Overview Tab
The Overview Tab gives you a quick snapshot of how your entire video experience is performing across your site. It’s perfect for checking in on key metrics at a glance and understanding the broader impact of Tolstoy on engagement, sales, and user behavior.
💡 Views vs Impressions
Views:
A "view" means that someone has interacted with the video in a meaningful way. This could involve clicking on the video or interacting with the player in any way.
PDP Stories: To count as a viewer, a person must click on the video (not just see the GIF playing before it). Once clicked, the viewer is counted if they interact with it for a minimum of 3 to 5 seconds.
Homepage Spotlight: A view is counted when a user watches the main video for at least 5-10 seconds or interacts with it (such as clicking on a product card, muting/unmuting the video, or clicking through to the next video).
Impressions:
An impression occurs when the video is loaded and displayed on the user's screen but does not require any interaction. It simply means the video was seen.
Engagement Rate
This is the ratio of viewers to impressions, showing how engaged users are with the video content.
Revenue Metrics
Direct Revenue:
This is the revenue generated from users who watched a video and then purchased a product that was tagged in that video.
Multiple products can be tagged in a video, and if a user purchases one of those, it’s counted as direct revenue.
Indirect Revenue:
This refers to purchases made for products not featured in the video but influenced by it. A viewer might be more likely to buy something else after watching a video, showing the brand's social proof.
Direct Revenue Breakdown:
In-Video Purchase: A purchase made directly from within the video feed (e.g., a click to buy now from the product card).
Post-Video Purchase: A purchase made after watching the video but not directly within the video. This happens within the 24-hour attribution window.
Attribution Window
The standard attribution window is typically 24 hours, meaning any purchase made within 24 hours of viewing a video is counted as influenced by that video.
Average Order Value (AOV)
Tolstoy AOV: The average order value for purchases that came from a Tolstoy video interaction.
Non-Tolstoy AOV: The average order value for purchases that didn’t come from a Tolstoy interaction but still happened within the same timeframe.
This distinction helps determine the effectiveness of Tolstoy content in driving sales.
Conversion Rate
The Tolstoy Conversion Rate measures how many viewers made a purchase after watching a video, as a percentage of total viewers. While we can track this, we don’t have visibility into the overall site conversion rate because we aren’t tracking visitors to every page on the website.
Product Click-Through Rate
This metric tracks the percentage of people who watched a video and then clicked on the product card associated with that video, often used for the homepage spotlight or other product video feeds.
Product Click-Through Rate (CTR)
This metric shows the percentage of viewers who clicked on the product card after or while watching a video. It helps gauge how effective the video is at encouraging product exploration.
Use case relevance:
This metric is most useful for product discovery-focused experiences, like the Homepage Spotlight, where the main objective is to drive users to Product Detail Pages (PDPs).
For Homepage Spotlight, high click-through rates indicate that users are engaging and exploring products further, which is a primary goal.
For PDP Stories:
While the CTR is technically still measured (e.g., when a user clicks the product card within the video player on the PDP), it's not particularly meaningful, because:
The user is already on the product page, so clicking on the same product card doesn’t reflect additional discovery.
It’s not the main goal of PDP videos, which is typically conversion or product validation, rather than navigation.
Videos Tab
The Videos tab in Tolstoy offers a powerful overview of how your videos are performing—not just in terms of views, but also how they’re contributing to conversions and revenue. Here's a breakdown of what you can track and what it all means:When you open the Videos tab, one of the first things you'll see is:
Video Plays: The total number of times a video has been played by users.
Average Videos Watched: This shows how many videos, on average, a user watches per session. It gives insight into user engagement and how compelling your video content is.
These high-level metrics are great for understanding overall interest and engagement across your content library.💰 Conversion Revenue Metrics
Tolstoy goes beyond views by showing how videos impact your sales. Here's what you’ll find:
Total Orders: The number of orders placed after watching a video.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of viewers who made a purchase after watching a video.
AOV (Average Order Value): The average dollar amount spent by users who made a purchase after watching a video.
Revenue Types:
In-Video Revenue: Products purchased directly within the video interface (e.g. viewer adds to cart and checks out without leaving the video).
Post-Video Revenue: Sales made after watching the video. For example, a user watches a video, leaves, then returns later to make a purchase.
Indirect Revenue: Revenue from users who interacted with a Tolstoy video but didn’t purchase right away or directly from the video. This includes purchases influenced by the video that happened later in the customer journey.
