What is behavior flow?
Behavior flow shows the path users take through your website or app. It helps you see how they move from one page or event to the next, identifying popular routes and potential roadblocks.
Key points
- Visualizes user journeys on a website or app.
- Helps identify popular content and navigation patterns.
- Reveals where users drop off or encounter issues.
- Crucial for optimizing user experience and conversion funnels.
Behavior flow is a powerful visualization tool found in web analytics platforms, like Google Analytics, that maps out the journeys users take on your website or within your application. Think of it as a detailed map showing every step a visitor takes, from their entry point to where they exit, or even if they loop back to a previous page. It helps you understand how people interact with your content, navigate through different sections, and ultimately achieve their goals on your site.
This report is crucial for marketers because it moves beyond simple page views to illustrate the sequence of interactions. Instead of just knowing a page is popular, behavior flow shows you which pages led users to that popular page and where they went next. This insight helps you uncover patterns, find common paths, and pinpoint areas where users might be getting stuck or leaving your site prematurely.
Why understanding user paths matters
Analyzing behavior flow is essential for several reasons, especially for marketing teams aiming to optimize their digital presence:
- Identify user experience issues: It helps you spot pages where users frequently drop off, indicating potential problems with content, design, or calls to action.
- Reveal successful content: You can see which content pieces or features effectively guide users towards desired outcomes, like a purchase or a lead form submission.
- Inform website design and navigation: Insights from user paths can guide improvements to your site's structure, menu layouts, and internal linking strategy, making it easier for users to find what they need.
- Optimize conversion funnels: By visualizing the steps users take towards a conversion, you can identify bottlenecks in your sales or lead generation funnels and make targeted improvements.
Key elements of behavior flow reports
When you look at a behavior flow report, you'll see a few main components:
Nodes
These are the individual boxes in the flow chart, representing a specific page, event, or interaction on your site. For example, your homepage, a product page, a blog post, or a video play could all be nodes.
Connections or paths
The lines connecting the nodes show the sequence of user movement. The thicker the line, the more users followed that specific path, indicating popular routes through your site.
Drop-offs
These are represented by lines that exit the main flow, usually to the right. A significant drop-off at a particular node means a large number of users left your site or chose a different path at that point, which could signal an issue.
Loops
Sometimes you'll see users revisiting the same page multiple times. While not always bad, frequent loops might suggest confusion or difficulty in finding the next step.
Practical applications for marketing teams
Behavior flow isn't just a pretty chart; it's a powerful tool for actionable insights:
Website optimization
If you notice a high drop-off rate on a specific product page, you might investigate its content, images, or pricing. If users frequently loop between two pages, it could mean your navigation or internal linking isn't clear enough. Use this data to streamline the user experience.
Content strategy
Discover which blog posts lead users to your service pages or which landing pages effectively guide visitors to download an e-book. This helps you create more effective content and optimize less visited pages by placing relevant calls to action or improving their position in the user journey.
Paid advertising campaigns
Analyze the behavior flow of users coming from specific ad campaigns. Are they landing on the intended page and then moving towards conversion, or are they getting lost? This can help you refine your landing page experience to better match ad messaging and user expectations.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
For e-commerce sites, behavior flow is invaluable for optimizing the checkout process. You can see exactly where users abandon their carts and then work to simplify forms, clarify shipping options, or improve payment gateway steps to reduce friction and increase completed purchases.
Regularly reviewing your behavior flow reports can provide deep insights into how users truly interact with your digital assets. By understanding these journeys, your marketing team can make informed decisions to improve user experience, boost engagement, and drive conversions. Make it a routine part of your analytics review process to continuously refine and optimize your online presence.
Real-world examples
E-commerce checkout funnel analysis
An online store notices a high drop-off rate between the "shipping information" and "payment" pages in their behavior flow report. By analyzing this, they realize the shipping page requires too much information, causing frustration. They simplify the form, reducing drop-offs and increasing completed purchases.
Content marketing engagement
A blog's behavior flow shows that many users read a specific article, then go to a related product page, and then convert. This insight tells the marketing team to create more content like that article and link it prominently to similar product pages, boosting lead generation.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Only looking at the main path: Users often take diverse routes; focusing solely on the "ideal" path misses valuable insights from less common but still important journeys.
- Ignoring small drop-offs: Even a small percentage drop-off at a critical step can mean significant lost conversions over time.
- Not segmenting users: Analyzing all users together can mask different behaviors from various segments (e.g., new vs. returning, mobile vs. desktop).