One Simple Trick to Boost Plausible Performance: Custom Events

Plausible’s default settings miss key metrics. One configuration — setting up custom events — turns it from a visitor counter into a conversion tracker.

💡 Related: New to Plausible? Start with our 5 Quick Tips for Plausible guide first.

The Problem

Plausible tracks pageviews out of the box. But for creators and sellers, what matters is:

• Did someone sign up?
• Did someone click “Buy Now”?
• Did someone complete a checkout?

Default Plausible shows you traffic. Custom events show you revenue.

The Fix: Add Custom Events

1. Add the Plausible snippet to your site if you haven’t already (you should have it for pageviews).

2. Track form submissions:

document.querySelector('#contact-form').addEventListener('submit', function(e) {
  plausible('form_submit', { props: { form: 'contact' } });
});

3. Track button clicks:

document.querySelectorAll('.buy-now').forEach(btn => {
  btn.addEventListener('click', () => plausible('purchase_click', {
    props: { product: 'ebook' }
  }));
});

4. Track scroll depth (for long content):

window.addEventListener('scroll', () => {
  const scrollPercent = Math.round((window.scrollY / (document.body.scrollHeight - window.innerHeight)) * 100);
  if (scrollPercent >= 75 && !window.plausibleFired) {
    window.plausibleFired = true;
    plausible('scroll_75', { props: { page: window.location.pathname } });
  }
});

5. In Plausible dashboard: Go to Settings → Custom Events → Add “form_submit”, “purchase_click”, and “scroll_75” as tracked events.

Why It Matters

Once set up, you can:

• See which pages drive the most signups
• Identify where visitors drop off before clicking “Buy”
• Measure if your new content actually leads to conversions
• Compare traffic sources by conversion rate, not just clicks

Example Result

A creator added purchase_click tracking and discovered:

• 40% of clicks came from Twitter
• But only 5% of those buyers came from Twitter
• Meanwhile, organic search had 3x higher conversion rate

They shifted content strategy to focus on SEO — revenue doubled in 60 days with no extra traffic.

📚 Further Reading:

• Learn basic Plausible setup: 5 Quick Tips for Plausible
• Apply this to your newsletter: How to Build a Creator Newsletter That Actually Gets Read

Pro Tips

• Name events consistently: action_object format (e.g., signup_form, download_guide).
• Use props to distinguish similar events (e.g., different products).
• Test with Plausible’s debug mode: plausible('test_event') — check dashboard to confirm it appears.

Custom events take 15 minutes to set up but unlock the data that actually drives decisions. Traffic numbers are vanity; conversion events are sanity.