Guide To Tracking Website Visitors & Top 6 Tools for 2023

A website without a visitor tracking tool is like a ship lost on the horizon.

You need real-time visitor tracking tools for a big win in your business. For every website owner, it’s important to stay updated & informed about who is on your website and for how long.</p.

Let’s look at why you need web visitor tracking and which tools are the best in 2023.

What is website visitor tracking, and how does it work?

Website visitor tracking is collecting data on the actions and behavior of visitors on a website.

This data is typically collected by placing a piece of code, known as a “tracking code” or “web analytics code,” on the pages of a website.

This code, when executed, sends information about the visitor’s actions to a server, where it is stored and analyzed.

The data collected through website visitor tracking can include the number of website visitors, the visited pages, how long they spent on the site, and which links they clicked on.

This data can be used to understand how visitors interact with a website and identify areas for improvement.

Here is what Kas Szatylowics has to say about tracking users’ behaviors.

There are a few different methods that can be used for website visitor tracking, including:

1. Server log file analysis: This method involves analyzing the log files generated by a web server to identify which pages were visited, by whom, and when.
2. JavaScript-based tracking: This method uses JavaScript code to track the visitor’s behavior on the website and send this data to a server.
3. Cookies: Websites can place a small text file called a “cookie” on the visitor’s computer. These cookies can track visitors’ behavior on the website and store information about their preferences.

Many web analytics tools are available, like Google Analytics, Usermaven, Adobe Analytics, Piwik, etc. These tools help business owners to understand how visitors interact with their website and make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience and drive conversions.

How to choose the right web tracking tools for your business?

Choosing the right web tracking tools for your business can be difficult, as many options are available, each with its features and capabilities.

Here are a few key considerations to keep in mind when selecting a web tracking tool for your business:

Goals and Metrics: Understand what data you want to collect and analyze. Some common metrics include website traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, time on site, and pages per visit.

Scalability: Consider the size and complexity of your website and your business’s expected growth. Choose a tool that can accommodate your current needs and scale as your business grows.

Integration: Look for a tool that can integrate with other systems you already use, such as your CRM or marketing automation platform.

User-Friendliness: Look for an easy tool to use and understand the data it provides.

Cost: Compare the costs of different tools, and be sure to factor in additional costs such as training or support.

Data Privacy: Check the vendor’s data protection and privacy policy and ensure it complies with regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA.

Support: Look for a tool with good customer support and a helpful community.

Customization: Consider if the tool can customize metrics, dashboards, and reports and if it gives the ability to create custom events, goals, and segments to understand visitor behavior better.

Ultimately, your business’s best web tracking tool depends on your needs, budget, and website size.

Tracking website visitors with Usermaven

Signup for Usermaven, and you will be redirected to the onboarding process.

1. Add pixels tracking

The first step is important for all types of businesses. You will be asked to install a tracking script. You have four different ways of tracking script installation.

• Javascript snippet
• Google tag manager
• React.js
• Next.js

You further get two options in the Javascript snippet

• Capture all fronted events such as button or link click, form submissions
• Cookieless tracking

Once you decide on the mode of tracking script and install tracking pixels, you can enjoy privacy-friendly website analytics by clicking “check installation.”

But for SaaS companies, you must perform two additional steps to track user and company levels.

2. Send users companies-based attributes

You will fill out customer data to track company-level and customer analytics. You can track every action performed by the user and company.

3. Send important events

You can send all information about signup/subscribe/book a demo/ free trial. You can also associate these events with people in your workspace.

Usermaven is a user-friendly SaaS tool to track web analytics and product insights. Once you signup for the tool, a fine tutorial will be waiting for you to start your journey without any hurdles.

Different types of tracking tools

1.Traffic tracking tools

Website traffic tracking tools provide insights into how users interact with a website and help you measure key performance indicators (KPIs). They also give insights about all sources your traffic is coming from.

Here are a few leverages you can enjoy with website traffic tracking tools.

1. Help you understand users’ behaviors. They offer detailed insight into areas of the website that are popular and those that need improvements.
2. Help you measure KPIs such as bounce rate, page views, and conversion rate. Website traffic tracking analytics gives insight into your website’s performance and where improvements can be made.
3. Identifying referral sources for all traffic. This information can help you optimize your marketing efforts and target your audience more effectively.
4. Conduct A/B testing and allows users to test different versions of their website and compare the results. You can make data-driven decisions by identifying the most effective elements of your website.
5. Optimize conversions by identifying trends and patterns. This includes identifying pages with higher bounce rates and making changes to improve user experience.

2. Behavior tracking tools

Behavioral tracking tools allow you to track and analyze customer behavior on your website, such as which pages they visit, how long they stay, and what actions they take. This information can help you understand your customers’ needs and preferences and tailor your website and marketing efforts to meet those needs better.

Here are a few other benefits of using behavior-tracking tools:

1. Improve user experience by tracking and analyzing customer behavior; you can identify areas of your website that are causing confusion or frustration for users. This can help you improve your website’s user interface, navigation, and overall design to enhance the user experience.
2. Personalize marketing efforts by identifying customer segments and tailoring your message and offers to specific groups. This can help you improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and increase conversions.
3. Optimize website content by tracking customer behavior; you can identify which pages and content on your website are most popular and which are not. This can help you optimize your website content to better meet your customer’s needs and interests and improve your website’s overall performance.

