Michael Beasley - Measuring how people use your pages with web analytics
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Web analytics is a quantitative method for measuring user behavior on websites, focusing on what users do and how they arrive at the site. It tracks metrics such as pageviews, average time on page, entrances, and bounce rates, but does not explain why users act in specific ways. By analyzing this data, website owners can identify trends, improve content, and enhance user experience.
Michael Beasley - Measuring how people use your pages with web analytics
- 1. Measuring How People Use Your Pages with Web Analytics Michael Beasley @UXMikeBeasley
- 2. What is web analytics? Web analytics = tools + practice A quantitative source of data A way of measuring what users do on your website and how they got there @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 2
- 3. How it works 1. When the user’s browser loads a page, analytics records: 1. What page was loaded 2. The time it was loaded 3. Where the user came from (another page on this site, from a search engine, etc) 4. Browser version, operating system, IP address 2. The analytics tool processes these data and makes them presentable @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 3
- 4. Here’s what Google Analytics looks like @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 4
- 5. What you can and can't measure "What" questions, not "Why" questions As in, "what have people done in the past?" as opposed to "why are they doing it?" You get to see what people do in aggregate, but not what individuals do @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 5
- 6. Why web analytics? • What pages are people looking at? • How long do they spend on those pages? • How many pages do they visit? • How do they get to your site? • What do they search for in search engines? On the site itself? Today we will focus on how users interact with your site’s pages. @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 6
- 7. Let’s look at some data @UXMikeBeasley 7
- 8. Pageviews and unique pageviews For a selected time range: • Every time a user goes to a page, that’s one pageview • If the user goes to the same page five times, that’s five pageviews • If the user goes to the same page five times, that’s one unique pageview @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 8
- 9. Average time on page Web analytics tracks how long users spend on any page before moving on to another page. For any page, you can calculate the average amount of time users spend on that page. You don’t know what they’re doing on that page, but a higher time on page means users have more time to do something. @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 9
- 10. Entrances and bounce rate Users can enter your site on any page. An entrance is when a user enters your site on whatever page you’re looking at. Maybe they found it in a search engine or bookmarked the URL. The user bounces if they leave without looking at any other pages on your site. @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 10
- 11. % Exit (AKA exit rate) Of all those pageviews, this is how many were the last time a user looked at this page before leaving the site. This is different than bounce rate—those are only the users that entered your site on this page. @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 11
- 12. Analysis: Look for the outliers What are the pages with the highest values for a metric? Which have the lowest? Which pages deviate the most from average? Are there any numbers that just surprise you? @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 12
- 13. Analysis @UXMikeBeasley Finding the Right Things to Measure 13
- 14. Long average time (2:10) This is very long and the beginning is dense The second half is easier to skim Users are perhaps very motivated to read this? @UXMikeBeasley 14
- 15. Low average time (1:08) Much shorter but broken up very well Users are probably skimming the whole thing @UXMikeBeasley 15
- 16. Even lower average time (1:00) A lot of text in huge blocks, no easy-to-harvest tips No one is reading all this text @UXMikeBeasley 16
- 17. What pages do users view? It can hurt to find this out, sometimes. Do the numbers reflect how interesting the content is? Or how easy it is to find? Or both? @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 17
- 18. Look at the pages people visit @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 18
- 19. … and the pages they don’t visit @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 19
- 20. Acting on your findings If people aren’t spending a lot of time on or bouncing a lot from an important page: • Does the writing need work? • Were the links to this page misleading? • Are there links on this page that are too enticing for users to resist? @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 20
- 21. Acting on your findings, continued For very popular pages: • Can this topic be expanded (to more pages)? • Are there opportunities to link from this content to other relevant pages? For unpopular pages: • Do you need better links to those pages? • Do users really want to read it? • Can they find it? @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 21
- 22. What’s next? You may have questions you can answer with usability testing. Another great idea: add a survey to gather data about why users behave as they do. @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 22
- 23. But wait, there’s more! Unsurprisingly, you can measure more aspects of user behavior with web analytics, such as: • How they move from page to page • What they searched for in search engines • What they searched for on your site • How many fill out a form/register on your site @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 23
- 24. Context is everything Web analytics give you a piece of the picture. It’s a pretty awesome piece, though. @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 24
- 25. Questions? @UXMikeBeasley Measuring How People Use Your Pages 25