How to Track User Activity on a Website [Tools & Examples] + Best 5 Ways

Have you ever considered the opportunity to know about your visitors’ and customers’ behavior? By knowing your customers, you are able to optimize different aspects of your business according to them. This will lead to higher conversion and more sales. And these are possible if you track user activity on your website. 

There are many ways through which you can make this happen. The range of possible solutions to track user activity includes leveraging the best website visitor tracking tools that offer behavioral analytics, using Google Analytics (GA), WordPress, etc. 

Here in this article, we will go through the explanation of user tracking and how to track user activity on your website. Afterward, it’s time to introduce you to the best tool on the market that can help you out in this process. By reading this article, you will be ready to use this method and decently boost your business.

So, let’s start.

What Is User Tracking

Let’s get one thing straight first! Oftentimes, when we speak of user activity tracking, people think it has something to do with spies and illegal activities. Yet, that’s not true! Here’s why. 

User activity monitoring consists of gathering valuable insight into users’ behavior on your website and analyzing it to provide the ultimate user experience for them. Most CRO tools that are designed for this purpose are GDPR compliant and keep users’ data safe and secure. 

Now the question is, how do these software track user activity on a website anyway?! In the following sections, we’re going to get you familiar with the concept first and then show you the ways through which you can spy on your users! Just kidding. 😀

However, if you’re impatient to monitor user activity on your website, click on the button below to get started.

If not, let’s get down to business then!

How Does Website User Tracking Work

If you need to track user activity on a website, cookies are essential. So, what exactly are cookies? Cookies are just like footprints. When you enter a website, these cookies will gather every detail of your visit, such as your browser, time, clicks, etc. 

User tracking uses this technology to gather information about customers. Websites need to install third-party cookies and ask visitors if they agree with their information to be stored or not. This is important because it can lead to significant legal issues if the customers aren’t informed before storing their data. 

Research by arxiv.org shows us that 99% of cookies on the net are used precisely for user tracking purposes. This indicates the importance of this matter and how big a deal it is in today’s marketing era. 

5 Ways to Track User Activity on a Website

Now that you know the definition and importance of tracking user activity, it’s high time we delved into how you can carry out this whole thing. 

Here’s how to monitor user activity on your website:

1. You can use the user behavior tracking tools.
2. You can leverage website heatmap tools to see where users click, scroll, and move.
3. You can watch session recordings of users to see what they go through from the first moment they enter your web pages until they leave them using the best session replay software.
4. You can use Google Analytics (GA) to monitor user activity.
5. Finally, you may also use WordPress plugins to do so.

Now, Let us walk you through each of these methods and the advantages and disadvantages of using them to help you make an informed decision. 

#1 Use the Best User Tracking Software for Your Business

One of the ways you can see what users are doing on your website is through user behavior analytics tools. These platforms provide you with an in-depth understanding of your users and their actions as well as valuable data such as the device they’re using, the country they’re from, and whether they’re using a desktop or a mobile device. These platforms help you in the process of gathering information and analyzing them as well.

If you’re even more curious to know how to track user activity on a website using software, it’s time to introduce you to one of the best user tracking software on the market to help you get past the struggle of finding one. 

Ready?

WatchThemLive: The Best Tool for User Activity Monitoring

WatchThemLive user tracking software is our recommendation for you. Using this platform, you can easily see what users are going through when they visit your web pages and come up with strategies to convert them into paying customers! 

Watch the video below to find out how.

As you see, this platform includes every feature that a great user tracking software needs. The main features that can be mentioned are session replays, heatmaps, analytics, user tracking, and goal tracking. 

What really sets WatchThemLive apart from other tools on the market is its visual live chat and video testimonial feature. 

All you need to do to use all these great features are:

1. Sign up for free and confirm your email address.
2. Add your Website to the dashboard.
3. Add the tracking code to your website.
4. Start tracking user web activity.

#2 Record User Activity on Website Using Session replays 

If you’re a website owner who wishes to know whether your website visitors are taking the actions you desire and whether your website is performing the way you want to, you can get advantage of session replays. 

Session recordings are videos of users’ journeys on your website. They record every single move a visitor makes on your web pages. This way, you get the opportunity to walk in your website users’ shoes. 

We are delighted to announce that our customers are incredibly satisfied with our session replay tool because not only does it record user actions on website pages, but it also saves your time and energy in watching them by providing you with active filters. Using these filters, you can sort the session recordings based on country, session duration, screen resolution, console errors, visitors, etc.  

Another great aspect of WatchThemLive’s session replays is that every option you need is implemented in it. For example, you can increase or decrease the speed of the videos, play them back to back, or even skip the parts where users stay inactive!

On top of that, you can manage to exclude some users, for instance, your own team, from being recorded. This helps you save space in your storage limit. 

All you need to do to monitor web activity of users using session replays is to sign up on WatchThemLive for free! You can also watch a demo to make sure of its quality. 

But don’t go anywhere yet! There’s more to WatchThemLive than just session replays. 

#3 Track User Activity Using Heat Maps

Here’s our 3rd recommended method to see users’ interaction on your website. Heatmaps are a type of visual representation of data used by marketers and online business owners around the world that showcase where the users click on or scroll the most. 

Three types of heat maps include:

• Click heatmap tools,
• Scroll heatmaps, 
• Mouse tracking heatmaps. 

Using WatchThemLive’s heatmaps, you can track user web activity and see if your buttons are performing well, where they click the most, or how they scroll your web pages. 

#4 Use Visual Live Chats for Tracking User Activity

This might be a bit far-fetched at first sight. However, it’s a given that tracking user activity on website is of high significance when it comes to customer support. Wondering how?

