Pendo keeps track of the actions visitors take within your application and saves this data as raw events. Examples of these events include when a visitor clicks on a Feature, views a Page, generates a Track Event, or interacts with a guide.
Event properties are details associated with an event at the time it takes place. You can use event properties in reports and segments to target or analyze how your visitors use your app over time.
Event property types
There are two different types of event properties: global and custom. The main difference between these two types of event properties is that global event properties are captured on every agent event, whereas custom event properties are captured on specific click events and Track Events. Both types are reviewed in further detail below.
Global event properties
Global event properties are details that are captured on every agent event that takes place in your application. There are two subsets of global event properties: device data and historical metadata.
Device data is captured on every event by default:
- For web apps, Browser Name, Browser Version, Device Type, and Operating System.
- For mobile apps, Device Model, OS Version, Device Type, Operating System, App Version (Customer app version), and SDK Version (Pendo SDK version).
Historical metadata is data that originates as visitor or account metadata but acts as an event property when these values are enabled as historical in Settings > Data mappings. For more information, see Historical metadata.
Note: Device and browser usage in event properties aren't the same as the default metadata fields "Most recent browser name" and "Most recent operating system". Metadata shows the value in the last event processed by Pendo (unless it's been enabled as historical metadata). Event properties show the value at the time the event was stored for every event ever. This allows analysis with event properties to show historical values and provide context for how a visitor was using your app when the Feature, Page, Track Event, or guide event was recorded.
Custom event properties
Custom event properties are details collected at the time a specific event occurs in your application. There are two subsets of custom event properties: click event properties and Track Event properties.
Before Pendo can capture click event properties, you must configure these custom values when editing a tagged Feature in the Visual Design Studio. No additional configuration is needed for Track Event properties, which are defined in the Track Event payload.
Custom event properties can vary depending on your specific app and needs, but common examples include report type, is in trial, has filters applied, visitor source, or any other custom value available in your app at the time of a click.
Note: Your subscription can have up to 1,000 unique custom event properties. If a property exceeds 10 billion unique values (cardinality), it's automatically hidden from the UI and removed from reports, segments, and analytics. When this limit is reached, the event property is still captured on events and is available for export through Data Sync.
You can access and categorize custom event properties through Settings > Event properties. By default, all event properties are initially categorized as strings. It's important to properly categorize them immediately after configuration to define the data format type (such as number, string, or list). This allows Pendo to interpret the property correctly in the UI and ensures accurate filtering, grouping, and reporting.
For more information about click event properties and how to set them up, see Click event properties. For more information about how to configure Track Events, see Configure Track Events.
Event properties in product data
When you view the details of a specific Page, Feature, or Track Event, you can access the event property values that have been recorded for that event.
- To view these details, navigate to the Product tab in the left-side menu in Pendo, then select Pages, Features, or Track Events.
- Select a specific Page, Feature, or Track Event from the list.
- Locate the Event breakdown table at the bottom of the page.
The table reflects any applied filters and displays all unique event property values related to the selected Page, Feature, or Track Event and the corresponding user. It also excludes duplicate and null values. Select a Visitor or Account ID from the table to view the corresponding details page.
While the table displays up to 5000 entries, the Download CSV option includes all event properties for further analysis.
Event properties in reports
You can use event properties in Data Explorer, funnels, and paths to refine your analysis. Event property filters are available across all three reports, while groupings are supported only in Data Explorer and funnels.
Note: If the event property type is time or list, you can't filter or group by this data. All other data formats are supported.
Filter by event properties
Event property filters allow you to refine usage data by specific property values in Data Explorer, funnels, and paths. When filtering in each report, the dropdown menu displays up to 400 different values and allows you to search across the full range of property values.
The functionality varies across each report type.
In Data Explorer, you can apply event properties in three ways:
- At the event level. Apply filters to Feature click events, Page load events, and Track Events to analyze or compare data for specific events. Global event properties (device data and historical metadata) are supported for all event types, while custom event properties are only supported for Features and Track Events.
- Over "any activity" for one or more apps. Apply filters to understand usage trends across applications. Only global event properties are supported for Any activity.
- At the report level. Use the Report filters section to apply filters across all events included in the report.
In funnels, apply event property filters to individual funnel steps for Features, Pages, and Track Events.
In paths, you can apply event property filters in two ways:
- On the anchor event. Apply filters to the specific Feature, Page, or Track Event that acts as the starting point or ending point of the analysis. Global event properties (device data and historical metadata) are supported for all event types, while custom event properties are only supported for Features and Track Events.
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On the entire path. Apply filters to all steps in the path, which can include Features, Pages, and Track Events. Only global event properties are supported for this filter.
Note: Custom event properties only display on events they're configured for.
Group by event properties
You can group by event properties that return up to 10,000 unique values. The Group By field in both the Data Explorer and funnel query builder includes all global and custom event properties that are boolean or string data types.
Grouping by an event property shows the breakdown of events for the target segment and date range with subtotals for each value. For example, grouping Page views by device type shows how many views were generated on desktop, tablet, mobile devices, and bots.
In the following image, you can see how grouping a Feature click event by operating system in Data Explorer shows the number of clicks generated in each system.
Event properties in segments
You can use event properties when building a segment to increase the specificity of your target segments in analytics. For example, it allows you to create more specific segments that filter for users that have used or haven't used a Feature click, Page view, or Track Event with certain device properties.
The dropdown menu displays up to 400 different values and allows you to search across the full range of property values.
In the following example image, you can see a segment built for all visitors who searched for "always activate" in the Community Search Bar within the last 30 days.
Note: If the event property type is time, you can't segment with this data; all other data formats are supported. You also can't target guides with segments that use event properties. For more information, see Segments.
Event properties and the API
In certain scenarios, you might require more extensive reporting capabilities than what's provided within the Pendo UI. Some common needs include:
- Utilizing groupings for event properties with numeric or time-based data.
- Reporting on an event property with more than 10,000 values.
- Generating reports on multiple event properties simultaneously for a specific click event or Track Event.
- Needing a comprehensive export of historical data.
In such cases, the solution is to leverage our V1 API, specifically the aggregations endpoint with the source trackEvents or featureEvents. If you don't want to develop the API calls on your own, you can also use third-party tools to pull Pendo data from the API. For additional resources and information, see our API documentation or sign up for our Academy course on Pendo API setup and endpoints.