know your website users

Duration (h)

The number of hours spent by visitors on the website expressed in decimal format. Duration is calculated as the sum of time differences between individual visitor actions. The calculation is based on timestamps which are set only at the start of each action. The missing time stamps at the end of an action mean that the duration of the last action in a visit cannot be calculated. Similarly, it is impossible to calculate the duration of a visit with only one action. Thus, the measured duration is always shorter than the real duration.

Duration

The total time spent by visitors on the website. Duration is calculated as the sum of time differences between individual visitor actions. The calculation is based on timestamps which are set only at the start of each action. The missing time stamps at the end of an action mean that the duration of the last action in a visit cannot be calculated. Similarly, it is impossible to calculate the duration of a visit with only one action. Thus, the measured duration is always shorter than the real duration.

Actions

The number of actions performed by the visitors on the website. An action is the result of a visitor’s activity on the website using, for example, the mouse or the keyboard. Actions include page views, downloads, text written in input fields, selection of check boxes, clicks on links to other websites, etc.

Page views

The number of times the website’s pages are viewed by the visitors. A page view is defined as a successful execution of Netminers tracking script by the visitor’s browser. Netminers tracking script is typically placed on HTML documents such that a page view is registered as what the visitors themselves understand as a page view. However, it is possible to define actions as page views in for example Flash through special implementation of the tracking script. Notice that a page view automatically times out after 30 minutes inactivity (together with the visit). Thus, a page view cannot last longer than 30 minutes.

Visits

The number of visits made by the website’s visitors. A visit is defined as one or more actions (typically page views) which are performed no longer than 30 minutes apart. If the visitor is inactive for longer than 30 minutes, his or her visit is considered terminated. Once the visitor resumes activity, a new visit is registered. It is necessary to apply time-outs, since one cannot know when the visitor leaves the website. The reason is that the registration of visits is based on timestamps that are set only at the start of each action. The missing time stamps at the end of an action mean that the last action’s termination cannot be identified.

Visitors

The number of visitors on the website. A visitor is defined as a specific computer, which accepts cookies and generates one or more visits on the website. Thus, a visitor is not necessarily the same as a person since a person can use several computers. Likewise a computer can be used by more than one person (e.g. a family). Nevertheless, the number of visitors is the closest we get to the real number of persons who visit the website.

% Page views

The number of page views expressed as a percentage of the total number of page views in a table.

% Page views (s)

The number of page views expressed as a percentage of the subtotal of page views in a hierarchical table. “(S)” refers to subtotal. Notice that subtotals appear when you select a hierarchical variable such as “Content hierarchy” or “Geography”. You can use % Page views (S) to show how many percent the number of page views for e.g. a specific product page comprise of all the page views in the product section (as opposed to the entire website).

% Visits

The number of visits expressed as a percentage of the total number of visits in a table.

% Visits (s)

The number of visits expressed as a percentage of the subtotal of visits in a hierarchical table. “(S)” refers to subtotal. Notice that subtotals appear when you select a hierarchical variable such as “Content hierarchy” or “Geography”. You can use % Visits (S) to show how many percent the number of visits on e.g. a specific product page comprise of all the visits in the product section (as opposed to the entire website).

% Visitors

The number of visitors expressed as a percentage of the total number of visitors in a table.

% Visitors (s)

The number of visitors expressed as a percentage of the subtotal of visitors in a hierarchical table. “(S)” refers to subtotal. Notice that subtotals appear when you select a hierarchical variable such as “Content hierarchy” or “Geography”. You can use % Visitors (S) to show how many percent the number of visitors on e.g. a specific product page comprise of all the visitors in the product section (as opposed to the entire website).