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What is the difference between COUNT and D_COUNT?

Bryan Flaherty
  • Edited

Question

I see both COUNT and D_COUNT as options for aggregation. Which one should I use?

Answer

COUNT and D_COUNT, distinct counts, are ways of aggregating data. Data aggregation is the process of combining a list of items into one data point. For example, SUM is an aggregation where the listed values are added together.

COUNT counts the number of items being aggregated. D_COUNT counts the number of unique items there are being aggregated. Consider the list below.

  • Cat
  • Cat
  • Dog
  • Bird

If you aggregate the list above by COUNT, the list will show the result of 4 as there are four items. If you aggregate the same list by D_COUNT, the list will provide a result of 3 as two items are the same. The most common use for COUNT and D_COUNT in Explore is when aggregating ticket IDs. D_COUNT will ensure each ticket only shows up once, COUNT allows a ticket to be counted multiple times.

If a report has attributes in rows or columns, COUNT and D_COUNT are aggregated within each cell, not for the report as a whole. From the example above, imagine that "Cat," "Dog," and "Bird" are tags, and they are arranged on three tickets: 

  • Ticket 1: Cat
  • Ticket 2: Cat, Dog
  • Ticket 3: Bird

COUNT and D_COUNT for tickets both return three since there are three tickets. However, if tags are added under rows, the total changes:

  • Cat: 2 tickets
  • Dog: 1 ticket
  • Bird: 1 ticket

The total is 4, even though there are only three tickets. This is because two unique tickets have the "Cat" tag. If a report has multiple rows or columns, the sum of D_COUNT values can be higher than the D_COUNT without rows or columns.

For more information on the different Explore aggregators, see the article: Choosing metric aggregators.

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4 Comments

  • shelley

    Thanks for the explanation Bryan. Just to confirm for a query on a total number of SOLVED tickets. If a ticket ID is SOLVED multiple times  example, ticket ID SOLVED twice (open, solved, open, solved) will ...
     - COUNT count the unique ticket ID twice
     - D-COUNT     count the unique ticket ID once

    ...?

    -1
  • Gab Guinto
    Zendesk Customer Care

    Hi Shelley,

    It would depend on what metric/s or dataset you're using, but you're right, in general, if you expect a Ticket ID to appear more than once in a query, then it would be safe to opt for D_COUNT when you need to count each unique ID only once. You may also find this section helpful: COUNT and D_COUNT.

    0
  • Allen Lai | Head of CX, Otter.ai

    If I'm counting the number of rated satisfaction tickets, should I use COUNT or D_COUNT? Is COUNT counting the number of ticket IDs in this case? If so, COUNT or D_COUNT shouldn't make a difference, right?

    0
  • Giuseppe
    Zendesk Customer Care

    Hi Allen,

     

    You are correct. In your case, using COUNT or D_COUNT shouldn't make a difference. A possible case for using D_COUNT for satisfaction is when using Ticket Updates dataset and calculated metrics like in this recipe - Explore recipe: Determining satisfaction scores for your agents

    0

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