Explorations
Outline
What Are Explorations?
Explorations are central to how you analyze user behavior and product performance in Optimizely Analytics. They allow you to construct queries, apply segmentations, and visualize your results—all within a flexible interface.
Optimizely offers two major types of explorations:
Report Templates
These are ideal for focused, structured analysis. Each follows a common layout with four main modules:
Measures: Select the metrics to analyze.
Events: Define user actions relevant to the analysis (varies by template).
Segmentation: Compare across user cohorts or attributes.
Visualization: Customize and interpret the output.
The available report templates include:
Event Segmentation – Track specific actions by user groups.
Retention – Measure user return behavior and reduce churn.
Impact – Understand user adoption over time.
Funnel – Analyze step-by-step journeys toward conversion.
Paths – Visualize user navigation across your product.
Ad Hoc Analysis Templates
These templates provide greater flexibility and power for custom and exploratory work:
SQL – Create explorations using raw SQL queries.
NetScript – Perform complex, code-based analysis with NetScript.
Universal Exploration – Combine multiple measures with filters, segments, and attributes.
Experiment Scorecard – Integrate Optimizely Experimentation with data warehouse insights.
Basic Exploration Actions
Before diving in, make sure you’re familiar with the platform:
Create an Exploration
Start building with any template suited for your goal. Learn how to create an exploration: https://optimizely.navattic.com/mpi01op
Edit, Duplicate, or Delete an Exploration
You can modify, copy, or remove explorations easily. See how to edit, duplicate, and delete explorations: https://optimizely.navattic.com/byh0pdk
Add to Dashboard, Configure Sampling & Refresh
Enhance your explorations by adding them to dashboards, adjusting sampling behavior, or refreshing results for accuracy. Follow this guide to add explorations to dashboards, configure sampling, and refresh data: https://optimizely.navattic.com/drh01rh