Do you pay attention to how much time you spend on a website? Better yet, can you recall how long you’ve specifically spent on one page of a website? I’m going to venture a guess and say odds are, probably not and that’s okay. I don’t think that many of us could give a specific answer, but I bet we all have favorite websites that we frequent more than others. Web analytics can provide the data to track just how long visitors stay on any given page. This data is crucial in helping to understand the science behind a website’s traffic.
Visit duration is the term used to describe the length of time in a
session. Calculation is typically the timestamp
of the last activity in the session minus the time stamp of the first activity
of the session. (Reed School of Media,
2015) This metric resides in the Visit
Characterization category of web
analytics. This category typically describes the behavior of
a visitor during a website visit. Analyzing these components of visit activity
can identify ways to improve a visitor's interaction with the site. (Web Analytics Association, 2008)
Visit
duration is also referred to as “Time Spent.” If
there are multiple page views during a visit then the time calculation is based
on the start time between the current page and the start time of the next page
hit. (Cutroni, 2012) When there is only one
piece of activity in a session (a singlepage visit or single-event visit), no
visit duration is typically reported because there is no second timestamp to
subtract from, and the amount of time spent is unknown. If the duration can’t be
calculated then zero is sometimes used as the value. Including "zero
duration" visits can significantly reduce your overall calculated average
visit duration. (Web
Analytics Association, 2008)
It may also
be in one’s best interests to ask their analytics vendor if they include “zero
duration” visits
their measurements. Some vendors will include it in the calculation while
others don't. It is also worth knowing if the timestamps for page views are the
only ones used in the visit duration calculation, or if timestamps for other
activities (errors, events, etc.) are considered as well. (Web Analytics Association, 2008)
Most people believe that Google Analytics can not, and does not, calculate time on page when there is only one page viewed in a visit. This is partially correct. If no other page is viewed during the visit, Google Analytics use the time between the initial page hit and the last engagement hit that follows the page hit. So, if a visit only contains one pageview (i.e. the visit is a bounce) then Google Analytics can track time on page by using other engagement hits. If you add multiple engagement hits to a page you can get a more accurate measure of time on page and site. (Cutroni, 2012)
Problems with the Average Visit
Duration
The Average
Visit Duration is considered to be a weak metric because it ignores why people
were on a site for a long time – out of pure pleasure or frustration. Also, it
averages all behavior together, including
pages where the goal may be to send people to register for an event or follow
on Facebook- in other words, a short visit duration is desired. (Wholewhale,
2015)
It seems
that moving forward that visit duration needs to evolve to track why visitors
are on the website from a behavioral standpoint. It is concerning to think that
someone spent an enormous amount of time on a website out of frustration and
that time can be tracked as a positive thing.
There needs to be way to develop a broader sense of why visitors are
spending time on a site when the simple answer may not be easy to see.
References:
Cutroni, J. (2012). Understanding Google Analytics Time Calculations. Cutroni.com. Retrieved, November 1, 2015 from http://cutroni.com/blog/2012/02/29/understanding-google-analytics-time-calculations/
Reed College
of Media. (2015). Lesson 2: Basic Web Analytics. ECAMPUS.WVU.EDU. Retrieved, November
1, 2015 from: https://www.ecampus.wvu.edu
Web
Analytics Association. (2008, September 22). Web analytics definitions. Retrieved
on November 1, 2015, from: http://www.digitalanalyticsassociation.org/Files/PDF_standards/WebAnalyticsDefinitions.pdf
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