US20080201357A1

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Publication number: US20080201357A1
Application number: US12/022,779
Authority: US
Inventors: Christopher Reid Error; Brett Error
Original assignee: Omniture LLC
Current assignee: Adobe Inc
Priority date: 2003-06-27
Filing date: 2008-01-30
Publication date: 2008-08-21
Also published as: US9053215B2; US20090037579A1; US8170993B2; US20120203901A1

Abstract

Website administrators can specify page groups and/or single pages as checkpoint nodes for site analysis reporting purposes, and can configure the system of the invention to provide information as to a particular visitation path through the checkpoints. Any group of pages can be designed as a single check-point node for website traffic analysis and reporting purposes. Page groups can be used in place of or in addition to individual web pages in any context where site traffic analysis is being presented or performed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/887,468, filed Jan. 31, 2007, for “Site Analysis Report”, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The present patent application claims priority as a continuation-in-part of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/609,008, filed Jun. 27, 2003, for “Capturing and Presenting Site Visitation Path Data”, (attorney docket no. OMN8054), which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to website traffic analysis reports, and more particularly to techniques for grouping pages in such reports.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART

Website providers often wish to collect data that describes usage and visitation patterns for their websites and for individual web pages within the sites. Such information can be extremely valuable in developing usage statistics for various purposes, including for example estimating server load, determining advertising rates, identifying areas of websites that are in need of redesign, and the like.

When surfing the Web using a browser such as Internet Explorer (available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.), users have the ability to move from one page to another by various means, such as: clicking on links within pages; typing in Uniform Resource Locators (URLs); clicking on dedicated buttons in the browser (such as Back, Forward, and Home); or selecting from a list of favorites. In addition, users can open and close new browser windows at will. As users of web browsers have grown more sophisticated over the years, they have become increasingly adept at such navigation. Furthermore, as connection speeds have increased, users have become less hesitant to click on links at will, and then back up if the information presented by the link is not of interest or is of merely momentary interest.

As a result, users often take a somewhat wandering approach through pages of a website, including side trips and tangents. The user eventually reaches the end of a theoretically linear path of pages, but may have visited some tangential pages along the way. Such tangential pages may be part of the same web domain as the linear path, or they may be external to that domain.

For example, in performing a somewhat linear task such as purchasing an item from an online retailer, there are a series of steps that are generally represented by web pages: searching for the desired item; selecting the item by putting it in a shopping cart; activating a checkout function; providing shipping and billing information; and indicating final approval. However, along the way, the user may visit some tangential pages. For example, he or she may check the shipping costs on item; or he or she may check the price of the item at a competitor's page; or he or she may, for whatever reason, check the weather forecast. The linear path of pages is eventually visited, in a discernable sequence; these tangential pages are merely momentary distractions along the way.

In many contexts, website administrators are interested in analyzing the site visitation paths of users of their websites. Visitation to the tangential pages may be of little or no interest to such administrators; alternatively, administrators may be interested in certain tangents but not others.

Furthermore, it is often the case that several web pages are similar to one another in form, function, and/or content, so that a website administrator would be interested in treating such web pages as part of a group for the purposes of website traffic analysis reports. Thus, for such purposes, it would be beneficial to have a mechanism that allows a website administrator to specify that a visit to any one of the pages in such a group should be treated as equivalent to a visit to any other page in the group.

What is needed, therefore, is a system that allows website administrators to specify page groups for site analysis reporting purposes. What is further needed is a system that allows website administrators to edit, delete, and manage previously specified page groups. What is further needed is a system that generates site traffic analysis reports wherein at least one node represents a group of pages rather than a single page.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention allows website administrators to specify page groups for site analysis reporting purposes. Website administrators are able to specify single pages and/or page groups as checkpoint nodes, and can configure the system of the invention to provide information as to a particular visitation path through the checkpoints. The system then presents usage statistics for the specified visitation path. According to the techniques of the present invention, the system is able to recognize a visitation path among checkpoints, regardless of whether the user visits other nodes in the course of the checkpoint traversal. Thus, even if a user takes “side trips” through other web pages that are not designated as checkpoints, the present invention is able to provide meaningful site path analysis with respect to those nodes that are designated as check-points. Thus, the present invention can be used to specify any group of pages as a single checkpoint node for website traffic analysis and reporting purposes.

