Understanding User‐web Interactions via Web Analytics

Citation

Mason, D. (2010), "Understanding User‐web Interactions via Web Analytics", The Electronic Library, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 628-628. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471011065463

This short book is presented as being the content of a lecture on the subject of Web Analytics. It is one of a series of such lecture‐books focussing on topics in the Information Sciences area.

Throughout, it refers to itself as a lecture but it is more of a short monograph, a richly referenced updating of the state of current research, and intended to be dipped into again and again, rather than something to read once only.

Web Analytics is the name given to the collection of techniques and strategies for evaluating the effects of web site design on user's behaviour. The book's general aim is to present the basic concepts of web analytics, and then explain how each is used, how it is justified, what its particular strengths and weaknesses are, and how businesses can tweak their websites to improve the user's experience.

The chapters cover the whole gamut of web analytics studies. It starts by defining what web analytics is, what can be personal information can be traced, and what can't, and briefly looks at the psychology of web user behaviour. Then there is a chapter on the history the subject. The bulk of the book examines the each component in detail, going over key terms and jargon, giving advice on which to use in which situation, and how to judge the effectiveness of the various techniques and commercial software applications. There is a chapter on how to survey your web users directly, which complements the indirect methods of log analysis. The book concludes with a glossary of specialist terms and some blog addresses for keeping up to date in the field.

This is not a how‐to cookbook. Each chapter covers one aspect of web analytics and the overall structure reflects its origins in the author's technical background in that every chapter deals exhaustively with its topic. It has to be said that it does follow most lectures on the subject in being a bit tedious and relentlessly factual. Many parts of the book suffer from the too‐much‐information syndrome, particularly the section on the history of web analytics and the minute pedantic listing of the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches. It could do with some interesting case studies and real business examples to illustrate how and where analytic feedback has been used successfully.

However, that said, overall it is a good guide to the subject. It is comprehensive and up to date and the reference list is particularly useful.