Web Analytics

Google Analytics Is Testing New User Behavior Features

Google Analytics is testing some new features that could be very useful to understand user behavior: Active Users and Cohort Analysis.

 

Active Users

Google Analytics active user interface

The Active Users report shows a quick overview of the number of users that have had at least one session daily, weekly and monthly. This is a nice complement to the existing user behavior reports, especially the frequency and recency report. 

Cohort Analysis

 

Cohort Analysis is a way to analyze behavior by segmenting users into groups that have had similar experiences within a given timespan. So instead of telling us just the total number of users who filled out a form last week, it can tell us that 20% of users who first visited a site on Monday filled out a form on Wednesday. This is a powerful way to understand patterns and derive the truly useful, actionable insights into user behavior.Google Analytics Cohort Analysis ReportThe report allows us to select:

  • Cohort Type (The Beta version of the Google Analytics Cohort Analysis is limited to only acquisition date cohorts.)
  • Cohort Size (by day, by week, by month)
  • Metrics:

    • By User (goal completion, pageviews, revenue, session duration, sessions, transactions)
    • Retention
    • Total (goal completion, pageviews, revenue, session duration, sessions, transactions)
  • Date Range

Google Analytics all sessions interfaceThe chart above shows us that users whose first visit was on Monday, January 12 had the highest retention rate: 4.5% of them visited again the next day.

These new features are the latest examples of a shift in Google Analytics towards providing more user-centric analysis. To stay up to date on the latest developments in web analytics, subscribe to this blog or sign up for our newsletter.