These insights help paint a full picture of how your videos are contributing to customer decisions and overall business performance.
🎯 Engagement Metrics
Beyond conversions, you can analyze how well your videos are keeping people engaged:
Bounce Rate: The percentage of people who exited the video without meaningful interaction.
Average Watch Time: The average portion of a video that users watch (calculated by dividing the average watch duration by the full video length).
Completed Video: The percentage of viewers who watched the video all the way through (number of full views divided by total plays).
These indicators are especially useful for identifying which videos are resonating with your audience and which may need optimization.
⚠️ Things to Keep in Mind
Video Placement Matters: A video placed first on a Product Detail Page (PDP) is naturally going to get more plays than one placed 15th. So performance can be heavily influenced by position.
Pinned vs. Randomized Videos: If a client pins a video to a specific spot, its performance is less reflective of user preference than if the videos are randomized, where users choose what to watch.
Performance Is Across All Placements: Metrics reflect how a video performs across all pages it's featured on—like PDPs, homepage carousels, and tap cards. So broader placement often results in higher plays and revenue, though not always higher conversion rates.
Orders Tab
The Orders Tab helps you understand how much Tolstoy is contributing to actual purchases on the site. Here are the key insights you can gather:
Total Orders from Tolstoy
This shows the number of orders where Tolstoy had some influence (viewed a video within the attribution window).
This metric is often most useful when viewed in context — especially when paired with the next one.
% of Total Orders from Tolstoy
This represents the percentage of all store orders that were influenced by Tolstoy.
A high percentage here means that Tolstoy has strong coverage and is playing a major role in the customer journey.
The percentage will vary greatly based on how many pages include Tolstoy content. If Tolstoy is only implemented on a few PDPs or pages, this number may be lower.
In-Video Purchases
These are rare and impressive when they occur.
They indicate that the purchase was made directly within the Tolstoy player, without leaving the video.
Most users still prefer to navigate out of the player to complete purchases, so a low or zero number here isn’t a bad sign.
Post-Video Revenue: Revenue generated after a viewer exits the Tolstoy player but completes a purchase within the attribution window.
Indirect Revenue: Revenue attributed to Tolstoy when a customer interacts with a video but purchases a different product later on.
Time on Tolstoy: The total duration a customer spent engaging with the Tolstoy player before placing an order.
🔎How to Read Tolstoy Orders in Context
The percentage of Tolstoy orders should always be compared to how broadly Tolstoy is implemented across the site.
For example, if only a few PDPs have Tolstoy stories, the % will naturally be lower.
Also, this metric shows Tolstoy orders out of total store orders, not just orders from visitors who landed on PDPs with Tolstoy.
Engagement Tab
This section is particularly helpful for identifying high-performing accounts and determining if a client is a strong fit for plans such as Pro, Business, AI Creator, or Enterprise. High impression counts often indicate strong visibility and consistent engagement across the site.
📝 Note: On Pro, Business, and AI Creator plans, you'll see a bar at the left bottom of your account that displays impression counts. That number directly corresponds to the Unique Impressions value shown in this tab.
Key Metrics
Unique Impressions: The number of times your Tolstoy is displayed to unique visitors. This is where views (and pricing) are based.
Unique Plays: The number of unique users who engaged with your Tolstoy by clicking on at least one choice. This includes actions like selecting a button within the video player, as well as play/pause, mute/unmute, share, and closing the player.
Unique Interactions: The number of unique users that clicked on at least one choice in your Tolstoy video.
Play Rate: The number of site visitors who watched videos. Calculated as the number of plays divided by the number of impressions.
Interaction Rate: The percentage of interactions (clicks, plays, etc.) relative to the total number of impressions.
Tolstoy Events
These are key interactions and actions tracked within the Tolstoy player.
Tolstoy: The name of the project (video or campaign).
Page View: When a user visits a page with a Tolstoy video.
Click Play: When a user clicks play on a Tolstoy video.
Play Rate: The ratio of plays to impressions.
Button Click: For founder videos and embeds only, when a user clicks a button within the video.
Sidebar Click: For founder videos and embeds only, when a user clicks the sidebar within the video.
Collect Contact Details: For founder videos and embeds only, when a user provides their contact information.
Text Response: For founder videos and embeds only, when a user responds with text.
Video Response: For founder videos and embeds only, when a user provides a video response.
