Method and a system for analysing traffic on a website by means of path analysis

1. A method for analysing traffic on a website, the website being arranged on a server, the method comprising the steps of:

allowing a plurality of visitors to visit the website,

for each visit, registering a sequence of pages viewed by the visitor and/or actions performed by the visitor during the visit,

for each visit, monitoring navigations and/or actions performed by the visitor during the visit while accumulating value points in accordance with content viewed by the visitor and actions performed by the visitor, and in accordance with predefined value point settings associated with content of the website, thereby obtaining an accumulated value point score for the visit, the accumulated value point score reflecting the value points collected by the visitor during the visit,

defining a set of visits from the plurality of visits,

building path patterns based on the visits of the set of visits, where the registered sequences form the path patterns, the path patterns including one or more full path patterns, each full path pattern corresponding to a complete registered sequence of at least one visit, and

for each full path pattern, calculating a total path value being the sum of accumulated value point scores for all visits with registered sequences forming said full path pattern, the total path value for a given full path pattern thereby reflecting value points collected during all of the visits which followed the path of the full path pattern, the path patterns along with the calculated total path values thereby providing information regarding which registered sequences of pages and/or actions generate value and which do not; and

redesigning the website to reinforce positive behaviour and diminish negative behaviour based on the information regarding which registered sequences of pages and/or actions generate value and which do not;

wherein the path patterns form an ordered tree data structure, wherein the pages and/or actions of the registered sequences form nodes of the ordered tree data structure;

wherein the method further comprises:

for each visit, defining an exit node as the node where the visit ends, and assigning an exit value to the exit node, the exit value being the accumulated value point score for the visit;

for each node, calculating a total exit value being the sum of all exit values assigned to the node;

assigning an exit count to each exit node, the exit count being the number of visits ending at said exit node; and

for each exit node, calculating a total exit efficiency per visit being the total exit value divided by the exit count.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of identifying a most efficient full path being the full path with the highest total path value per visit in the full path.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of storing the path patterns along with the total path values in a storage device of the server.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

for each visit, storing information regarding navigations and/or actions performed by the visitor during the visit, along with the accumulated value point score of the visit, in a storage device of the server, and

retrieving the stored information from the storage device prior to performing the step of building path patterns.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the path patterns further include at least one partial path pattern, each partial path pattern corresponding to a part of a registered sequence of at least one visit.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising the steps of:

analysing each partial path pattern, and

for each partial path pattern, identifying a value point loss for said partial path pattern, based on the analysis step.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the path patterns further include at least one partial path pattern, each partial path pattern corresponding to a part of a registered sequence of at least one visit, and wherein the ordered tree data structure is formed by full path patterns as well as partial path patterns.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

for each visit, assigning a node value to each node visited during the visit, the node value being the accumulated value point score for the visit, and

for each node, calculating a total node value being the sum of all node values assigned to the node.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of assigning a node count to each node, the node count being the number of visits visiting said node.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising the step of, for each node, calculating a total node efficiency per visit being the total node value divided by the node count.

11. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of storing the ordered tree data structure along with the total node values in a storage device of the server.

12. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of analysing the ordered tree data structure and the node values.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising the step of identifying a most valuable full path of the ordered tree data structure, based on the analysis step.

14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising the step of identifying a most efficient full path of the ordered tree data structure, based on the analysis step.

15. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising the step of identifying a most valuable node of the ordered tree data structure, based on the analysis step.

16. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising the step of identifying a most efficient node of the ordered tree data structure, based on the analysis step.

17. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising the step of for each node of the ordered tree data structure, identifying a value point loss for said node, based on the analysis step.

18. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

identifying one or more statistically insignificant nodes of the ordered tree data structure,

pruning the ordered tree data structure by removing said statistically insignificant node(s) and any descendant nodes of the statistically insignificant node(s) from the ordered tree data structure, and

for each of the remaining nodes of the ordered tree data structure, assigning a prune value and a prune count being the sum of accumulated value points and visits of removed nodes descending from said node.

19. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

at least one visitor filling out a set of form fields of a form during the visit,

for each visitor, registering whether a form was dropped or submitted, and

in the case that the form was submitted, registering whether the submission was a success or a failure.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein at least the step of registering whether a form was dropped or submitted is performed on the basis of the set of filled out form fields and/or on interactive form feedback.

21. A system for analysing traffic on a website arranged on a server, the system comprising:

a register adapted to register a sequence of pages viewed by a visitor and/or actions performed by a visitor during a visit to the website, and to monitor navigations and/or actions performed by the visitor during the visit while accumulating value points in accordance with content viewed by the visitor and actions performed by the visitor, and in accordance with predefined value point settings associated with content of the website, thereby obtaining an accumulated value point score for the visit, the accumulated value point score reflecting the value points collected by the visitor during the visit, and

an analyser adapted

to build path patterns based on the visits of a defined set of visits, where the registered sequences form the path patterns, the path patterns including one or more full path patterns, each full path pattern corresponding to a complete registered sequence of at least one visit,

to calculate, for each full path pattern, a total path value being the sum of accumulated value point scores for all visits with registered sequences forming said full path pattern, the total path value for a given full path pattern thereby reflecting value points collected during all of the visits which followed the path of the full path pattern, the path patterns along with the calculated total path values thereby providing information regarding which registered sequences of pages and/or actions generate value and which do not, the website being redesigned based on the information regarding which registered sequences of pages and/or actions generate value and which do not to reinforce positive behaviour and diminish negative behaviour, wherein the path patterns form an ordered tree data structure,

wherein the pages and/or actions of the registered sequences form nodes of the ordered tree data structure,

wherein the analyser is further adapted

to define, for each visit, an exit node as the node where the visit ends, and assigning an exit value to the exit node, the exit value being the accumulated value point score for the visit,

to calculate, for each node, a total exit value being the sum of all exit values assigned to the node,

to assign an exit count to each exit node, the exit count being the number of visits ending at said exit node, and

to calculate, for each exit node, a total exit efficiency per visit being the total exit value divided by the exit count.

22. The system according to claim 21 , further comprising a storage device arranged on the server for storing the path patterns along with the total path values.

23. The system according to claim 21 , said system residing on the server having the website arranged thereon.