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Analyses 5 – Analysis of Navigation Paths

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This training chapter explains the analysis of navigation paths in Webtrekk Analytics. You can download this training chapter as PDF file here.

Content:

1. Pages Paths

There are several analyses available.

1.1 Follower Pages and Preceding Pages

Pages accessed directly before and after any page can be analyzed.

The analyses have to be filtered for a specific page in order to provide a meaningful representation.

Example: How do users get to the 404 page (page name "en.404")?

  • Analysis: Navigation > Pages > Preceding Pages

  • Reading Example:
    • Page Impressions: Prior to the page en.404 the page en.service was accessed 7,128 times.

1.2 Pages Netgraph

The Pages Netgraph shows the combination "Pages > Follower Pages".

  • Analysis: Navigation > Pages > Pages Netgraph

  • Reading Example:
    • Page Impressions: The page en.home was accessed 1,318 times prior to the page en.women.
    • Entries: In 356 cases the page en.home was the first page in the visit, when the page en.women was accessed afterwards.

Calculation Examples

The following slides depict an example for using the Pages Netgraph:

Calculation Pages Netgraph for "Page A" (1/4)

Calculation Pages Netgraph for "Page A" (2/4)

Calculation Pages Netgraph for "Page A" (3/4)

Calculation Pages Netgraph for "Page A" (4/4)

"Entries" and "Exits" always refer to the dimension "Page".

By integrating the dimension "Events" it is possible to determine, which links on pages were used to get to follower pages.

  • Analysis: Individual Analysis


  • Reading Example:
    • Page Impressions: The link Survey on the page en.checkout.cart followed by the page en.home was accessed 5,300 times.

1.3 Follower Pages Path and Preceding Pages Path

The Follower Pages Path and the Preceding Pages Path show a maximum of 3 pages in the order of their access.

  • Analysis: Navigation > Pages > Follower Pages Path

  • Reading Example:
    • Page Impressions: The page en.women followed again by the page en.home was accessed 730 times after the page en.home.

Calculation Examples

The following slides depict an example for using the Follower Pages Path:

Calculation Follower Pages Path for "Page A" (1/4)

Calculation Follower Pages Path for "Page A" (2/4)

Calculation Follower Pages Path for "Page A" (3/4)

Calculation Follower Pages Path for "Page A" (4/4)

2. Page Detail

The Page Detail analysis shows the ways from and to a page.

The calculation is based on Page Impressions.

  • Analysis: Navigation > Pages > Page Detail
    • Reading example for the page en.men.shoes:
      62 % of all Page Impressions came from another internal page, 22 % came from another website and 14 % came per direct entry.Differences to 100 % in sum are caused by roundings.
  • Analysis: Navigation > Pages > Page Detail

  • Reading example for the page en.men.shoes:
    • The page en.home was accessed 90,584 times prior to the page en.men.shoes.
  • Analysis: Navigation > Pages > Page Detail

  • Reading example for the page en.men.shoes:
    • 64 % of all Page Impressions accessed another page afterwards, 35 % didn‘t.

3. Analysis Variant "Path"

In Webtrekk, an analysis can also be shown as a path. It shows the order in which elements were viewed.

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Use cases:

  • Which page areas were viewed in which order?
  • How do users refine internal searches?
  • In which order are device classes used?

What‘s the difference between the the analysis variant „Path“ and the Pages Path analysis?

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This analysis variant contains a clickable diagram that allows for an aggregated, interactive evaluation, as well as of a data table that shows all paths that were tracked.

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The diagram only shows paths that are also shown in the table.

  • The number next to a node description sums up the metric value up to this node.

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Reading Example:
78 visits started with the path en.home > en.checkout.cart. This corresponds to the sum of visits of the three highlighted paths that all start with en.home > en.checkout.cart.

  • Paths are merged if they contain the same node at the same position.

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Reading example:
In 223 Visits the page en.checkout.cart was viewed as the third page. This corresponds to the sum of visits of the four highlighted paths that all have en.checkout.cart in third position.

Paths can be limited to a page, a visit or the analysis period.

Within a path always exactly one dimension can be used.

Paths that consist of more than 100 elements are not calculated.
If, for example, within a visit more than 100 pages were viewed, this path is not shown in the corresponding analysis.

3.1 Configuration

Activating the Path view

  1. In an analysis, click on the path symbol.
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  2. Configure the path.
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  3. Click on "Apply". mceclip6.png

3.2 Use Cases

A) In which order are different main categories viewed within one visit?

Configuration

Open the analysis (depends on the account setup; e.g. „Navigation > Content Group > CG2 – Main Category“) and click on „Path“.

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Analysis

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Reading Example:
In 304 visits, only pages from the „home“ area were viewed.
In 189 visits the path home > men > checkout > men > checkout > men was viewed.

Visits with more than 100 main categories are not calculated and therefore are not shown in the analysis. You can calculate the number of visits by subtracting the number in the „Sum“ row of the path analysis from the overall number of visits in the analysis period.

B) How many Page Impressions were measured for a given path of main categories?

Configuration

Open the Analysis (depending on the account setup; e.g. „Navigation > Content Group > CG2 – Main Category“) and click on „Path“.

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Analysis

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Reading Example:
2985 Page Impressions were performed in Visits, where the path home > men > checkout > men > checkout > men was measured.

C) Which internal search phrases were used by visitors who searched for „dress“?

Configuration

Open the analysis „Marketing > Search Phrases > Internal Search Phrases“ and Click on „Path“.

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Filter

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Analysis

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Reading Example:
61 visitors did search for „dress“ in the analysis period.
42 visitors did search first for „trousers“ and then for „dress“.

