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What is a Custom Event? Analytics Definition and Tracking Examples
A custom event is a specific action you choose to track in a website or application. Unlike a page view, which records that a page was viewed, a custom event records that something meaningful happened.
Custom events are essential for understanding product usage, conversions, funnels, and user behavior beyond basic traffic counts.
Custom event examples
Common custom events include:
- Signup form submitted
- Pricing CTA clicked
- Trial started
- Checkout completed
- Video played
- File downloaded
- Project created
- Invite sent
- Feature enabled
- Plan upgraded
Events can also include metadata. For example, a checkout event might include plan name, currency, value, or coupon. A feature event might include feature name, workspace type, or user role.
Why custom events matter
Page views tell you where visitors went. Custom events tell you what visitors did. This distinction matters for modern websites and apps where many important actions happen without a full page reload.
For example, a SaaS dashboard might have one URL but dozens of meaningful actions inside it. Without custom events, analytics would miss most product behavior.
How to define custom events
Good event tracking starts with a clear naming system. Use names that describe actions, not implementation details. "signup_completed" is easier to understand than "button_17_clicked." Track events that support real decisions rather than logging every tiny interaction.
Swetrix supports custom events so teams can connect product actions with traffic sources, funnels, goals, feature flags, experiments, and revenue.
Related terms: conversion, funnel, A/B testing, and web analytics.
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