WEBSITE EFFECTIVENESS

BA 572 - J. Galván 1

WEBSITE EFFECTIVENESS

An Introduction to Web Traffic Measurement


An Introduction to Web Traffic Measurement

What is log file analysis? Commercial Tools Definitions Examples of Analysis Pitfalls Other issues/topics Applications and Marketing Issues. Wrap Up


DEFINITION

Web traffic analysis is the process of measuring extent and character of activity of

users on a web site, interpreting the measurements, and applying the conclusions.


LOG FILE ANALYSIS - BIG PICTURE

Web Server

AdminConsole

AnalysisServer &AnalysisPackage

Data Store(Oracle DB)

BrowserPower userGUI/SQL.Special Reports

"Canned"Reports

Log files

Nightly


LOG FILE EXAMPLE(Combined Log Format)

limestone.uoregon.edu andred - [19/Jun/1999:00:49:41 - 0500] "GET/service/contracts.gif HTTP/1.0" 200 1341 "http://www.netgen.com/"Mozilla/2.0(compatible; MSIE 4.0; AOL 4.0; Windows95)"

Hostname or IP addressRegistered user name (usually blank)Date and time of requestObject requestedStatus codeBytes transferredReferral informationBrowser information

Courtesy netGenesis Corp.


COMMERCIAL WEB TRAFFIC ANALYSIS TOOLS

Tool Method Comments

netGenesis log file analysis Highly capable systemwww.netgenesis.com

Wusage log file analysis Inexpensive, easy to maintainwww.boutel.com/wusage Limited capability

Accrue log file analysis Troubles with earlier versionswww.accrue.com

NetAcumen FTP log files to vendor Privacy issues. Website for reports.www.netacumen.com $1K/mo for 10K visits/mo. $2.5K set up charge.

Hitbox Client side scripting Vend out admin. Good for simple sites.www.hitbox.com 250K pvs/mo = $700/mo. 1M pvs/mo = $1.5K/mo.

ARIA TCP/IP packet sniffing Does not use log files.www.macromedia.com

Courtesy L. Johnson, Sun Microsystems


TERMS

Resource - Any file on a server available to be downloaded to a client.

Request - An instruction made to a webserver to download a resource. (Sometimes called a "hit".)

Page - An html document, usually containing text and references to images and other objects. A page has its own URL.

Page View - A request for a document on a web site.

Page views: .html, .pl, .txt, .shtml, .exe, .cgi, .bat, ...

Not page views: .gif, .jpeg, .movie, .tcl, .tif, .wav, ...


TERMS(Cont.)

Visit - A specific session at a web site that ends when no more requests are made after a defined time period, usually 30 minutes.

User (Visitor) - A person or agent who makes requests to a web site.

Daily Unique User (duUser) - A unique user who visited your web site on a given day.

Weekly Unique User (wuUser) - A unique user who visited your site in a given week.


REPORT EXAMPLES: PAGE VIEWS AND VISITS


Report Examples: Visits and Users


TOP PAGES EXAMPLE

1 / 2,136,650 38.5 38.52/bigadmin/downloads/ 228,679 4.1 42.73/MySun/ 198,430 3.6 46.24/bigadmin/docs/ 131,694 2.4 48.65/search/index.cgi/ 103,248 1.9 50.56/staroffice/ 65,347 1.2 51.67/products-n-solutions 65,038 1.2 52.88/corp_emp/scripts/showjob.cgi/ 63,601 1.1 54.09/products/staroffice/get.cgi/ 60,260 1.1 55.010/forte/ffj/overview.html/ 58,103 1.0 56.111Other 2,434,788 43.9 100

HTTP Resource # of Page Views %of Total Cum %

(Altered data.)


Drill Down, Top Hostnames Example

Top Hostnames for /corp_emp/scripts/showjob.cgi, for time period in previous report:

1 serv3.hwka.com 17,161 27.0 27.02 209.67.186.119 5,998 9.4 36.43 216.34.97.92 5,736 9.0 45.44 ip22.digibahn.net 1,103 1.6 47.05 areil.sun.com 501 0.8 47.86 mailgate.cwhkt.com 363 0.6 48.47 pix89.pgexch.com 249 0.4 52.2 other (5152) 30,115 47.2 100

(Altered data.)

