categories stacked on top of each other within a single bar or along a single axis.
    • Compact layout – Create Sparklines to visualize trends across multiple measures with compact, in-line charts to spot patterns and gain insights at a glance.
    • Tooltip mode – Configure the tooltip position. The options available are Nearest, X-axis, Y-axis, and Index.

      

• Download As​ – This option lets you download your analysis in CSV or Excel format. The column formatting is preserved for the downloaded files as well.