Journey analysis gives you the option to analyze the performance of a specific page within a path:
- Does the page help/hinder path navigation?
- Does the page play a different role depending on its positioning in the path?
Answering these questions will help you discover key pages and clarify the goals and the analytical context of a page (when landing on the site, during browsing, following another page).
The Landing page
A Landing page is your site's shop window; it is what initially engages users. It should be attractive and effective, i.e. interest your users and enable/ encourage them to access the rest of your site's pages.
The highlighted journey shows one landing page (in red) is followed by a black circle fraction, indicating a bounce. The other landing page (in blue) is followed by multiple, deep journeys. This indicates that you have one high-performing and one low-performing landing page.
How to interpret it? The Bounce rate (exit after a landing page) indicates whether the content of the page engages your users to browse the site by redirecting them to the appropriate content, or generates a high browsing abandon rate. The page shown in red could be low-performing because the content lacks relevance or has navigation problems.
Questions to ask | How to answer |
Understand which visitors take this path: Where have visitors arriving on these landing pages come from? Does the source of traffic have an influence on user behavior? |
Segment this path by visitors from different sources of acquisition to see to what extent their origin causes bounce. |
Understand which elements on the page favor interaction and navigation: How do users behave on the page that's causing bounce? With which elements did they interact before bouncing? With which elements did users who didn't bounce interact? |
Identify the browsing behavior of visitors who bounced (thanks to the Bounce /No Bounce segments) in order to understand which are the stumbling blocks on the page. Compare the paths of visitors who reached a product page (or another target page) to see whether they directly accessed the sections they sought or had to take intermediary steps. |
Under-performing page (e.g. Product page)
The highlighted journey shows the under-performing page represented by enlarged circle fractions (high % of visits) and at different navigation steps. However, it is most often followed by a black circle fraction indicating a site exit.
How to interpret it? This visualization indicates that your users struggle to continue their navigation after viewing this page. The under-performing page reveals that users are interested in its content but are not taking the next step (e.g. cart for a product page). Navigation obstacles or problems with page elements could be causing site exit.
Why is this problematic?
In the short to medium term, this type of situation causes loss of traffic. In the case of the product page, this has an impact on whether visitors go to the cart page from the product page: the product page is the crucial last step before confirming the cart and continuing to checkout.
In the long term, this will have a negative impact on your conversion rate.
Questions to ask | How to answer |
Understand what is hindering commitment to the next step (cart page in the case of a product page). Are the elements providing access to the cart accessible? The cart in the header? The add-to-cart button? Do the add-to-cart conditions pose any problems? (Example: Requirement to choose a size before adding to cart.) Is the problem caused by difficulties in navigating from a product page? Are there problems accessing list pages to choose another product? Cross-product navigation? |
Identify the main interaction zones on the page (navigation elements, call-to-action, etc.) in the Zoning Analysis module. Compare the behaviors in these zones displayed by visitors who ended their browsing vs visitors who reached the checkout funnel. This allow's you to isolate behaviors that lowers visitors' user experience, and identify those that elevates it. |
Unattractive page
The highlighted journey shows small circle fractions present at different navigation steps. This type of visualization indicates that it is an under-viewed page.
How to interpret it? The unattractive page reveals that your visitors do not view it much, which can be a good or bad sign depending on the goals assigned to it.
In what cases is this behavior ideal or problematic?
This can be problematic if this page needs to be highlighted because it provides your visitors with important information, enables them to navigate, etc. If so, you will need to understand why it's under-visited.
If it's a page that needs to be viewed at the end of the in-site path (e.g. a reassurance page), this isn't necessarily a bad sign.
Questions to ask | How to answer |
Understand why the page is under-visited if it's important for navigation Is this page also viewed later in the in-site path? Is this page key to the purchase journey? Is this page effective from a conversion point of view? To which other pages does this page lead? |
Specify the navigation role of this page using Journey analysis by studying the path from this page. Analyze the contribution this page makes to your goal using Page comparator. |
Pivot page
The highlighted journey shows a page represented in the paths by enlarged circle fractions (high % of visits) and at different navigation steps. In addition, it is not followed by any exits. This type of visualization indicates that your visitors frequently return to this page while browsing the site.
How to interpret it?
The pivot page reveals that your visitors use this page to restart their browsing of the site and as a reference point. In most cases it will be the homepage. This might indicate that your visitors find the site architecture hard to navigate and that other pages do not take visitors deep into the site.
In what cases is this behavior ideal or problematic?
If the pivot role of the page in is clearly defined and it contributes to smooth navigation and redirection within the site, the page is not problematic provided it does not trigger exits.
However, this type of situation can be problematic if it causes a poor experience for your visitors. A poor user experience will lose you visitors, who can be put off by their browsing experience.
Questions to ask | How to answer |
Understand in what context this pivot page is used: Do users behave differently depending on whether this page is a landing page or viewed in the middle of an in-site path? Is this page revisited because of a lack of navigation cues? |
Compare the bounce rate and exit rate to understand whether use of this page during navigation is favorable. Create the reach-pivot-page segment and use it in the Journey analysis module to identify which type of pages your visitors are most likely to return to this pivot page from. Then study these pages in the Zoning analysis module to identify the elements that hinder users' navigation to other pages (and which therefore prompt them to return to the pivot page). |