User Engagement
A well-written piece of documentation is an invaluable asset to the product it accompanies. But how do you know if it is fulfilling its purpose? One solution worth considering is implementing web analytics. Tracking user activity on your website can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness and usability of your content. Data collected with web analytics tools can:
- Identify parts of the documentation that require readability improvements.
- Assist in reviewing and enhancing content structure.
- Improve searchability and optimise navigation paths.
- Reduce support tickets by addressing common pain points.
Key Metrics to Track User Engagement
Web analytics offers several key metrics to track. For a technical writer, the following ones should be at the top of the list:
- Page Views - A high number of views suggests that the content is in demand. It can also provide useful insight into your product, identifying features that are problematic or unclear to users. Low page views, on the other hand, may indicate problems with the searchability or accessibility of the content. It may also suggest that the topic is less relevant to users.
- Time on Page - Measures the amount of time users spend on a single page. This metric is open to interpretation. A short time spent reading a document may indicate that the content is difficult to read or unclear. On the other hand, it may mean that the documentation is very efficient. To draw the right conclusions, these results need to be combined with other data, such as support ticket rates.
- Bounce Rate - Measures how often users leave a page without interacting. Bounce rate often suggests that users didn’t find what they were looking for, though it can also indicate that they quickly found an answer.
- Search Queries - Reveals what users are searching for, helping to identify gaps in documentation and common product issues.
- Click Paths - Track how users move through documentation, providing insights into their journey and potential navigation issues.