D) In which order were campaigns used by visitors who had their first visit in the analysis period and who did not purchase?

Configuration

Open the Analysis (depending on the account setup; e.g. „Marketing > Campaign Categories > Channel“) and Click on „Path“.

mceclip14.pngFilter

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Analysis

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Reading Example:
68 Visitors used the Path Direct > Affiliate > Newsletter.

4. Processes

Sequences of page accesses can be analyzed in detail via processes.

Examples for processes:

  • Order process
  • Survey
  • Registration process

Processes are based on pages. This means, that every process step must have a unique page name.

It is mandatory, that they have to be went trough in the given order.

Processes are only calculated starting with the setup date.

You can recreate processes by using sequential filters and thus analyze them retrospectively. Further information about sequential filters can be found in the training chapter "User Interface 1.2 – Segmentation and Filter Options".

4.1 Configuration

Processes can be set up and configured under "Webtrekk Q3 > Configuration > Processes".

A process can include mandatory steps, optional steps and wildcards.

Mandatory steps/optional steps:

Title (appears in the analysis) and page filters are defines. Wildcards (*) can also be used.

Optional process steps do not necessarily have to be reached. The first process step cannot be an optional step.

 

Wildcard (Any or no page)

By using wildcards other pages can be accessed between the individual process steps, too.

Example: 1 visitor accesses several pages within his visit.

Wildcard (Any or no page)

The same process step can be invoked any number of times (e.g. by reload), even without a wildcard, without the process being aborted.

 

Validity

The validity is used to determine the duration of a user being considered for a process.

  • Process
    Mapping within the visit.
    If the first step is called again within the process, this is considered as an exit from the active process and a new process is opened.
  • Visit
    Mapping within the visit.
    A user is considered as new in the process, when he went through all steps / the visit ended and he started the process again.
  • Visitor
    Mapping within a specified time period (1-30 days), whereby 1 day = 24 hours.
    A user is considered as new in the process, when he went through all steps / the specified time period is exceeded and he started the process again.

Example: Validity Process vs. Visit vs. Visitor

Example: Validity Process vs. Visit vs. Visitor

Example: Validity Process vs. Visit vs. Visitor

4.2 Analysis

The process analysis is available under "Webtrekk Analytics > Navigation > Processes".

  • Extended metrics are calculated for processes.
  • The process steps can also be used in the filter engine.

The following metrics and dimensions are available:

 

4.2.1 Example calculation: Process

Example: 3 visitors access several pages within their visit (1/4)

Example: 3 visitors access several pages within their visit (2/4)

The red marked Page A is not counted. A new counting only happens, when the process was completely went through in the visit and Page A is accessed again.

Example: 3 visitors access several pages within their visit (3/4)

Example: 3 visitors access several pages within their visit (4/4)

The red marked Page C is not counted, because Page B was not accessed between Page A and C.

 

4.2.2 Example calculation: Process with optional step

Example: 2 visitors access several pages within their visit. Page B is an optional step. (1/4)

Example: 2 visitors access several pages within their visit. Page B is an optional step. (2/4)

Example: 2 visitors access several pages within their visit. Page B is an optional step. (3/4)

Conversion rate and exit rate refer to reaching the next optional OR mandatory step. Thus, the value in the example is only visible, if page C is also viewed.

Example: 2 visitors access several pages within their visit. Page B is an optional step. (4/4)

The conversion rate for page A is 100 percent, because all users accessed either page B or page C.

4.2.3 Remarks for processes with cross-visit duration

Process step conversions and exits are only depicted as soon as the following / last step or the maximum validity is reached.

Example: 1 visitor calls the following process steps

Example maximum process duration reached: 1 visitor calls the following process steps.

For a meaningful analysis you should keep in mind:

1. Choose an analysis time period, that covers at least the maximum process validity.

2. Filter on the first process step with the scope „Visitor“. Thus, it is ensured, that only users are analyzed, that started the proces within the analysis time period.

4.3 Use cases

Which steps in the order / registration process have remarkable exit rates?

  • Analysis: Navigation > Processes

  • Reading example:
    • Order Process Process Step Amount: The process step Checkout 2 – Personal Data was called 44.584 times.
    • Order Process Process Step Conversion Rate %: 28.64 % of all calls of the process step Checkout 2 – Personal Data led to the call of the following step Checkout 3 – Order.
    • Order Process Process Step Exit Rate %: 71.36 % of all calls of the process step Checkout 2 – Personal Data led to the abortion of the process.

What value did the products added to the shopping cart have, when exits happened during the process steps.

  • Analysis: Navigation > Processes

  • Reading Example:
    • Value Product Added to Cart: Users, who exited on the login page, had products added to their shopping cart with a value of 42,827.00 €.

In this case the metric Value Product Added to Cart has to be set to the scope Session.

How did the specific process steps develop over time?

  • Analysis: Navigation > Processes > [Name of the process] > Time Series

  • Reading Example:
    • 11.07 % of all calls of the process step Advantages of your membership also led to the call of the following step Address input.

The Process Step Conversion Rate for the last step is always 100 %.

How is the performance of the process steps per device class and browser?

  • Analysis: Individual Analysis

  • Reading Example:
    • Checkout Registration Process Step Amount: The process step Advantages of your membership was called 217 times via PC / laptop using the browser Firefox 49.
    • Checkout Registration Process Step Conversion Rate %: 13.82 % of all calls of the process step Advantages of your membership led to the call of the following step Address input, if a PC / laptop with Firefox 49 was used.

Which pages were accessed after exiting the process?

  • Analysis: Individual Analysis


  • Reading Example:
    • Visits: In 69 visits the process was ended at the process step Address input and no other page was accessed afterwards.

 

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