The importance of user engagement metrics

Learn more about the user engagement metrics you should be tracking!

The online environment might be changing rapidly and constantly, but some things remain the same. User engagement is one of those constants. Hence, it should always be treated as a priority.

We truly believe that at the heart of everything is human engagement, and only by prioritising this can you succeed.

Engaged users are more likely to convert, and maybe even become loyal customers, so, in the end, even though measuring user engagement may mean going that extra mile, it will be worth it.

So, what better way to understand your visitors than by tracking user engagement metrics? Ready to take your website to the next level? Then keep reading to discover the important user engagement metrics!

Why should you measure user engagement?

The importance of user engagement metrics lies in the insight it offers into your audience’s behaviour. So, acting based on those findings is what will take your website from ordinary to extraordinary and improve user engagement!

Eager to do that? Check out our article on the best strategies to increase user engagement!

Which user engagement metrics to track?

Monitoring user engagement metrics is only efficient if they are suitable for your business. You already know that we value quality over quantity, hence it is crucial to evaluate which user engagement metrics will offer you a fuller understanding of your content’s success and which ones will only make matters more complicated.

Luckily, there is a wide range of user engagement metrics to choose from.

1. Pageviews

According to Google, this metric shows the total number of viewed pages. While pageviews can indicate that your website is popular and getting a lot of traffic, it is truly insightful when combined with other metrics.

It’s also essential to check out unique pageviews to get more context. For example, if a user clicks reload on a page after reading it, this is counted as an additional pageview, but this is not the case for unique pageviews.

Both can be viewed on Google analytics.

2. Bounce rate

The bounce rate indicates how visitors interact with your website. Essentially, this metric shows the percentage of visitors who left your website immediately after landing on it, without visiting other pages, and without engaging.

However, it is crucial to understand that there is no such thing as a 0% bounce rate. In fact, having a bounce rate between 26% and 40% is great. Still, you should keep in mind that what is considered a “good” bounce rate varies from business to business, hence you should set your own benchmark.

You can measure your website’s bounce rate with Google Analytics.

3. First week user engagement

Want to find out how engaging and easy to use your products are? Then, first week user engagement is the metric for you.

Think about it, if a user doesn’t engage during the first week, the chances of returning are pretty low. Therefore, the first week user engagement is fundamental as it indicates if your product needs improvement.

4. Retention rate

A metric you’ll always want to be as high as possible, retention rate, indicates the percentage of users who return to your website or app.

You might ask yourself why this metric is so important. Well, a high retention rate denotes customer satisfaction and, consequently, customer loyalty.

5. Churn rate

On the other hand, there is the churn rate, the metric you should strive to keep as low as possible. The churn rate is particularly relevant for SaaS companies or businesses that use subscriptions, as it shows the number of users who stop using your product after a certain time.

This is how you can calculate the churn rate:

(Cancelled customers in the last 30 days ÷ Total customers at the start of the 30 days) x 100.

6. Net promoter score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a real game-changer when it comes to measuring customer satisfaction and gathering feedback.

You can discover what your visitors think about your brand through in-app surveys. Besides, you can also include open-end questions at the end if you want a more in-depth overview.

Through NPS, customers are divided into three categories:

• Promoters: loyal and enthusiast customers who tell other people about your brand
• Passives: satisfied customers but not loyal ones; they wouldn’t necessarily recommend your brand
• Detractors: unhappy customers who may damage your brand image

You can calculate your brand’s net promoter score (NPS) by subtracting the detractors’ number from the promoters’ one.

7. Average session duration

Thanks to Google Analytics, you can discover your visitors’ average length of session. However, if you want to go more in-depth and find out how much time visitors spend on individual web pages, then, there’s also the “time on page” metric. So thanks to these two key metrics, you can gain both a micro and a macro overview of the time users spend on your website.

Keep in mind that by default, a session lasts until there are thirty minutes of inactivity, but you can adjust that according to your preferences.

8. Conversion rate

Conversions are the actions you want visitors to take on your website, so they basically represent the end goal. From filling out forms to leaving reviews or making purchases, all of these and more represent desired actions.

Not only can you track the overall conversion track, but you can also measure keyword and marketing channel conversion rate.

Having said that, did you know that 49% of Google Searches end up in zero clicks? So, what better way to change this than by tracking the conversion rate and tweaking your website according to your website?