Click path: How to understand your users' journey - and why it is relevant for your tracking

Have you ever asked yourself, What steps do visitors take on your website before they complete a purchase or sign up for your newsletter? Right here comes the Click path into play. Find out in this article:

• What a click path is exactly
• Why analysing click paths is essential for your tracking
• How to correctly evaluate and optimise click paths

What is a click path?

Under the term Click path (or Click Path) is understood as the Sequence of page viewsthat a person goes through on your website or app. It shows you step by step, where users come from, which content they look at and like they finally carry out an action (e.g. purchase, download, newsletter registration).

In short:

• The click path forms the Route that your visitors take.
• You recognise Entry points, Intermediate stations (e.g. product pages, blog articles) and Exit points (e.g. completion or cancellation of a purchase).

Understanding this route is extremely helpful in making your offering more user-friendly - and ultimately Conversions to increase.

Why should you analyse click paths?

If you don't know the path of your users, you don't know either, where they jump off or which content is particularly well received. Here are a few reasons why click path analysis is important:

1. Optimisation of the user experience (UX)
   • You recognise obstacles or stumbling blocks in the ordering process.
   • You can find out whether important information is too hidden.
2. Increasing the conversion rate
   • By analysing the click path, you can find out at which point users cancel.
   • You can close conversion gaps with small changes (e.g. clearer call-to-action buttons).
3. Targeted content strategy
   • If you see which pages are visited particularly often, you can create more content in this style.
   • You quickly realise when content is not being received or is hardly being clicked on - and can react accordingly.
4. Sound marketing decisions
   • Click paths help you to measure the success of campaigns.
   • This allows you to invest your advertising budget in a more targeted way and avoid wastage.

How is a click path tracked?

You usually need an analytics tool so that you can track click paths. The sequence of URLs visited is often saved in a session recording. With us at Trackboxx it works as follows:

1. Register page view
   Our software records every page that a visitor accesses in a session - without to store personal data.
2. Create session ID
   A session ID is generated for each visit to the website, which we use to identify the user. Click path can understand.
3. Assign timestamp
   This enables us to recognise in which order and at what time the pages are accessed.
4. Analysis in the dashboard
   In the Trackboxx dashboard, you can visualise the paths and see exactly where they are, where Visitors: get in, how long they stay and where they jump off.

Practical example: e-commerce website

? Imagineyou run an online shop for sustainable fashion. The click path analysis will show you, for example:

• Many Users reach your site via a blog article ("5 tips for fair fashion").
• Some bounce after the first product category page.
• Other go directly to "Women's clothing" and stay there for several minutes before switching to the shopping basket.

This information is worth its weight in gold:

• You can expand on the successful blog article or create more content in this style.
• You identify the point at which users bounce (e.g. because product images load too slowly or important filters are missing).
• You structure your categories better so that interested parties can find what they are looking for more quickly.

Best Practices: Click path optimisation

1. Clear navigation
   • Make sure that important pages (e.g. product categories, contact page, FAQs) are easy to find.
   • Use clear labelling for menu items.
2. Targeted CTAs (call-to-action)
   • Use calls to action where you want to encourage users to take an action (e.g. "Buy now" button in a clearly visible colour).
   • Several, clearly structured CTAs per page help to guide the click path.
3. Clear layout
   • Long, convoluted pages are off-putting. Instead, include short sections with meaningful headings.
   • Use sufficient white space and simple, mobile-friendly designs.
4. Regular evaluation
   • Click paths change with new campaigns or when you rebuild your site.
   • Check the analysis tool regularly to recognise changes - and be able to react quickly.

Risks and limits

1. Data protection and tracking limits
   • With click path tracking, you must also ensure that you do not personal data to save.
   • In some cases, cookie consent may be necessary, depending on the tools or script technologies used.
2. Technical challenges
   • Single-page applications (SPAs) or AJAX pages can require special tracking because the URL often does not change.
   • If visitors block Javascript, click path tracking may also be incomplete.
3. Room for interpretation
   • A click path alone does not explain everything, Why Users act the way they do. A/B tests or user surveys can help to better interpret the data.

How does Trackboxx use click path analyses responsibly?

We at Trackboxx rely on a anonymised trackingwhere you don't need a cookie banner. Our system collects important data points to create click paths - however without compromise the privacy of your users. A few of our principles:

• Privacy-by-Design: All data collected is anonymised by default.
• Simple implementation: With just a few lines of code you have the click path analysis ready to go, even without cookies.
• Clear dashboards: We show you at a glance which paths your users take - and where they drop off.