3 Ways to Analyze User Behavior on Your Website (and Why You Should)

User behavior refers to all the activities a visitor to a website can take. These actions could include what they click on, how much time they spend on a particular page, what visitors view, and when they close a website.

If you own a website, you should track user behavior. User behavior analytics refers to collecting and analyzing user data, both qualitative and quantitative.

The analytics are excellent tools that can give you insight into user behavior which you can subsequently use to improve your site. The following are ways to analyze user behavior on your website: 

User Journeys

A user journey involves all the actions a visitor to a website takes from the moment they open the homepage to when they leave the website.

To analyze user behavior, you need to track the user journey from start to finish. It is an excellent way to know which actions visitors to a website take.

It will apprise you of what visitors find interesting on the site and what makes them leave the site. You will also find out which products or services they view and which ones get the least attention.

Heat Maps

Regarding websites and user activity, heat maps refer to the areas where users spend their time. There will be pages where users spend a lot of time which will be high heat areas and vice versa.

Heat maps can be a fantastic tool to help you determine which parts of your site are attractive and receive user attention.

On the other hand, it will tell you which areas users neglect and hence need improvement. You can then take action to ensure that various parts of the website receive the user interactions you desire. 

Behavior Cohorts

Similar users will often exhibit the same behavior when visiting a website. Therefore, a great way to analyze user behavior on your website is to segment users based on the actions they take on your site.

Choosing the right website analytics tool is the best way to ensure you can form accurate behavioral cohorts. Hotjar is one of the most popular analytics tools on the market, but there are alternatives.

Here is a list of the best Hotjar alternatives which you can choose based on the needs of your website. Behavioral cohorts can apprise you of user trends and enable comparisons based on users’ actions on your site. 

Why You Should Analyze User Behavior

There are several reasons why you should analyze user behavior, including: 

Identify Customer Expectations

A significant reason why you should analyze user behavior on your website is that you can know what customers expect from the site. The actions visitors take on your site will give you a clear picture of what they would like to see from the site.

You can hence modify the site to improve the customer experience and journey, ensuring visitors can achieve their goals on the site. 

Make The Right Investments

As a website owner, a substantial aspect of your job is determining which investments will best boost your website.

Analyzing user behavior will help you make suitable investments for your website. You can avoid placing unwanted features or using the wrong product initiatives on your site, saving you money and time. 

Improve Customer Experience

Customer experience is paramount for a website; analyzing user behavior is the best way to improve customer experience. You can improve the user experience on your website by making it more pleasant and personalized, which can be your competitive advantage and growth engine. 

Tracking and analyzing user behavior is essential for a website for the above reasons. Ways you can use to analyze visitor behavior on a site include heat maps, user journeys, behavior cohorts, etc. If you can use the data you acquire from your analysis wisely, you can significantly improve your site.