Understanding User Behavior on Your Website: How Indigitall Can Help You Improve It
Overview
The goal of a business website or online store is usually to attract more customers. Sometimes, everything seems to be in place, but the sales just aren’t coming in. This often happens because user behavior on your site isn’t quite right, and changes are needed—changes that might not be immediately obvious.
That’s why we’re offering you a brief guide to understanding user behavior, what data can be extracted and measured, and how to make improvements. By doing so, you’ll increase retention and conversions, meaning more revenue as visitors more easily turn into customers.
What Is Online User Behavior?
Online user behavior refers to how a visitor interacts with a website. This includes the links they click on, how and when they scroll through the site, and how long they stay on a page. It also involves analyzing the device they’re using and whether they play or download any multimedia content.
To comply with GDPR, tools like Google Analytics track users anonymously. This allows you to see how users interact with your site while protecting their privacy and adhering to regulations.
What Important Data Can You Gather?
Several key metrics can be derived from analyzing user behavior:
– Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of visitors who leave your site without interacting—no clicks, no scrolling, no navigation.
– Session Duration: The amount of time a user spends on your site. However, they must interact with the site for this to count; simply leaving the site open without action is considered a bounce with no duration.
– Unique Visits: The number of unique visitors to your page, coming from sources like Google, social media, or other channels.
– Conversions: This metric tracks the number of significant actions a user takes, from filling out a form to making a purchase, watching a video, or clicking on specific areas. It’s crucial for determining the success of your site.
How to Measure User Behavior
Once you have the data, it’s time to assess whether everything is functioning correctly. This is done by analyzing the aforementioned KPIs using tools like Google Analytics and other SEO, usability, and digital marketing tools.
When used effectively, these tools can identify patterns and metrics related to user behavior, such as bounce rate, number of visits, search keywords, interactions on the site, and actions taken, like filling out a form or downloading a file. This data is tracked over time, allowing you to see trends and evolution.
But how should you interpret the data you’ve gathered? If you notice the following metrics, there’s likely an issue that needs fixing:
High Bounce Rate
A high bounce rate can be one of the biggest issues, often caused by design problems, slow loading times, or a site poorly optimized for mobile devices.
Users Leaving Quickly
Even if your bounce rate isn’t high, users might still be leaving quickly. They visit, read the text, and leave without taking any action, offering no value to your traffic. This is usually due to a lack of internal links, allowing navigation from one area of the site to another, or design issues.
Low Conversion Rate
If you have a lot of traffic but few users taking action, your conversion rate is low, which is problematic. This could be due to a complicated purchase process, a chaotic website, a lack of transactional content, poorly written sales landing pages, or an unattractive lead generation process.
Low Traffic
If your site has low traffic, it means people aren’t finding you. You could have the best-designed website with a flawless sales pitch, but if you’re not being discovered online, you won’t make sales.
How to Improve User Retention on Your Website
Now that you understand user behavior, it’s time to address it. Improve user experience by creating a fast, mobile-friendly website with high-quality, SEO-focused content that is properly segmented.
Given the competition, aim to be unique in what you offer to stand out. One effective way to do this is through a web personalization service, which allows you to create tailored content specifically designed for your customers, based on their behavior analysis.
This service also includes personalized communication, which can help boost sales. Personalization and the ability to interact meaningfully reduce bounce rates, increase brand loyalty, and lead to conversions, sometimes even recurring purchases.
