10 Truths and a LieAnswers You Need to

Understand Web Analytics

Erin Jo Richey @erinjo

Everyone has to leave sometime.

Not everyone has to bounce.

BOUNCE RATE

Percentage of people who

only view one page.

BOUNCE RATE

Stickiness shows the landing pages that lead a visitor to explore a site further.

STICKINESS

People Who Viewed Only This Page

Everyone Who Entered On This Page

=Landing Page Stickiness

Logs can record search terms.

Search terms show your users’ language.

INTERNAL SITE SEARCH

language from your customers

INTERNAL SITE SEARCH

bridesmaid dress

72% cotton

95% rayon

denim dress

chunky sweater dress

the lizette

torres shirt

stone rose

returns

belle fleur chemise

tibi bianca shift dress bridal shop

love quotes lurex

cocktail dress

holiday returns

designer apparel

blaque label

ship to Canada

star coupon code

location

Products or Brands Categories or Types Attributes Customer Service

organized into content types

INTERNAL SITE SEARCH

bridesmaid dress

72% cotton

95% rayon

denim dress

chunky sweater dress

the lizettetorres shirt

stone rose returns

belle fleur chemise

tibi bianca shift dress

bridal shop

love quotes lurex

cocktail dress

holiday returns

designer apparel

blaque label

ship to Canada

star coupon code

location

Not Customers Yet Customers

star coupon code bridesmaid dressor organized by types of people

INTERNAL SITE SEARCH

torres shirt

stone rose

belle fleur chemise

bridal shop

holiday returns

designer apparel

blaque label

ship to Canada

location

Search Term

star coupon code

Number of Searches

93

4

37

11

21

12

43

86

52

28

% Search Refinements

28%

16%

17%

7%

87%

7%

52%

32%

11%

46%

with data to look for outliers or problems

Analytics data is more meaningful when segmented.

USERSEGMENTS

Your users aren’t all identical.

USERSEGMENTS

Segmentation groups users by shared traits.

USERSEGMENTS

non-members

everyone using a PC running Windows 98

from Reno, NV

members

Yes, you canintegrate survey data with web analytics to drill into issues.

INTEGRATED SURVEYS

Voice of Customer +

Web Analytics

INTEGRATED SURVEYS

INTEGRATED SURVEYS

Click path data maps what people do when no one is watching.

CLICK PATH ANALYSIS

This is what you thought they should do.

CLICK PATH ANALYSIS

This is what they actually did…

You can catch usability problems with funnel visualizations.

GOAL FUNNELS

Uh oh?

Loyalty shows how strongly visitors are attached to your site.

>8%

VISITOR LOYALTY

<4%

Ecommerce Site

Content Site

Conversions don’t have to be just sales and signups.

Measure micro conversions to measure customer successes.

MICRO CONVERSIONS

Everyone loves engagement right?

There is no universal metric for user engagement.

Σ(Ci + Di + Ri + Li + Bi + Ii + Pi)

ENGAGEMENT

Ci Click Index: visits must have at least 6 pageviews, not counting photo galleries

Di Duration Index: visits must have spend a minimum of 5 minutes on the site

Ri Recency Index: visits that return daily

Li Loyalty Index: visits that either are registered at the site or visit it at least three

times a week

Bi Brand Index: visits that come directly to the site by either bookmark or directly

typing www.philly.com or come through search engines with keywords like

“philly.com” or “inquirer”

Ii Interaction Index: visits that interact with the site via commenting, forums, etc.

Pi Participation Index: visits that participate on the site via sharing, uploading pics,

stories, videos, etc.

AndALie

Standard analytics dashboards are all you really need.

Not.

DASHBOARDS

Generic.

Instead try......asking your own questions

...choosing just a few key measurements

...focusing on areas you have an impact on

...diving in!

{the end}

Erin Jo Richey@erinjo

erin@flatfrogdesign.com

BOUNCE RATE

Percentage of people visit for a short

time (10 sec).

(Ooh, a bonus slide.)

(There are actually two ways to calculate bounce rate. This is the second.)