What events will you need?

This article helps you:

Identify promising events to track in Amplitude, based on your specific industry
Learn more about Amplitude's industry-specific guides

Events and properties are the backbone of every analysis in Amplitude. Deciding which ones to track can be daunting, especially if you're new to product analytics.

How many events should you track?

Often, we see new customers try to track most—or even all—of the actions a user could possibly take in their product. Resist this urge. Though it feels logical to say that more data will lead to more insights, it usually doesn't work out that way. Too much data actually obscures insights, burying them under an avalanche of events and properties you don't really need to know about.

The real answer to the question of how many events you should track depends entirely on the complexity of your product. If your app has a more focused feature set, you might only need to track 20 events or so; if your product is feature-rich, on the other hand, 200 might be more appropriate.

Finding the right number will require you to really think about what kinds of insights you're hoping to find via Amplitude. What are the questions you'd like Amplitude to help you answer in the next quarter? The next two quarters? Identify those, and choose the events that will lead you where you want to go.

What events should you track?

No matter what, you should be tracking any actions that fit into these three categories:

Those that are important in completing a process within your product, like completing a tutorial or signup process
Those that guide a user through the main mechanics of your product
Those that enable a user to make an in-app purchase

When you've decided which events to track, you'll be ready to plan your events takes a deep dive into this question, so be sure to read that as well.

Common events and properties to track by industry

This section offers some advice, broken down by industry, about which events and properties to track if you're interested in answering the questions most commonly asked by others in your industry. This is not a comprehensive list of everything you'll need, but are instead suggestions you should keep in mind as you create your taxonomy.


Typical questions	Charts that answer them
How many page views do we get?	Event Segmentation
How many sessions were there?	User Sessions
How long do users stay in session?	User Sessions
How much content does a user consume?	Event Segmentation
Which content has changed MoM?	Data Table
How many new users retain each week?	Retention Analysis
What content do users view?	Data Table
Where are our users?	Event Segmentation
What device families do our users use?	Event Segmentation
What platforms do our users use?	Event Segmentation
When are unique visitors coming to my site?	Data Table
What percentage of users convert?	Funnel Analysis
Is conversion improving or worsening?	Event Segmentation
How well do my channels convert?	Data Table
How many goals are users completing?	Data Table
What content represents the largest percentage of all page views?	Event Segmentation

Required events and properties:

Event: Page View
- Properties: url, channel, [Amplitude] Event hour of the day
Your conversion event
[Amplitude] New User
[Amplitude] Any Active Event

Ecommerce


Typical questions	Charts that answer them
What are the top referrers or sources for our users?	Event Segmentation or Data Table
Which referrers have the highest purchase conversion?	Funnel Analysis
How many items are viewed per session?	User Sessions
What are the most popular items viewed?	Event Segmentation
What are the most popular items purchased?	Event Segmentation
What percentage of users complete an order after they view an item?	Funnel Analysis
How long does it take a user to complete an order?	Funnel Analysis
How many purchases are made weekly?	Event Segmentation
What is the total revenue in a given day/week/month?	Event Segmentation
What is the lifetime value of my users?	Revenue LTV

Required ecommerce events and properties:

Event: Page View
- Property: utm_source
Event: View Item
- Property: product_id

B2B / SaaS


Typical questions	Charts that answer them
How many daily active businesses do we have?	Event Segmentation
How many daily active users do we have?	Event Segmentation
What are the top engaged user roles?	Event Segmentation
What percent of businesses start a trial and convert to paying customers?	Funnel Analysis
What percent of businesses on a trial perform [key event]?	Event Segmentation
How many users sign up per week?	Event Segmentation
How long does it take for a new user to perform [key event]?	Funnel Analysis
What % of daily active users perform [key event]?	Event Segmentation
How frequently do users perform [key event]?	Event Segmentation
What are the most popular paths users take when they log in?	Pathfinder

Required B2B / SaaS events and properties:

Group type: Business
User property: role = eng, design, etc
User property: Paying = true/false
Event: Trial Started
Event: Trial Canceled
Event: Account Signed Up
Event: Account Logged In
Your organization's own [key event]

Finance


Typical questions	Charts that answer them
How many users sign up per week?	Event Segmentation
Which marketing channels have the most conversion to sign-ups?	Funnel Analysis
What percentage of users who sign up then connect their bank?	Funnel Analysis
What percentage of users have automatic transfers set up?	Event Segmentation
What is the monthly retention of users who come back to submit money transfers?	Retention
What is the conversion of users who connect a bank and make three money transfers?	Funnel Analysis
How frequently do users submit money transfers?	Event Segmentation

Required finance events and properties:

User property: utm_source
Event: Account Signed Up
Event: Bank Connected (bank name)
Event: Automatic Transfer Created
Event: Transfer Submitted (transfer amount)

Media


Typical questions	Charts that answer them
How many users sign up per week?	Event Segmentation
What percent of users start a free trial and then purchase a subscription?	Funnel Analysis
On what day within the trial do free-trial users usually cancel their trial?	Event Segmentation
What percent of users view content on phone vs tablet vs desktop?	User Composition
What is the average count of content viewed during a trial?	Event Segmentation
What percentage of users perform a search and then view content?	Funnel Analysis
What is the average count of content viewed per user per day?	Event Segmentation
What is the percentage of content viewed per genre?	Event Segmentation
What is the average session length per user?	User Sessions

Required media events and properties:

User property: Active Trial = true/false
User property: Device Category = phone, tablet, desktop
Event: Account Signed Up
Event: Trial Started
Event: Trial Canceled
Event: Subscription Purchased
Event: Search Performed
Event: Content Viewed (genre property = comedy, romance, etc)

Healthcare


Typical questions	Charts that answer them
How many users sign up per week?	Event Segmentation
What percentage of weekly active users schedule an appointment?	Event Segmentation
What percentage of users perform a search and then schedule an appointment?	Funnel Analysis
How many users rate their visit after scheduling an appointment?	Funnel Analysis
What is the average appointment rating provided by users?	Event Segmentation
Of users who have booked an appointment, which regions are they from?	User Composition

Required healthcare events and properties:

User property: Region
Event: Account Signed Up
Event: Search Performed
Event: Appointment Scheduled
Event: Appointment Rated (rating = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Gaming


Typical questions	Charts that answer them
How many users install the app per day?	Event Segmentation
How many users start a level per day?	Event Segmentation
What percentage of users complete a level per day?	Funnel Analysis
Which level do users fail the most?	Event Segmentation
What percentage of users who have played a game make a purchase?	Funnel Analysis
What is the average session count of users per day?	User Sessions
What is the average session length of users who start a level?	User Sessions
What is the lifetime value of users?	Revenue

Required gaming events and properties:

User Property: Region
Event: App Installed
Event: Level Started (level = integer)
Event: Level Completed (level = integer)
Event: Level Failed (level = integer)
Event: Purchase Completed (revenue)

Industry-specific guides

Amplitude also offers industry-specific best practices guides that are intended to help you implement and start getting insights quickly. With the goal of driving tangible conversion, retention, and product outcomes, these guides provide you with recommended use cases and business questions, a proposed taxonomy, and an example dashboard that can be used for your own implementation, all carefully tailored to meet the specific needs of your industry.

We currently offer guides for companies in the e-commerce, fintech, print media, and streaming media sectors, with more on the way.