Creating a calculated metric using instant metrics

PowerMetrics includes many instant metrics for several, popular services. Don't see the instant metric you're looking for? Try combining instant metrics to create a calculated metric.

This article describes how to do this using an example where Google Analytics 4 "Users" and "New Users" instant metrics are combined to create a new, calculated metric that measures "Returning Users". 

First, you'll add the instant metrics mentioned above and modify their default metric names. Then you'll use them to create a new, calculated metric.

Adding instant metrics to use in your calculated metric

If this is your first time creating Google Analytics 4 instant metrics, you can go here for more detailed steps.

To add Google Analytics 4 "New Users" and "Users" instant metrics:

1. In the left navigation sidebar click the + button beside Metrics and select See all services.
2. On the Where is your data page, select Google Analytics 4.
3. Select the New Users and Users instant metrics. (See below.)
   
4. Click Add metrics.
5. Select the Google Analytics 4 account you want to use and click Next.
6. Select the account settings you want to use and click Get data.

To see the instant metrics you just added, click Metrics in the left navigation sidebar to open your list of metrics. From here, you can click on a metric to open it. You can also modify the metric's name, change the account the metric's connected to, and change its refresh rate by clicking the 3-dot menu in the upper right and selecting Edit.

Tip: We recommend you always give metrics meaningful names. In the case of calculated metrics it's especially helpful because you'll be entering the instant metric names into the calculation. In this example, we changed the names from "Users" to "GA All Users" and from "New Users" to "GA New Users".

Creating your calculated metric

The GA All Users instant metric you added above is the count of new and returning users to your website.

The GA New Users instant metric you added above is the count of users that visit your website for the first time.

To calculate the number of Returning Users to your website, we'll subtract the number of GA New Users from the number of GA All Users.

To create your calculated metric:

1. In the left navigation sidebar click the + button beside Metrics and select New calculated metric. (See below.)
   
2. In the formula bar, start typing the name of the GA All Users metric. When it displays in the drop-down list, select it to enter it into the formula. Type the minus (-) symbol. Complete the formula by typing and selecting the name of the GA New Users metric.
   Tip: Clicking the + button displays a list of up to 20 of your metrics. Select a metric from this list to quickly add it to your formula. If you don't see the metric you're looking for in the quick-list, start typing its name into the formula bar.
3. Click the About tab and, under Name, enter a new name for the metric. (In this example, we named it Returning users - March to May.)
   
4. Choose other display settings as desired. (See the "Creating a calculated metric" article for more detailed information.)
5. Click Save metric.

Your new calculated metric opens in its overview page. It’s also added to your list of metrics, accessed by clicking Metrics in the left navigation sidebar.