Why FullStory is magic for online business
The United States Air Force thought they had it all figured out.
In 1929 the U.S Air Force took physical measurements of 4,000 pilots to determine "one size fits all" airplane cockpit specs [ext].
For the next three decades, the size and shape of the seat, the distance to the pedals and stick, the height of the windshield, even the shape of the flight helmets were all built to conform to the average dimensions of a 1926 pilot.
There was one big problem. Pilots couldn't keep control of their planes.
Seriously, they were crashing like crazy.
Given the planes rarely malfunctioned, the military command laid the blame for this on "pilot error". It had to be, right?
One newly hired 23-year-old analyst, Lt. Gilbert S. Daniels, had his doubts. Daniels measured 4,063 pilots and discovered something incredible.
He discovered there was no average pilot size. Zero. Not a single pilot fit the average.
One pilot might have a longer-than-average arm length, but a shorter-than-average leg length. Another pilot might have a big chest but small hips.
If you’ve designed a cockpit to fit the average pilot, you’ve actually designed it to fit no one.
The Star: When US Air Force Discovered the Flaw of Averages [ext]
It was an urgent problem that needed a practical solution.
Engineers quickly went to work on making cockpit components adjustable. Shortly after implementing these changes, pilot performance skyrocketed. The mystery was solved.
Fortunately we all learned a valuable lesson, and humanity never made the mistake of "The Flaw of Averages" again...right? Right!?
What does this have to do with FullStory?
Think about the amount of variability that there is when someone accesses a webpage. In devices alone, there is:
- Device variability (laptop, desktop, tablet, smartphone)
- Intra-device variability (iOS or Android; Windows, OS X, Linux)
- Intra-OS hardware variability ( Over 24,000 different Android devices estimated [ext])
- Browser variability (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, others)
- Screen resolution differences
- Window sizing preferences
Then consider the different multi-device combinations that anyone has access to at any given time. I've been writing this post sporadically on a smartphone, laptop and desktop.
Finally think about the different motivations and goals different people have when they visit a site. Some are there for research purposes. Others are there to buy. Some are bored. Others are motivated.
There is no average website user.
So with that in mind, let me introduce FullStory.
FullStory is user experience software that lets you understand the individual .
FullStory logs every interaction on a website from a user.
Every page, every click, every mouse movement, and every dynamic state change.
So immediately you can start to see:
- Error clicks - discover the users who triggered an error on the site and see exactly when and how the error appeared.
- Rage clicks - find the users who clicked on an element multiple times in frustration.
- Dead clicks - see where users are clicking and nothing is happening.
- Thrashing mouse - Spot where users are angrily whipping their mouse back and forth in frustration.
But you also get the chance to:
- Replay user session recordings and see exactly what path they took on your site.
- View heatmaps of popular pages to see hot and cold areas of activity.
- Uncover top opportunity to improve user experience.
- Develop funnels on the fly based on events, showing dropoff between key steps.
- Top referral traffic performance to see what's driving quality traffic.
- Exclude sensitive information from being recorded.
And heaps more (For full list see FullStory Features [ext]).
Why this is rad news for your business
Because your business isn't average . Your customers aren't average. No-one ever sold as much as they could just by appealing to average.
Trusting average bounce rates, average time-on-site, average NPS, and customer feedback is a little bit like being the U.S. Air Force trusting in average pilot size. You're not getting all the info.
By using a Digital User Experience Tool (and FullStory is arguably the best out there) is different. You get to zoom in on individual customer behaviours - exactly what works and what doesn't.
- Observe real users engage with your site
- Make decisions based on irrefutable, actionable, and definitive source of information .
See an individual customer's journey from beginning to bounce, click to conversion, and everything in between.
In conclusion...
Analytics and measurement is important. FullStory gives you more ammunition to help you understand exactly how to provide a better experience for your website visitors.
Fortunately, Diginomic is Perth's only certified FullStory Integration Partner.
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