Page groups can be used in place of or in addition to individual web pages in any context where site traffic analysis is being presented or performed. Website administrators can specify any number of page groups, and can manage such page groups as needed or desired. Thus, website administrators can name page groups, add or delete pages from them, and configure the manner in which page groups are displayed in site analysis reports.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a system for website traffic data collection.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart depicting a method of specifying a group of pages for a website traffic analysis system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 depicts a user interface for presenting a fall-out report for a website traffic analysis system.

FIG. 4 depicts a user interface for presenting a fall-out report for a website traffic analysis system after a page has been added as a checkpoint node.

FIG. 5 depicts a user interface for specifying a page group for a website traffic analysis system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 depicts a user interface for editing information associated with a page group according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 depicts a user interface for presenting a fall-out report for a website traffic analysis system, including a page group as a checkpoint node, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 depicts a pop-up menu for accessing a screen for editing information associated with a previously created page group according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 depicts a user interface for presenting a site analysis report for a website traffic analysis system, including a page group as a node, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The Figures depict a preferred embodiment of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and accompanying figures are merely illustrative of the techniques of the invention. One skilled in the art will recognize that the techniques of the invention can be implemented in other ways and in other contexts wherein it is desirable to capture and analyze sequential relationships among nodes. In addition, the particular layout and appearance of the screen shots and reports provided herein are intended to be exemplary.

Referring now toFIG. 1, there is shown an example of asystem100 for website traffic data collection.User112 interacts withclient machine107, which runs a software application such asbrowser110 for accessing and displaying web pages. In response to auser112 command such as clicking on a link or typing in a URL,client machine107 issues aweb page request111 that is transmitted via the Internet tocontent server101. In response torequest111,content server101 transmits HTMLcode102 toclient machine107.Browser110 interprets received HTMLcode102 to display the requested web page onclient machine107.

Client machine

107 also transmits web pagevisitation tracking information105 to a tracking server106, which is typically a separate server operated by a third-party website traffic statistic service.Tracking information105 typically includes a user identifier, as well information describing the pages visited and the dates and times of the visits.Tracking information105 can be transmitted fromclient107 to tracking server106 according to well-known techniques. For example, one well-known technique is to embed a pointer to a resource, known as a “web bug,” in HTMLcode102. The resource is typically invisible to the user, such as a transparent one-pixel image. The pointer directsmachine107 to request the resource from tracking server106. Tracking server106 records the request in alog108, and records additional information associated with the request (such as the date and time, and possibly some identifying information that may be encoded in the resource request). Thus, tracking server106 records the occurrence of a “hit” to the web page. Tracking server106 also transmits the requests one-pixel image109 toclient machine107 so that the resource request is satisfied.

Sitepath analysis module113 retrieves stored tracking data fromlog108, filters the data, andoutputs reports114 to aweb administrator115.Reports114 may be provided in hard copy, or via a display screen (not shown), or by some other means.Administrator115 can request particular types of reports, and can configure the filtering, analysis, and output operations viauser interface116, as will be described in more detail below.Reports114 include, for example, overviews and statistical analyses describing the relative frequency with which various site paths are being followed through the website. Examples of such reports are described below.

Module

113 anduser interface116 may be implemented in software running on server106 or on another computer that can access log108. In one embodiment, the present invention is implemented primarily withinmodule113 anduser interface116.

Referring now toFIG. 3, there is shown an example of a fall-out report300 for a website traffic analysis system. A fall-out report300 is designed to show how website visitors tend to navigate through a website. Various check-points can be defined, as described in related U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/609,008, filed Jun. 27, 2003, for “Capturing and Presenting Site Visitation Path Data”, which is incorporated herein by reference. Fall-outreport300 provides a visual indication of the number of users that follow the specified path of checkpoints. As described in related U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/609,008, additional pages may be visited along the path; if those pages are not designated as checkpoints, they are ignored for purposes of the fall-out report300.

