UX for Beginners

Chapter 88. Stats—Sessions versus Users

A user can visit more than once. The difference between the visitors (unique users) and their visits (sessions) says a lot about loyalty and engagement.

Let’s say I visit your website. I spend a few minutes there, I have a good time, everybody is happy. After, we all give each other (virtual) high fives, and I leave.

Then, tomorrow I visit again. And the next day, I go again.

I have been there three times—three sessions—but I am only one guy. One really handsome guy, but still. Just one.

If I were your only visitor (a sad situation in itself) you would see “3 sessions” and “1 user” in your Google Analytics, or maybe “3 Visitors” and “1 Unique Visitor” in other analytics products.

They’re not saying I am more unique than your other visitors, although I’ll take it as a compliment anyway. A unique visitor is a single user, a person, who can visit more than once.

Everything Is Relative

Try not to get excited or depressed about the actual numbers. You might be tempted to say things like, “Is three sessions good?” but that’s the wrong way to look at it.

For you, 3,000 sessions might be the biggest day ever, and for some sites 3 million is still depressing. It’s all relative.

Instead, ask yourself: Is three sessions better than last month? How many users did you need to get that many sessions? And is that better than last month? Is that what a product like yours should do?

These numbers mean more together.

You should spend your time looking at, and thinking ...