Google Analytics- UX Designer’s Best Friend Every website designer in the industry knows that the success of a website UX lies in user engagement and delivering business goals. Doing it manually seems next to impossible because it is a complex task. It can only be assessed by tracking the real-time user engagement and other loopholes that need to be fixed. Whether it is a corporate website design or personal website design, the UX design is a tough nut to break. It entails a lot of work like coordinating with different stakeholders including the owner of the product, designing & development fraternity, and the marketing teams. This has to be done because knowing the whereabouts of the target digital audience & everything that ticks them is a major milestone. Once accomplished, it will pour a lot of conversions speedily.
For every website, regardless of the domain, it is a must to keep an eye on the performance scale. Google Analytics is a tool that makes it a cakewalk to measure the performance of the website. Also, it offers some metrics that help in understanding the website’s performance right from the time when the user hits the website till its exit. There’s a lot to be explored in a website’s performance by using Google Analytics tool. Here’s a look at some essential insights provided by the Google Analytics that assist in the improvement of a website design UX, whether corporate or personal.
1. Tracking Events An event, in the web & digital world, means a user’s activity like navigating the website. Using Google Analytics, tracking the time spent by the visitor on a generic webpage, or homepage becomes simplified. Since it defines events as user interaction, things can be measured independently from the web page or screen load. This comes handy, especially when you’re measuring downloads, flash elements, video plays, ad clicks etc. For example, you incorporate a CTA on the website to get more conversions. How’d you check its functionality of oozing results? Yes, Google Analytics would do the job for you by tracking the event.
2. Audience Insights For a website, it is a must to gather the data of its visiting demography. Through active audience insights, it becomes easier to understand what is ticking the target audience, the location from where maximum traffic is coming, time of engagement, and more. Listed below are some examples of what a UX professional can do after acquiring the right audience data ➢ Geo-targeting the native language is an exemplary way of boosting the reach in an area where English isn’t the primary language ➢ Tracking the number of night visitors would be helpful in devising the dark variant of the app/website ➢ The gender age group and preferences will help in tweaking the content accordingly
3. Pageview Clarity A major reason for increased bounced rates is the lack of clarity on a website generic page. Pageviews are directly linked with user engagement. Although high pageviews mean that users are engaged with the website, it indicates that users are still not able to find what they’re looking for. With a lack of clarification on a website, you cannot expect increased conversion rates. There could be different reasons like a confusing layout or a lack of authentic information.
4. Identifying Bounce Rate Bounce rate is a nightmare for website owners. In the simplest terms, it is the number of visitors that enter the website and immediately exit without performing an action. The immediate exit of the user means that even Read More was ignored. But, a high bounce rate is not bad. There are different reasons for a website to have an increased bounce rate. Listed below are some prominent reasons for an increased bounce rate:
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Lack of elements that engage users
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Poor website design with improper imagery & inadequate content
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The visitor couldn’t find the desired information
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CTA is not clear to the user
5. Behavior Flow Behavior flow means the user’s tour across the website. It is measured right from the moment when the user enters a website till its exit. Using Google Analytics, you can easily generate a behavioral report. This report helps in identifying the web pages that deliver the highest traffic volume & common paths taken for reaching the website. By this, you’ll be able to grab the loopholes and fix them. The following points would definitely help in fixing the loopholes: •
Clicking back & forth between pages: Indicates a perplexing website design
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Visiting the least expected pages: Users can’t find what they’re looking for
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Website exodus: Number of frustrated users to whom CTA wasn’t clear
Adding more to the user behavior flow, a website UX designer would find answers to questions like: ➢ Which page drew more attention? ➢ Which page saw more traffic? ➢ Did any page was a landing page for a user? ➢ What was the repeat rate of customers on a webpage?
6. Goal Conversion When you set goals, measuring the website objectives becomes simpler. Now, you must be thinking what are or can be some prominent examples of goals? Alright, here are some simple examples: •
Download confirmation page
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‘Congratulations! Your order has been placed’ page
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‘Thanks for signing up with us’ page
These are the simplest conversion goals and by analyzing these, you can easily understand how many conversions were made in a day. Website goals, analyzed by Google Analytics, create an
overview report on the website’s performance. Everything goes into a funnel for better results. When goal steps are specified, a UX designer can grab the exact page from where a user enters or exits a website.
Summarizing on a Whole For every UX designer, it is recommended to follow a systematically data-driven process, rather than some not-so-reliable tips and hacks, for bridging the gap between the user and the website business goals. Google Analytics has been a major tool for marketers and website UX designers. Befriending Google Analytics is the Golden Brick for every website developer out there in the industry. All in all, UX designers just need to know the right metrics for the best results.