In the example ofFIG. 3, three

checkpoints

301A,301B,301C have been defined. Each checkpoint301 corresponds to a web page within the website that is being analyzed. For each checkpoint301, the following information is displayed:

- alabel302;
- a number ofvisits303 that have followed the defined path up to the current checkpoint301;
- of the total number of visits to the first checkpoint on the path, apercentage304 of visits that have remained on the path up to and including the current checkpoint301; and
- agraphical indication305 of the relative number of visits that have remained on the path up to and including the current checkpoint301.

For each checkpoint301 after the first checkpoint, the following information is displayed:

- of the total number of visits to the previous checkpoint node on the path, apercentage306 of visits that proceeded to the current checkpoint301;
- of the total number of visits to the previous checkpoint node on the path, apercentage307 of visits that did not proceed to the current checkpoint301 (i.e., that were “lost”); and
- of those visits that were lost, anindication308 of where the website visitor went after visiting the previous checkpoint node on the path

Other information can also be shown in the fall-out report300. One skilled in the art will recognize that the example shows a particular layout for such a report but that many other layouts are possible.

Thereport300 ofFIG. 3 shows information for a checkpoint path including ahome page301A, an “Add product to cart”page301B, and a “Buy process-Order confirmation”page301C. If the website includes various category pages, each showing a product category, a site administrator may wish to see how visits to these category pages may affect site traversal statistics. Accordingly, the administrator may wish to add a category page to the checkpoint path ofFIG. 3. Referring now toFIG. 4, there is shown an example of fall-out report300 after the administrator has added a “Category: Electronics”checkpoint301D between

checkpoints

301A and301B.FIG. 4 also shows acheckpoint selector401 interface that provides alist402 of checkpoints that can be dragged onto the desired location withinreport300. The administrator can also type a search query infield403 to filter thelist402 of checkpoints.FIG. 4 also shows alist404 of checkpoint groups, which will be described in more detail below.

In some cases, the administrator may be interested in the effect, on site traversal statistics, of other pages similar to the “Category: Electronics” page. If desired, the administrator can add corresponding checkpoints to fall-out report300, and can see the effect of such checkpoints onreport300. For example, a “Category: Gaming” checkpoint (not shown) could be added just below or above the “Category: Electronics”checkpoint301D, so that the report would show statistics for a traversal path including both the “Category: Electronics” page and the “Category: Gaming” page in whatever order is specified.

The present invention also allows the administrator to generate a report for a traversal path that includes a visit to either the “Category: Gaming” page or the “Category: Electronics” page, without requiring a visit to both of these pages. To do so, the administrator creates a page group. The page group includes both of the pages, and acts as a single node, or checkpoint, within the fall-out report. The administrator can then create a target path including the checkpoint representing the page group. A visit to any page in the group will satisfy the conditions for the checkpoint, and will be considered a visit to the checkpoint for reporting purposes. The administrator can give the group a name, can add or remove pages from the group, and can perform other editing operations on the group, as shown below.

Referring now toFIG. 2, there is shown a flowchart depicting a method for specifying a group of pages for a website traffic analysis system according to one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the steps ofFIG. 2 are performed by sitepath analysis module113 in the process of generating site path reports114.Module113 receives201 input fromadministrator115 or from another individual, specifying that two or more pages should be considered part of a group for purposes of a site path report114. Additional information for the page group can be received202, including a name for the group, search parameters, and the like, as will be described in more detail below. Once the information for the page group has been provided, the site path report114 is displayed203. As shown in the examples discussed below, thereport114 includes at least one node that represents a page group as specified by the administrator instep201. Thereport114 displayed instep203 can be any type of website traffic analysis report, including for example a fall-out report, a site analysis report, or the like.

Referring now toFIG. 5, there is shown a user interface for specifying a page group for a website traffic analysis system according to one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the administrator specifies a page group by dragging acheckpoint501 fromcheckpoint list402.Checkpoint list402 is shown inFIG. 5 as part ofcheckpoint selector401.List402 includes all available checkpoints, or it can be filtered by entering a search query infield403. The user drags the desiredcheckpoint501 ontocheckpoint301B to create a group including thecheckpoint501 being dragged and thecheckpoint301B at the location where the user completes the dragging operation. Similarly, the administrator can add a page to an existing page group by dragging acheckpoint501 fromcheckpoint list402 onto an existing page group inreport300.