Hostname # Page Views %of Total Cum %


Top Referrers Example

1No Referral Information Sent 3,655,598 65.3%2 www.sun.com 525,225 9.4%3 java.sun.com 161,909 2.9%4www.google.com 110,019 2.0%5 www.slashdot.org 40,280 0.7%6 slashdot.org 35,263 0.6%7www.javasoft.com 31,128 0.6%8 web.icq.com 28,401 0.5%9google.yahoo.com 27,622 0.5%10www.java.sun.com 24,400 0.4% other 955,485 17%

Referring Web Site # Visits % of Total

(Altered data.)


CLICKSTREAM EXAMPLE

Number of Visits % of TotalFirst page 11507 100.00%

Second page 9096 79.00%Third page 7000 61.00%Third page 1500 13.00%Third page 500 4.30%Third page 96 0.80%



Second page 20 0.20%Third page 10 0.10%Third page 5 0.05%Third page 3 0.03%


PIT FALLS

What do you know?

Date and time of the request.What file was requested.Internet address of the host.Usually are told what page referred the visitor to you.Usually are told the make and model of the browser.

In other words, you know what is in the log file.

The rest you are assuming, calculating,

estimating, or believing.


PITFALLS (CONT.)

Cacheing:Browser cacheing.ISP cacheing (AOL).National cacheing.

Affects traffic quantity (views, visits, users).Affects apparent behavior (e.g.click streams).

Proxy Servers:Many real users might look like one user.Distorts the number of users, visits, and click streams.

Merged visits.

Robots:Inflate page views.


PIT FALLS (CONT.)

Internal vs. External Traffic.

Complicated web sites: Multiple servers. Need all log files in the same data store. Changing web site design.

Load balancing: Front end server can shuffle traffic between

different backend servers. Where are your log files actually coming from?


OTHER ISSUES/TOPICS

•Cookies:•Partial solution to Unique User problem caused by proxy servers. Improves user and visit count accuracy; untangles clickstreams.•Privacy issues must be dealt with.•Authenticated User data has highest confidence.

•Query Strings:https://sun.com/service/Router?country=US&feature=SoftwareUpdatehttps://sun.com/service/Router?country=JP&feature=ServiceRequest

RESOURCE?KEY=value&KEY=value

Analysis packages must be configured to handle these.


OTHER ISSUES/TOPICS

.

Dynamic Content:

Web pages which are generated on the fly by pulling data

from a database. URLs can be very cryptic. Measurement

tool must be specially configured

•Dynamic Content:•Web pages which are generated on the fly by pulling data from a database. •URLs can be very cryptic. •Measurement tool must be specially configured

•Transactions and Other Metrics:• Purchases• Submittals• Linkages to backend servers and databases.• Telephone data.• Traditional order channels.• Financial impact.• Return on investment (ROI).


HOW IS WEB TRAFFIC ANALYSIS USED?

Customer Web Site Financials

Web Traffic is a link between financial performance and customer behaviour.

Want this!Use This!Understand this!


STAGES OF CUSTOMER UNDERSTANDING

Machine.Basic Stats.

PersistentUser Identifier.Retention, frequency,recency.

Anonymous UserProfile.One-to-fewdemographic

Discrete UserIdentity.One-to-onetargeting


CONVERSION

Store CatalogAdd toCart

CheckOut

Receipt40% 7% 30% 40%

3%

1%

0.4%

What web traffic metrics would you use to improve this?How might the user interface affect loss at each step?


SHIPPING COMPANY EXAMPLE. SIX TYPES OF USERS

Segment 1: Trackers - 37% Tracking past shipments. Characterized by low duration.

Segment 2: Reservers - 3% Complete online reservations. Low duration per page view.

Segment 3: Uncommitted - 10% Characterized by long duration. Fail to complete transaction.

Segment 4: Info Gatherers - 4%Concentrated in information areas.Rarely reach transaction areas.

Segment 5: Single-clickers - 32%Visit homepage only.Not qualified customers or prospects.

Segment 6: Wanderers - 15%Very few, very random pages.Few hits, but long duration per page view.

Courtesy netGenesis

What strategy would you use to help each segment? Would you change the user interface per segment?


SUMMARY

Server log files can be used to record web traffic.

Page views, visits, users (various uniquenesses), top pages, referrers, and clickstreams are used to describe web traffic.

Pitfalls to accurate data are cacheing, proxy servers, robots, complicated architecture, ...

Web traffic is just part of the picture.

Traffic data needs to be interpreted in a broader context to better serve customer, to steer user interface decisions, and ultimately help company bottom line.


Work happily!

WEBSITE EFFECTIVENESS

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