Master Behavior Flow Analysis in Google Analytics

Behavior flow analysis is a useful tool in Google Analytics that gives you insights into the journey your site visitors take from one page to the next, or from one event to another. It also provides data regarding the pages they visit, how long they stay on any particular page, bounce rates, and more. 

Among other things, you can find out what content is most engaging, which landing pages are most popular, and where your users are dropping off.  This report provides user metrics in Google Analytics that can help you better understand your audience and improve conversions.

Read on to learn more about mastering this type of analysis.

How to Read Behavior Flow in Google Analytics

To access the Behavior Flow Reports, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Google Analytics 
2. Navigate to your view 
3. Open the "Reporting" tab
4. Navigate to "Behavior" and select "Behavior Flow"

If you're new to using behavior flow monitoring, it may be difficult to understand, but once you get the hang of it, it will help you identify where your website is underperforming.

Here is a brief guide to reading the chart:

• The green boxes show which pages were opened by the user.
• The gray lines that connect the boxes show how users move from one page to the next.
• People who left the site at some point are represented by the red lines that move away from the green pages.
• Each page is divided into columns that indicate where the user is in the journey. The user's starting point is on the left, and as they move through the process, they move to the right.

Understanding all of these features will help you map the customer journey.

Interpreting Behavior Flow Insights

The Behaviour Flow chart displays click paths that track user behavior. Here's what you can learn from each one:

The Starting Page

The first page a user sees when visiting a website. This could be a home page or a specific landing page. Marketers may utilize the entrance point to identify how and why consumers visit a site.

The First Interaction

This is the first page users visit following the Starting Page. This initial engagement should be strongly related to the aims of the company, eg., visitors should go to a blog, testimonials, or the case study website if the business's goal is to increase brand awareness.

The Second Interaction

If the first interaction does not lead to the desired outcome, the second and beyond should.

Bounce Rates

If you notice a large percentage of users abandon a specific page, it's a sign there's a problem caused by poor and irrelevant content, bad user experience, or missing CTAs. However, bounce rates are one of the simplest issues to fix.