Segment
A subset of a test's visitors, such as mobile visitors or new visitors, whose results can be looked at separately.
Segments split a test's results by a visitor attribute: device, new or returning, traffic source, country. They show where a change helps or hurts.
A test is usually planned for all its visitors, so each segment has less data and wider intervals, and looking at many segments invites false findings.
A variant lifts orders on desktop by 6% and has no clear effect on mobile.
Related terms
- Exploratory analysisLooking at test results in ways that weren't planned, such as by segment, to find ideas rather than to confirm a result.
- AudienceA group of visitors defined by rules, such as device, country, traffic source or behaviour, that a test or personalization targets.
- Multiple comparisonsThe problem that the more comparisons you make in one test, the more likely one looks significant by chance.