Conversion Optimisation
User Behaviour
Plain English
What users actually do.
Definition
User glossaryBehaviourBehaviour refers to how users interact with a system, including actions, patterns, and responses.Open glossary term refers to how users interact with a product, including actions, glossaryPatternA pattern is a reusable solution to a design problem that recurs across products and contexts. It captures an approach already shown to work, so a team solves the problem once rather than every time it appears.Open glossary term, and decision-making glossaryProcessA process is a defined sequence of steps used to achieve a specific outcome.Open glossary term.
In practice
Analysed through analytics, glossarySession RecordingSession recording captures a user's real interactions with a product (clicks, scrolls, hesitations, and navigation) for review afterwards. It shows genuine behaviour in genuine conditions, without any ability to ask why.Open glossary term, and serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service to understand how users actually use a product.
In context
The gap between what users say and what they do is the reason glossaryBehavioural DataBehavioural data records what users actually did within a product, captured through analytics, event tracking, and usage patterns. It is unaffected by memory or self-presentation, and it never explains motive.Open glossary term exists. Both are useful; only one is a record of what happened.
The reality
What users say and what they do are often very different.
Compared with
User Behaviour vs User Feedback
glossaryBehaviourBehaviour refers to how users interact with a system, including actions, patterns, and responses.Open glossary term is what people did, captured whether or not they were thinking about it. glossaryFeedbackFeedback is the system response that informs users about the result of their actions. It helps users understand what has happened and what to do next.Open glossary term is what they report, filtered through memory and the wish to be helpful. Behaviour tells you what; feedback helps explain why.
FAQ
Common questions
A few practical answers to the questions that usually come up around this term.
What is user behaviour?
User glossaryBehaviourBehaviour refers to how users interact with a system, including actions, patterns, and responses.Open glossary term is how users interact with a product or glossarySystemA system is a collection of interconnected components that work together to achieve a specific function or outcome.Open glossary term.
Why is user behaviour important?
It helps understand real usage glossaryPatternA pattern is a reusable solution to a design problem that recurs across products and contexts. It captures an approach already shown to work, so a team solves the problem once rather than every time it appears.Open glossary term and issues.
How do you analyse user behaviour?
Through analytics, serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service, and glossaryObservationObservation is a research method where user behaviour is watched and analysed without interference.Open glossary term.
What influences user behaviour?
Design, glossaryContextContext is the set of surrounding conditions that shape how someone behaves and decides, including their goal, their environment, their time pressure, and what happened immediately before. The same action can mean different things in different contexts.Open glossary term, glossarySearch IntentSearch intent is the underlying goal or purpose behind a user’s query, such as finding information, making a purchase, or navigating to a specific site.Open glossary term, and external factors.
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