 Many web analytics programs account for all the different factors that pertain to how visitors are counted on your Web site. But how do you know which analytics program is the best? (Part 4 of 4)
Over the last few articles on this topic, we've discussed a lot of different concepts that factor into how visitors are counted on your web site: session length definitions, the existence of session cookies, heuristics, where your visitors come from, and all kinds of robots. Many web analytics programs account for all of these factors in one way or another. Some do a better job than others—and we know we're a bit biased, but we think ClickTracks does the best job of all!
But there's one particular area where ClickTracks does it differently than all the other web analytics programs. ClickTracks believes it's doing it right, and all of the rest are doing it wrong.
Are we having delusions of grandeur, or are we on to something big here? You be the judge.
Jim, and a Bag of Apples
Consider this scenario: Jim's friends just bought a house and he wants to buy them a nice little housewarming gift—maybe some fruit, a flower arrangement or 'something.' So Jim heads straight to his computer, pulls up Google, and types in "bag of apples."
Sure enough, there in his search results he sees a link to ClickTracks' old friend Bob and Bob's Fruit Site. He clicks on Bob's Fruit Site link and his session begins at bobsfruitsite.com. But he unfortunately doesn't like what he sees there. There aren't enough pictures for him to really take a look at the apples, and besides that, they seem a bit expensive for just being apples.
So Jim goes back to Google and clicks on the next site in the search results, but after a short visit, doesn't like what he sees there, either.
Maybe a Fruit Basket
Enter Jim's wife. "What're you looking for a bag of apples for? A housewarming gift? You can't give the Jones' a bag of apples as a housewarming gift. Maybe a fruit basket, but not just a bag of apples." Enlightened, Jim returns to Google and performs a search for "fruit baskets." Google returns a totally different set of results—including another link to Bob's Fruit Site. When he clicks on that bobsfruitsite.com link, he's taken to the fruit basket page of Bob's site—and there it is: a perfect, attractive and reasonably priced fruit basket that'll make a wife-approved gift. He whips out a credit card and buys the fruit basket on the spot.
One Session, or Two?
So does Jim's apple/fruit basket escapade count as one session or two? Other web analytics programs would consider it to be one session because the clicks occurred within the timeframe defined for a single session. Seems reasonable enough�but there's a problem there.
Their Way
The problem in the above example is that the search term that initiated the session was "bag of apples." Consequently, other web analytics programs would lead you to believe that "bag of apples" is a great key phrase for Bob's Fruit Site, because it resulted in a purchase. But in reality, "bag of apples" was not the phrase to trigger a purchase. Bob may spend more money for the phrase "bag of apples" when he should really be putting his money on "fruit baskets."
The ClickTracks Way
In the aforementioned example, ClickTracks would count Jim's interaction with the site as two sessions—one that started with the search term "bag of apples" and ended quickly, without conversion, and another one that started with "fruit baskets" and ended in a rather large sale. One unique visitor, but two sessions—even though they both happened within a fairly short time of each other. If Jim uses ClickTracks, he'll know to put his ad spending on "fruit baskets".
Why the Referrer Should Count
There are various criteria that define a session—how long between page views, total length of the session, session cookies, etc. ClickTracks also factors in another criterion: the referrer.
With other analytics programs, all page views on your site within a given timeframe are considered to be a part of the same session period. With ClickTracks, the number of sessions a visitor has also depends on the referring page. If the referrer is within your site, then the page view is considered to be part of the ongoing session. But if the referrer is external to your site, then the page view is considered to be the start of a new session.
A Search Engine as a Hub
At ClickTracks, we believe this type of surfing—where people return to the major search engines as a hub—is common; so common, that we've actually modeled our session tracking around it. This method can result in significantly larger numbers of reported visitors than other web analytics programs. This doesn't mean either program is more or less "accurate" in counting the number of visitors—it just means they used different ways of defining a "visit." However, ClickTracks will provide you better information about what search engines and key phrases are working for you, as the above scenario illustrates.
In Conclusion
The ultimate objective of a web analytics program is to provide you with the knowledge you need to make good business decisions about your web site. As you've seen here, what may appear logical on the surface may not be the smartest way to do things—and even the term "accurate" is a relative one. Don't spin your wheels trying to determine the accuracy of your visitor statistics. Instead, use ClickTracks and your brainpower to understand what all this information means for your business and your bottom line.
What is a Visitor Anyway? 1 2 3 4
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Visit EmailLabs 