Audio Response: For founder videos and embeds only, when a user gives an audio response.
Shop App Analytics Overview
The Shop App Analytics page provides insights into how your brand and products are performing specifically on the Shop app, offering a different perspective from your regular website performance. This analytics section is divided into three main areas:
Home Feed Analytics
The Home Feed is the first thing users see when they open the Shop app. It features various brands and videos, giving users a chance to discover new content. Here are the metrics you’ll see for your brand in the home feed:
Impressions: The total number of times your content has been displayed to users.
Clicks: The number of times users have clicked on your video or brand.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of impressions that led to a click.
Videos Watched: How many videos were actually viewed by users.
Product Clicked: The number of times users clicked on products shown in the video.
Product Favorited: How many times users have added your products to their favorites.
Opened Store Profile: The number of times users opened your store’s profile page.
Followed Store: The number of users who followed your store for updates.
Navigated to Store: How many times users clicked through to your full store page.
Store Page Analytics
The Store Page represents your brand’s dedicated page on the Shop app. This is where users can explore your full product catalog. The same metrics as the home feed apply here:
Impressions: How often your store page was shown to users.
Clicks: How many times users clicked on your store page.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of impressions that led to a visit to your store page.
Videos Watched: How many videos users watched on your store page.
Product Clicked: The number of clicks on your products from the store page.
Product Favorited: The number of times products were favorited from the store.
Opened Store Profile: How many users opened your full store profile.
Followed Store: The number of users who followed your store from this page.
Navigated to Store: How many users navigated to your store from this section.
Product Pages (PDPs) Analytics
These are the individual product pages within the Shop app. They are similar to the product detail pages (PDPs) on your website, but here, you can track how users interact specifically with the product and video content on these pages:
Impressions: How often your product page was shown to users.
Clicks: The number of times users clicked to view the product.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of impressions that led to a click on the product page.
Videos Watched: How many videos were watched directly on the product page.
Product Clicked: The number of times the product was clicked from the product page.
Product Favorited: How many times users added your product to their favorites.
Opened Store Profile: The number of times users clicked to view your store profile from the product page.
Followed Store: The number of users who followed your store after visiting the product page.
Navigated to Store: How many users navigated to your full store from the product page.
🚫 Key Considerations
Video Placement: Your video content can appear on these different pages (home feed, store page, and product pages). Since Shop has more control over which videos are displayed, the data can vary based on where your videos are featured.
Limited Control: Currently, you have limited ability to impact how videos appear on the home feed or which videos are chosen for product pages and store profiles. This makes the metrics more focused on engagement and impressions rather than conversion.
Online Store
The Online Store Analytics page provides insights into how your videos and products are performing across different pages of your website. Unlike the Videos Tab, which focuses on individual videos, this page shows how each page (e.g., product pages, homepage) is performing based on conversion (sales) and engagement (user interaction).
📈 Why Your Numbers Might Change
If you notice a sudden drop or increase in your results, it’s essential to investigate why this happened. For example, if your revenue spikes one week but then drops the next, here are some steps to help you find the cause.
📊 How to Investigate Changes in Performance
Check for Technical Issues: Start by verifying if there’s a technical problem, like tracking errors, that prevented conversion events from being recorded. If there’s no issue here, move on to the next step.
Look at Engagement: Review the engagement graph to understand traffic flow. Sudden spikes or drops can be caused by promotions or ad campaigns pushing more (or fewer) visitors to your site.
Check Traffic Volume: Many businesses use ads to drive traffic. Changes in traffic volume (more or fewer visits) can affect your metrics. Always check the traffic graph for any noticeable patterns.
🚦How Traffic Affects Performance
For example:
High-Priced Products: When you push traffic to a high-priced product, you may see higher sales.
Low-Priced Products: If traffic is directed to a lower-priced product, it might result in fewer sales.
To investigate this, check where the orders are coming from to see if any page changes have occurred.
Traffic Type Matters
Paid Ads: If traffic is coming from ads, check if the audience has shifted or if they’re less likely to make a purchase.
Viral Traffic: If a post goes viral, you might get a lot of visitors, but they may not convert into sales. While you can’t directly see where the traffic originates, it's important to consider its potential impact.
Which Pages Perform Best?
Check which pages are driving the most traffic and sales. This helps you understand which products or categories are popular and performing well.
Key Metrics
Page: The page where your Tolstoy video is displayed (e.g., product pages, homepage).
