How are segment Matches in RTP calculated?

Anonymous
Not applicable

How are segment Matches in RTP calculated?

Hi all,

I had a bit of an anomaly in my data from GA and RTP.

In our model within RTP, a segment is decided if a user visits a certain page.

This works by using Google Tag Manager to fire a tag if a user views a certain page, the tag itself containing a custom variable.

In the segment settings, the segment is decided if "Custom Variable is xxxxx".

For example, a user looks at page A, a tag with "custom variable = A" is fired, so Marketo places that user in segment A.

A user looks at page B, a tag with "custom variable = B" is fired, so Marketo places that user in segment B.

Simple.

However, in GA we have looked at the PV for these "segment-deciding" pages,

and the number of segment matches in Marketo far exceeds the PV in many cases over the same period.

According to Marketo's documents, "Matches" is defined as: "The number of visitors meeting the customized, defined criteria of the segment"

In my case, this surely means the number of people who have been been sent a tag with a certain custom variable, then matched by Marketo.

Since viewing a certain page is the only thing that defines a certain segment in our model, it is impossible to have more segment matches than PV.

If viewing page A is the only way to be in segment A, how can there be more matches for segment A than PV for page A?

If anyone knows in good detail how the "matches" value in RTP segments is calculated, please let me know.

Alternatively, if anyone knows a reason why this may be occurring feel free to chip in!

Kind regards,

Luis