In the example ofFIG. 5, the administrator has dragged the “Category: Gaming”checkpoint501 fromlist402 onto “Category: Electronics” check-point301B, thus initiating the process of creating a new page group including both the “Category: Gaming” page and the “Category: Electronics” page.

In one embodiment, when a new page group is created, the administrator is given an opportunity to specify a name and additional information for the page group. Referring now toFIG. 6, there is shown a groupeditor dialog box600 that appears when a new page group is created, according to one embodiment. In other embodiments,dialog box600 is not presented automatically upon creation of a new group, but may be activated by the administrator when desired. Thus, the new group is given a default name that can be edited later if desired. The administrator can also activatedialog box600 by initiating a command, for example via an on-screen menu or keyboard shortcut.

Groupeditor dialog box600 includes afield601 for entering a name for the group; in the example ofFIG. 6, the administrator has entered the name “Technical Category” for the newly created group.Dialog box600 also includes alist602 of pages currently in the group. As shown in the example ofFIG. 6,list602 includes the “Category: Electronics” page and the “Category: Gaming” page.List603 includes available pages that can be added to the group. The administrator can enter a search query infield604 to filterlist603. The administrator can select a page fromlist603 and click onbutton605 to add the selected page to the group; the selected page is then added tolist602. The administrator can select a page fromlist602 and click onbutton606 to remove the selected page from the group; the selected page is then removed fromlist602.

The administrator clicksOK button607 to accept the changes to the group and dismissdialog box600. Alternatively, the administrator can click Cancelbutton608 to dismissdialog box600 without making the specified changes to the group.

Referring now toFIG. 7, there is shown fall-out report300 after the page group has been created. Now, the page group is shown ascheckpoint node701, with aspecial icon702 indicating that it is a group rather than a single page. For purposes ofreport300 as shown inFIG. 7, any visit to a page within the Technical Category group is considered equivalent. For example, the statistic showing 34,398 visits for the path including the ElectronicsPlus home page301A and theTechnical Category group701 includes those website visitors that visited any page within the Technical Category group after visiting the Electronics Plus home page. The Technical Category group also appears as anitem703 ingroup list404, allowing the user to access this group in the future, for example to drag it to a new report or to edit it.

The administrator can right-click ongroup701 withinreport300 to perform actions ongroup701, for example to remove it fromreport300 or to edit the group. In one embodiment, a pop-up menu appears when the administrator right-clicks ongroup701 withinreport300. Referring now toFIG. 8, there is shown an example of a pop-upmenu800 for accessing a screen for editing information associated with a previously created page group according to one embodiment of the present invention. The administrator can select Remove802 to removegroup701 fromreport300. The administrator can select Edit803 to accessdialog box600 as shown inFIG. 6 to perform other operations ongroup701.

In one embodiment, visits to multiple pages within a page group are considered a single visit for statistical purposes. In another embodiment, each visit to a page within the group is counted separately.

The above examples show the operation of the present invention in the context of a fall-out report. However, one skilled in the art will recognize that the page grouping techniques described herein can be used for any report where nodes or checkpoints representing web pages are shown. In application to such alternative contexts, the present invention allows any node within such a report to represent a single web page or a page group that can be defined by an administrator. Referring now toFIG. 9, there is shown an example of asite analysis report900 for a website traffic analysis system, including apage group901 as a node, according to one embodiment of the present invention.Page group901 is shown along withother nodes902 representing individual pages. The administrator can specifypage groups901 in the context ofsite analysis report900 in a manner similar to that described above for the fall-out report300, for example by dropping onenode902 onto anothernode902 or onto apage group901, and/or by right-clicking on apage group901 to access a groupeditor dialog box600.

In the above description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the invention.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

Some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system's memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer, network of computers, or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems appears from the description. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein.

As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. For example, the particular architectures depicted above are merely exemplary of one implementation of the present invention. The functional elements and method steps described above are provided as illustrative examples of one technique for implementing the invention; one skilled in the art will recognize that many other implementations are possible without departing from the present invention as recited in the claims. Likewise, the particular capitalization or naming of the modules, protocols, features, attributes, or any other aspect is not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may have different names or formats. In addition, the present invention may be implemented as a method, process, user interface, computer program product, system, apparatus, or any combination thereof. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.