Tolstoy: The specific name of the Tolstoy project being tracked.
Total Orders: The total number of orders placed by customers who interacted with the video.
In-Video Revenue: The revenue generated directly through the video interface. This includes sales from products added to the cart and purchased without leaving the video player.
Post-Video Revenue: Revenue generated from products seen in the video but purchased afterward, not directly through the video interface.
Indirect Revenue: Revenue generated from users who interacted with the video but didn’t make a purchase during the session. This includes any sales made after the video interaction.
Conversation Rate: The percentage of users who took an action (such as placing an order or engaging) after watching the Tolstoy video.
Average Time on Tolstoy: The average amount of time users spend interacting with the Tolstoy video or content.
% Time of Session: The percentage of a user’s total session time spent interacting with the Tolstoy video.
Plays: The total number of times the video was played by users.
Average Video Watched: The average portion of the video watched by users during each play.
Play Rate: The percentage of users who clicked to play the video compared to the total number of visitors to the page where the video is displayed.
Email Flows
Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to engage with your audience and drive sales. Tracking key metrics like Click-Through Rate (CTR), Conversion Rate, and Viewer Revenue Breakdown helps you understand how well your email campaigns are performing.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): This is the percentage of recipients who clicked a link in the email compared to the total number of emails sent. A higher CTR means the email is engaging and driving recipients to take action.
Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of recipients who clicked and then completed the desired action (like making a purchase). A higher conversion rate shows that your email not only catches attention but also encourages purchases.
Viewed Gif (Opened Email): This is the number of recipients who opened the email and viewed the included GIF. More views suggest your subject line and preview were compelling enough to get people to open the email.
Clicked Gif: This shows the number of recipients who clicked on the GIF within the email. A higher number indicates that the GIF caught attention and prompted action.
Viewer Revenue Breakdown: This is the revenue generated from recipients who engaged with the email content (clicked or interacted). This shows how much revenue can be attributed to the email engagement, giving insight into the email's effectiveness in driving sales.
How to track and optimize video performance
Key Metrics for Tracking Video Performance
Viewers and Viewer Growth
Viewers are a critical metric for tracking the total number of people engaging with videos across all projects. It's important to monitor this month over month and track the growth.
This metric scales with:
Number of pages the videos are implemented on – more pages = more viewers.
Increasing number of videos tagged – as more videos are added to more pages, the viewer count will grow.
Revenue Metrics
In-Video Revenue: Revenue generated from purchases made directly within the video interface.
Post-Video Revenue: Revenue generated from purchases influenced by the video but made later (after leaving the video player).
Indirect Revenue: Sales from users who interacted with the video but didn't buy immediately.
Project-Specific Metrics
For PDP Stories, conversion rate is the key metric. PDP Stories are designed to convert visitors who are already on a product page (PDP), so optimizing for conversion rate and AOV (average order value) is vital.
Click-through rate (CTR) on PDP pages and the homepage is also useful, but PDP Stories and their ability to convert visitors into buyers are more crucial.
Homepage Spotlight vs Carousel
For the Homepage Spotlight, click-through rate (CTR) is a valuable metric, as it shows how many viewers are interacting with the product cards.
Homepage Carousel might not drive as much conversion because users need to click through the video to see the product card. Therefore, the spotlight is the preferred method because the product card is always visible.
Carousel is more effective for product discovery when the goal is to show products without sound. This works well for beauty brands, for instance, where silent videos show products in action.
Expectations for Carousel
If clients are only using the homepage carousel, make sure they have aligned expectations. It’s unlikely to show a significant conversion uplift unless the product is extremely engaging, and click-through rate is often lower since users need to click twice (once on the video and again to view the product).
Client-Specific Recommendations
Spotlight Carousel is ideal for product-focused videos because users can easily click on the product card without extra steps. It's a better choice for product discovery and higher engagement.
For clients with fewer products (e.g., supplements or unique items), a carousel may make more sense, especially if they want to highlight specific products with sound or in a review-focused format.
Why it Matters
Understanding Goals: The choice between Spotlight and Carousel should be based on what the client wants to achieve. If the goal is product discovery or high engagement with multiple products, Spotlight is preferred. If the focus is on showcasing reviews or a single product, Carousel works better.
Optimizing for Conversion: Conversion rate and AOV are especially important for PDP Stories, where the goal is to convert visitors already on a product page.