In this article, we’ll take a look at how to use Error Analysis to monitor and identify error trends over time.
Top use cases
- Identifying errors that occur on your site, where they happen, and their impact.
- Pinpointing where errors create frustration in the user journey
- Combining monitoring trends in errors over time with the ability to identify the most impactful errors to prioritize your error analyses
Understanding error trends
From the list of errors on the error table, and within each error side panel, if a trend has been detected this will be indicated as below:
Error rate increase: red + upward arrow
This indicates that sessions impacted by the error have increased. This is a negative trend that you might wish to monitor or investigate further. To help you understand the error trend, the percentage that it has increased within your selected date range will also be displayed.
Error rate decrease: green + downward arrow
This indicates that sessions impacted by the error have decreased. This is a positive trend that you might wish to monitor or deprioritize from your analysis. To help you understand the velocity of the trend, the percentage that it has decreased within your selected date range will also be displayed.
New error identified: yellow + “New”
This indicates that the error started on/after the first day within your selected date range.
No change in error rate
If there has been no change in the number of sessions impacted (no valid trend found) none of the above trend identifiers will be displayed.
How to identify trends and analyze a specific trend
1. Navigate to 'Analyze' from the top menu and click 'Error Analysis'.
2. Use the Analysis Context options to select the device(s), date range and segment you wish to analyze.
3. Scroll down to the errors table to view all errors, errors by pages, or errors by page groups. Note, if analyzing errors by pages or page groups you will need to first select ‘View [x] errors’ in order to see any listed trends.
4. If an error trend has been identified this will be indicated under the ‘Sessions with error’ column.
5. Click the ‘>’ arrow icon next to a specific error to open the side panel for details, including the ‘Error over time’ graph.
6. You can continue your analysis and dig into the impact of the error at the bottom of the error side panel.
FAQ
How is the error trend calculated?
The trend is calculated using your selected date range and on the basis of normalized numbers. This being, the percentage of sessions affected by the error out of the total number of sessions.