You probably know by now about behavior tracking. You can use action tracking to observe, track, and analyze the behavior of your online shoppers and visitors to produce the results you want. Just as in any behavior analysis, behavior tracking is done for the purpose of observing behaviors. However, behavioral tracking goes beyond observing simply behavior in both the psychological discipline as well as the business world.
There is a principle of science and psychology that says, “What you observe, you also change.” This is sometimes referred to as the Hawthorne Effect. In other words, when others are observing people or animals, they may become aware of the observer and alter their behavior to match what they believe the observer wants to see. All of this type of studying and data can be used to help create data-rich infographic content.
On the internet, visitors are not mindful of the fact that you are observing them at the time you are doing so. Google Analytics allows you to take note of visitor behaviors in “real time.” YouTube also does. But the people who are on your site are not aware of your observations. However, as you observe, you are gaining insight as to what makes them shop the way they do, and this, results in change that you will reflect on your site as a result.
What is web user tracking? – The Purpose of Visitor Tracking
The primary objective behind observing and tracking visitor behavior is ultimately to change or alter that behavior. This online consumer behavior model may seem manipulative in both cases, but, in most cases, it is for the benefit of the subject being observed. In the field of psychology, for example, a subject may be observed over a select period to get a baseline of behavior to help psychologists and observers to understand better when the behavior occurs and what precipitating incident seems to initiate it.
Then, once the baseline has been established, observers will introduce a series of stimuli or test situations to see how the subject reacts to each one. To truly follow the scientific method, it is necessary to limit the new stimuli to one element at a time. That way, when a change in the behavior occurs, you can conclude that it was the new stimuli that were introduced that caused the change. This is known as positive reinforcement in the experimental psychology circle.
A similar situation occurs when you are tracking behavior on your website. When you follow a particular behavior such as viewing an infographic or a video, for example, you are focusing on one event that you want to increase or control. Your goal is likely that you want to increase the number of views as well as the quality of observations that occur. In other words, you want to increase the level of engagement with your creative such as the infographic.
To do this, like in psychology experiments, you will want to establish a baseline of behavior first. This is where behavior tracking comes in. You will use behavior tracking to see how visitors are interacting with different elements of your website as you introduce them on your page.
Fast Track to Innovation Infographic: A Billionaire’s View
Mark Cuban of TV’s “Shark Tank” had something to say about this when he was helping a couple of entrepreneurs with their website for a dress shop where they were trying to build a clothing empire online. He told them that they should only change one aspect of their site because when you change too many things at once, it’s almost impossible to track.
He suggested changing one image or one part of their navigation first, then waiting to see what the analytics showed about the behavior of the visitors following the change. Checking the metrics of the behavior and making subtle changes as you will help you to see what is helping and what is not clearly.
If your goal is to get more infographic views, your focus should be on using behavior tracking in Google Analytics and other tools to see how making subtle changes with your infographic will help.
Making Subtle Changes
If you have a rough sketch of how you want your infographic to look, consider changing the position of one of the graphics before reposting it to your social media or website. Then track the amount of time that customers stay on your site. Do experiments with the level of viewer retention that you get as well as if the visitor is a return visitor or not.
When making a behavior analysis about your visitors, much like in psychoanalysis, you need to take into account the various behavior changes that you see along the way. Using metrics to chart the progress of the response, you can help to modify the outcome by making subtle changes.
Segmenting your Population
Remember, too, that, unlike in psychoanalysis, you are not just looking at the behavior of one person but rather a group of people collectively who visit your site. When you go into Google Analytics, you will see that you have options to track specific behaviors, set up experiments, and track the results of the analysis.
It is possible to track a specific visitor from a certain geographical location if you have the right tracking tools but it is a bit hard to control behaviors that you want to see repeated by many visitors by only focusing on one. Therefore, it is to your advantage to track the behavior of individuals and groups so that you can see if you can target specific groups of visitors who have some common ground, such as the same age range, general economic status, or other factors.
If you can influence the behaviors of specific groups of people on your site, such as increasing the time they spend looking at your infographic or commenting on it, you can also increase your level of conversions and engagement with your site.
How you approach this is up to you, and it is possible to overthink it. But you should start with a great infographic that will draw attention from your target audience. If you start with a good infographic that offers value to the viewer, you may not have to change as much later on.
Tips to Creating the Perfect online tracking infographic
If all of this psychology and behavior tracking has your brand spinning, just focus on the following tips that will help you to create a great infographic. Once you get this part right, you should be able to create campaigns that help you not only track but understand the behaviors of your visitors. This will give you the information you need to make changes where they are needed to improve your results.
- Create stunning graphics and use color wisely.
- Include statistics and graphs that add value.
- Include dates when applicable and information that appeals to your audience.
- Place your infographic on a page by itself.
- Move the position of the infographic around if you are not getting the results you want.
Okay, I know we got pretty scientific and psychological with this post, but we think it’s important to understand what goes on with visitor traffic from the inside out. When you observe and track visitor behavior, you are using the Scientific Method to determine which factors are working in influencing positive behaviors that you want to control.
In essence, when you own a website, you must become a bit of a marketing psychologist, analyzing your website from the top down to determine what works and what doesn’t. Is it manipulative? Perhaps. But customers benefit from it too because you are providing the content they want and offering the shopping opportunities that they desire, whether they know how you got the information or not.
If we can help develop a killer infographic for your site, contact us.
We are the infographic design specialists at infographicdesignteam.com.