Imagine a user contacts you for an inquiry through your live chat, but can’t get his message across. Visual live chats are equipped with real-time session replays that allow you to watch users’ journeys as they message you on live chat. 

Fortunately, WatchThemLive is one of the few user activity tracking tools that provide you with this option! Using this feature, you can take your business and customer satisfaction to a whole new level! 

Waste no more time, and sign up on WatchThemLive right now to take advantage of all these great features!

#5 Use Google Analytics to Track Users on Website

If you’re still in doubt regarding which method to use and need to see more options before you make any decisions, Google Analytics (GA) is the next user activity tracker we’ll discuss. 

You might have heard of Google Analytics as the biggest player of the block that allows you to track user activity on a website. Basically, this platform provides you with a bunch of different reports, including real-time, acquisition, engagement, monetization reports, etc. Google Analytics heat mapping is another feature offered by GA. 

Although Google Analytics lets you track online traffic on your website, you need to bear in mind that it comes with a list of downsides as well. Let’s discuss them together.

Google Analytics Cons

If you’re wondering if you can use GA (whether Universal Analytics or GA4, which is the more recent version of it) for tracking user activity on websites, you should know about its shortcomings. Here are some instances:

1. Google Analytics Offers Incomplete Data

This platform provides you with a lot of information about users on a website that can sometimes be overwhelming. Paradoxically, however, aside from the bugs the reports may have, GA doesn’t offer complete data because of not being equipped with any session replay tools. 

Therefore, it cannot give you a complete picture of why users behave the way they do. In order to understand that, you have to leverage user behaviour tracking tools to be able to put the data you have in good use. 

WatchThemLive is the best user behavior analytics tool that can be an excellent companion to GA and compensates for its shortcomings.

2. Google Analytics Interface Is Hard to Grasp 

If you’re looking for a simple tool to track user activity on website, Google Analytics is not for you. The reason is that GA is a little hard to deal with, and there’s a steep learning curve for it. So, if you’re too short of time to spend hours on learning how to use a platform, it’s best to go for Google Analytics alternatives, and save yourself a great deal of confusion. 

Why Should You Track User Activity on a Website

There are lots of reasons to track user activity on a website. However, the most important one is that you will get the insight you need about your customers and make decisions according to that by using this method.

Here are some of the reasons you should track user activity on your website:

1. Performance

Many website functionalities will not operate without tracking. For example, websites that need to keep customers logged in while they go through pages or e-commerce websites that need to save the shopping cart items when the user refreshes the page must use cookies and track user activity on your website.

Without tracking, many functions would not work. Consider when you’re watching videos on YouTube, and the algorithm suggests videos to watch next. This function works because YouTube remembers what you’ve watched before and utilizes that information to recommend more videos you might enjoy.

2. Advertising

Targeted advertising is a well-known usage to track user activity on a website.

Retargeting is a common procedure. This is when a website tracks the websites you visit and then shows you ads based on that information. This is why you often see advertisements that are related to activities you have done recently.

Advertisements are also displayed based on information gathered about your search history, location, interests, and the time of day you visit a website.

3. Analytics

Using data that has been gathered this way for analytics purposes is common nowadays.

Websites commonly use analytics software to gather information about their visitors. The information includes the visitors’ demographics and how they use the site. For instance, it contains how visitors get to the site and how many pages they browse.

This data can assist website owners in making business decisions and optimizing their sites based on how users interact with them.

What Are The Examples of User Tracking

There are several types of user behavior that can be tracked and analyzed to give you the information you need:

1. Content Performance

Content can be measured by popularity, the number of shares, engagement, etc. You can use user tracking software to filter and track the most popular pages. Or find out which one of them are getting repeated visits and which content has the most bounces and exits. These can help to optimize the content on your website.

2. Engagement

Not every visit results in a sale.

Before your customers complete any purchase, they will go through some steps, and they can face problems throughout the funnel.

You must guide and support your website visitors by engaging them and assisting them at each step. Live chats and chatbots are standard solutions for this matter and you need to track user activity to help you with this matter.

3. User Experience

User experience (UX) is one of the most important and broadest categories in user behavior.

It requires a specific team that monitors every experience your customers have and solve their problems in a short time. Some of the factors that tracking them help you analyze your customers’ experience are:

• Clicks and mouse movement,
• Scroll depth,
• User journey through your website,
• Website speed.

FAQs on How to Track User Activity on Website

So far, we’ve tried to provide you with all you need to know about web activity tracking to help you get your business going. Now, it’s time for the questions users mostly ask in this regard. 

#1 Is It Possible to Record User Activity on a Website?

The short answer is yes. However, you need to get some help from the most reliable tools on the market to be able to record user interaction on website. WatchThemLive is a user behavior analytics tool that offers session recordings of users on your website to help you monitor user activity. All you need to do is to sign up on WatchThemLive for free!

#2 How to Track User Activity on an App?

Google Analytics is the tool you can use to monitor user activity on a SPA (single-page application). 

#3 Where Should the Analytics Tracking Code Be Placed in the HTML of a Webpage for Data Collection?

If you’re wondering how to track user activity on website, the first step you need to take when using user behavior analytics tools like WatchThemLive is to ask for the tracking code. After receiving the code, copy and paste it right after the <head> tag in the header of your website. 

Here’s how you can place WatchThemLive’s tracking coding in the HTML of your website for tracking user activity.

Track User Activity on Your Website Now!

Now that you know the basics and foundations of user tracking, you can see the importance of tracking user activity on a website. You have the chance to use this technology, and it benefits your business a lot. However,  make sure to use the tools on the market, such as WatchThemLive, to help you with your journey.