One of the overlooked tools in Google Analytics involves an analysis by browser type. By segmenting out traffic by web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera, you can learn a few things about your demographic as well as your site functionality. You can also understand how quickly people are migrating to other platforms which allows you to adapt your site to meet the challenges inherent with the platform-fickle marketplace. In Google Analytics, browser information can be found under Visitors>Browser Capabilities.
Bounce rate – A noticeable difference in bounce rate between browsers can be a signal or problems with the way your site presents itself, or it could indicate that error messages are coming up when people use a particular browser. Sometimes, it turns out that the elements on your page are all over the place compared to whatever “standard” browser you’re using, and you need to play around with your CSS until your site looks the same on all platforms. Whenever possible, you should view your site on all major browsers on a periodic basis to make sure nobody’s getting a bad user experience.
- Segmentation – You may find that a higher percentage of people buy things when they come from certain browser types. This can either be because of demographics or usability issues. Sometimes the answer is simpler, since a site that sells Macintosh accessories would likely get better business from people using Apple’s Safari browser.
- Visit Time – How long are people staying, based on the browser? If you are giving the exact same user experience with each browser, this number should be fairly flat. If people are leaving your site quickly, it may be because some elements on your site aren’t loading properly.
- Browser Version – Not only can you find out what percentage of your people still use IE 6.0, you can also see how those customers behave. Knowing the percentage of clients who use older browsers can be critical if portions of your site are incompatible with older software. Likewise, if you are getting bad results from IE8 viewers, then you might need to adjust your site upward. Considering the wide variety of apps and scripts that a site can run, there are always a few that can hang up when a new browser comes to visit.
- “Missing” Browsers – This can be a tough one to spot unless you compare browser use on a month-to-month basis, or manage several sites. If your ratio of browsers shifts suddenly, it is either a sign of a sudden mass migration in use statistics, or you site has sprung a leak somewhere. Sometimes new tracking code has to be installed, or an old tracking pixel (for a completely different tool) is keeping your analytics from making a measurement. It is always good to note that search engines can get hung up on issues like these as well.
- Mobile Browsers – Want to find out how many smartphones, media players, and mobile devices are accessing your content? This is the perfect place to learn. If you see a lot of mobile browsers being used to access your content, this could be a pretty clear signal that you should design a sub-site that is streamlined for the mobile web. As a secondary consideration, if you expect to have a big audience on Apple iPads, iPhones, and iPods, then you will need an alternative to Flash-enabled content.
- Other Info – Operating systems, Flash versions, and even screen size are important analytics considerations. For sites that have a high quantity of daily traffic, and even those that don’t, an understanding of your demographic can pay off. For instance, if your users seem to have bigger screens and more updated operating systems, you can probably modernize your content. On the other side, if your audience is a bit more tech-conservative, then plain functionality may be more of a selling point.
Having a better understanding of the tools people use to browse your site is essential for a successful outcome. Studying your customer’s software preferences not only allows you to react to current trends, but also can give you insight into how your market is going to grow over time. As more and more people choose portable computing or browsing options, sites that are compatible with multiple systems are going to have the best audience. In the meantime, knowing about today’s browsing customer allows you to tweak your current settings and remove a few potential roadblocks to monetizing the traffic you already have.
Tags: browser type
