Comments on: What’s wrong with bounce rate? http://www.trendingupward.net/2008/10/whats-wrong-with-bounce-rate/?utm_source=subscriber&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss Web analytics for higher education. Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:01:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Trending Upward | Measuring Student Blog Success http://www.trendingupward.net/2008/10/whats-wrong-with-bounce-rate/comment-page-1/#comment-342 Trending Upward | Measuring Student Blog Success Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:44:35 +0000 http://www.trendingupward.net/?p=792#comment-342 [...] Time on site has downfalls as well because of the way analytics tools calculate time on site. [...] [...] Time on site has downfalls as well because of the way analytics tools calculate time on site. [...]

]]> By: Trending Upward | Google Analytics - oh, the controversy http://www.trendingupward.net/2008/10/whats-wrong-with-bounce-rate/comment-page-1/#comment-292 Trending Upward | Google Analytics - oh, the controversy Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:25:56 +0000 http://www.trendingupward.net/?p=792#comment-292 [...] given my thoughts on bounce rate before (depending upon the type of site, counting bounce rate by time might make more sense), but [...] [...] given my thoughts on bounce rate before (depending upon the type of site, counting bounce rate by time might make more sense), but [...]

]]> By: Shelby Thayer http://www.trendingupward.net/2008/10/whats-wrong-with-bounce-rate/comment-page-1/#comment-218 Shelby Thayer Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:45:25 +0000 http://www.trendingupward.net/?p=792#comment-218 @M. Laplante - thanks for bringing up the privacy statement. That gives me an idea of another post topic. :) Yes, as far as any javascript-based analytics package, you can pretty much do anything, but what I'm talking about is doing it out-of-the-box. It's interesting that with Google Analytics segmentation features they just released, it makes their segmentation functionality more robust than Omniture SiteCatalyst out-of-the-box. If you want to really segment traffic with Omniture you have to buy their Discover tool (which is great, by the way, but why should we have to buy another tool to segment traffic?). I know I'm way off the bounce rate and time-on-page topic here, but my point is that these tools should come with this functionality out-of-the-box. Simple segmentation (new vs. returning user behavior, etc.) and correctly calculating time-on-page doesn't seem to be asking for much. Ok, I'll stop being bitter now. :) As far as the moral aspect of it, I'm not quite sure I agree with that as long as you're explicit on your privacy statement about how information is used. None of this information should be personally identifiable. @M. Laplante – thanks for bringing up the privacy statement. That gives me an idea of another post topic. :)

Yes, as far as any javascript-based analytics package, you can pretty much do anything, but what I’m talking about is doing it out-of-the-box. It’s interesting that with Google Analytics segmentation features they just released, it makes their segmentation functionality more robust than Omniture SiteCatalyst out-of-the-box. If you want to really segment traffic with Omniture you have to buy their Discover tool (which is great, by the way, but why should we have to buy another tool to segment traffic?).

I know I’m way off the bounce rate and time-on-page topic here, but my point is that these tools should come with this functionality out-of-the-box.

Simple segmentation (new vs. returning user behavior, etc.) and correctly calculating time-on-page doesn’t seem to be asking for much.

Ok, I’ll stop being bitter now. :)

As far as the moral aspect of it, I’m not quite sure I agree with that as long as you’re explicit on your privacy statement about how information is used. None of this information should be personally identifiable.

]]> By: M. Laplante http://www.trendingupward.net/2008/10/whats-wrong-with-bounce-rate/comment-page-1/#comment-210 M. Laplante Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:09:36 +0000 http://www.trendingupward.net/?p=792#comment-210 It can be done, but remember to hire a novelist to re-write your web site's privacy statement. The analytics packages that work off your web server's log files can't do that sort of thing. It's only when you do something that requires that makes the browser request a new file (web page, image, whatever) that something gets recorded. But javascript-based analytics can in theory capture anything that you do - scroll the page, move the mouse, whatever. There are clever add-ons to Google Analytics that can tell you where someone's mouse was when they left the page; that tells you whether they clicked on an ad even when the recipient of that click doesn't share that information with you. The problem with that is not that it's not possible, it's that you have a moral and sometimes a legal duty to let your visitors know that their every move of the mouse is being watched. Some may consider it an invasion of their privacy. You can get good data at the expense of bad PR. It can be done, but remember to hire a novelist to re-write your web site’s privacy statement. The analytics packages that work off your web server’s log files can’t do that sort of thing. It’s only when you do something that requires that makes the browser request a new file (web page, image, whatever) that something gets recorded.

But javascript-based analytics can in theory capture anything that you do – scroll the page, move the mouse, whatever. There are clever add-ons to Google Analytics that can tell you where someone’s mouse was when they left the page; that tells you whether they clicked on an ad even when the recipient of that click doesn’t share that information with you.

The problem with that is not that it’s not possible, it’s that you have a moral and sometimes a legal duty to let your visitors know that their every move of the mouse is being watched. Some may consider it an invasion of their privacy. You can get good data at the expense of bad PR.

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