3. Performance tracking tools

Performance tracking tools provide various benefits, including:

1. Track user engagement, page views, clicks, and other metrics to gain insights into how users interact with your platform.
2. Identifying areas of improvement, such as slow-loading pages or high bounce rates.
3. Measure conversion rates and identify the factors that influence them, such as the placement of calls to action or the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
4. Segment users based on demographics, behavior, and other characteristics to understand their unique needs and tailor your platform to serve them better.
5. Compare your performance against industry standards and competitors to understand your strengths and weaknesses.
6. Measure the impact of your marketing campaigns on website traffic and conversions to understand their return on investment (ROI).
7. Monitor website and application performance to identify and resolve technical issues such as server errors and slow loading times.
8. Many tracking tools provide real-time data and alerting, so you can quickly respond to any issues or changes in user behavior.

Best website visitor tracking tools

Certainly, there are several tools to track website visitors, but only some are user-friendly, simple, and effective. The right tool helps you make an informed decision about optimizing your website and improving the user experience.

Below are our few recommended tools to choose from (on the preference of analytics experts).

1. Usermaven

Usermaven is a simple, intuitive, and privacy-friendly website analytics tool. It offers real-time website traffic metrics. You can get the metrics on a single page to make data-backed decisions.

It is hosted in the EU and complies with privacy regulations, including GDPR, CCPA, and PECR. With its no-code event tracking, you can track important website actions such as button & link clicks and form submissions.

Like Google Analytics, it provides event tracking and goal conversion analysis with its auto-capture technology.

Usermaven Key Features:

1. Funnel analysis
2. Marketing Attribution
3. Engagement metrics
4. Feature audit reports
5. Audience segmentation

You don’t have to annoy your website visitors with cookie consent banners. Usermaven collects the data anonymously without using cookies or personally identifiable information.

You can empower your team with dashboard access and regular analytics reports delivered automatically via email and other channels.

Usermaven offers three pricing packages.

1. The starter pack is for small businesses & free of cost.
2. The pro package is for all online businesses, starting from $14/mo.
3. The premium package is for web analytics & product insights for SaaS business & starts from $99/mo.

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for tracking new and returning users, revenue, retention, engagement, events, demographics, and conversions. It offers a complete understanding of your customers across devices and platforms.

The paid version is cal
led Google Analytics 360 for large enterprises.

You can also enjoy data collection, analysis, reports, and management features. It can track and measure specific goals and events, such as the pages a visitor clicks on, the length of their visit, and their actions.

You have to insert the Google Analytics code into the HTML of your website.

However, Google Analytics is not fully GDPR compliant and collects the user’s data, which can be challenging when maintaining user privacy.

Pricing: One plan is free, while the other charges $150k for up to 1 billion hits/month.

3. Crazyegg

Crazyegg is a website optimization tool that helps you track how visitors interact with it. You can visualize where users come from and what part of the page they click, read, or interact with most. It also helps you visualize the least-performing sections of your website.

This tool is easy-to-use and simple to set up. Other features include heat maps, scroll maps, and click reports.

The heat mapping feature analyzes the effectiveness of your CTAs along with email and ad campaigns.

Crazyegg is your best bet for implementing design changes on your web pages.

It also records individual sessions and allows you to run A/B testing on your website to help you decide what works best.

Pricing: Crazyegg has a 30-day free trial for five different paid plans. Plans start from $29 / month with 30K tracked pageviews/ month. You can get a custom plan based on your needs if you require more than the paid plans offer.

4. Hotjar

Hojtar tracks aggregated visitors’ clicks, mouse movements with heatmap, scrolls, individual using browser behaviors with session recordings, feedback widgets, and user feedback with on-site surveys.

Pricing:

It offers four packages: Free package, plus ($32), Business ($80), and scale.

5. ChartMogul

ChartMogul is revenue and subscription tracking software designed for SaaS companies. It helps to track ARR, CLV, MRR, revenue, churn sales, and subscriber numbers.

This performance-tracking tool helps businesses maximize the value of their subscription billing data. Any employee inside a company can execute studies and derive insightful conclusions from their customer and revenue KPIs. It also transforms raw data from numerous sources into stunning and simple-to-understand visuals.

Pricing. ChartMogul Offers three pricing packages: Launch ($0), Scale ($100), and Volume ($150k)

6. Kissmetrics

It is a person-based analytics product that helps you understand, identify, and improve the metrics that drive your online business. Kissmetrics makes it simple to get the information you require to make better marketing decisions.

You can track product matrices like sign-up, MRR, churn rate, e-commerce metrics like revenue and sales, and cart-to-purchase conversion.

Pricing: $299/mo.

Which tool is best for website visitor tracking: final verdict?

There is no definite answer to this question. According to the survey, 74% of analytical professionals use Google analytics along with Usermaven.

With the help of Usermaven, you can track, measure, and report every user’s activity which will eventually help you optimize for improved UX and business goals.

With its privacy-friendly analytics, you can track all data anonymously. The extensive features retention analysis, onboarding analysis, and product management metrics help marketing and sales.

You can also enjoy 360 profile view, team collaboration, and end-to-end data security.

FAQs about website tracking tools

What are the benefits of website visitor tracking?

The key benefits of website visitor tracking are the following:

• Help you know your visitors
• Track where traffic is coming from
• Know exactly what your customers are looking for
• See where you are losing customers
• Find out how to optimize your website
• Use value proposition and additional data to target prospects

Is website visitor tracking GDPR compliant?

Website tracking pixels can collect personal data from users without their knowledge or agreement. According to the GDPR, tracking pixels can only be used with the user’s consent. A website must figure out a mechanism to disable the pixel if it is being used without the user’s permission or if the user rejects using pixels.

Can websites know who visits them?

In a word no, tracking tools can collect and analyze your web data and do many things. It can tell you where a user abandons a particular page. But it can’t identify a specific individual.

Can someone find out what websites I visit?

Unfortunately, anyone can see your search history and browsing history. Many websites use cookies that track your activity and provide recommendations based on your search history. Governments may be able to locate you if you take action to notify them. Additionally, hackers can infiltrate your computers.