Web Analytics: Unique Visitior

By Chamarya Roberts

Marketing has evolved so much now that marketers have access to many technologies. These tech advancements have given marketers opportunities to better understand their consumers and online habits by measuring metrics through web analytics.

In marketing, metrics are variables that can be measured.


There are so many different metrics that marketers can use to measure. Today we will be looking at the unique visitor metric. In marketing analytics, the term unique visitor is defined as "a person who has visited the website at least once and is counted only once in the reporting time period" (2021). This means that if a person (user) visits a website more than once, it would only be counted as one visitor. The reporting time period can vary depending on the duration marketers would like to look into. For example, the time frame could be a week, a day, a month, or even years. 


Fact: Unique visitors are also known as unique users.


Why are Unique Visitors Important?

Unique visitors are crucial for businesses trying to build a website's following, showing how many people visit the site. Usually, marketers praise repeat exposure to potential customers because it adds value to advertising. There is also a downfall; too many exposures can negatively affect at times.  


Unique visitors can be used to determine:

  • Site's audience size

  • Setting an advertising price

  • Running A/B testing experiments

  • Tracking growth over time


The number of unique visitors is essential because it represents the audience size that a business is reaching. The audience size can play a significant role "when trying to raise your site's popularity or establish credibility within an industry" (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). As the number of unique visitors rises, a business is assured that its site successfully grows and its online presence.  


Calculations

Cookies are used when measuring unique visitors through Google Analytics. "Google identifies the same IP address by placing a cookie"(Schneider, 2022) since an actual person cannot be identified. Calculating unique visitors can give marketers inaccurate data. People have different devices; therefore, each visit will be counted as a unique visitor altering the data.


Now that we have discussed the basic information about the unique visitor metric let's see how it has been applied in real life. 


Last year, the Indian Over-the-top (OTT) Platforms 2020 report was published on Statista. One of the sections within the report mentions the "number of unique visitors on Amazon Prime Video in India from April 2017 to March 2020." In the graph below, you can see the growth of unique visitors for years. 



Key Findings 

The data collected from the total unique visitors are counted by mobile use only. In November 2019,  there was a spike in the data due to the release of Inside Edge's second season and the Diwali vacation. 


Consumer Demographics

Males ranging from 18-24 make up the majority of subscribers to Amazon Prime Video in India, practically double the number of females in the same age range. Females ranging from 25-45 are the audience group with the least amount of traffic on the site. 


Recent Developments

The set time frame includes the duration of time when the Coronavirus emerged out of nowhere. India had a shutdown just like many other countries did during this time, which led to increased data consumption. Amazon took advantage of more people being home and released eight new series in 2020. 




Please don't hesitate to leave me a comment. Until next time friends.




References 

 Statista Research Department. (2021). Number of unique visitors on Amazon Prime Video in India from April 2017 to March 2020. Shibboleth authentication request. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://www-statista-com.wvu.idm.oclc.org/statistics/1028041/india-amazon-prime-video-unique-visitors-number/ 


Indeed Editorial Team. (2021, April 2). Guide to unique visitors. Indeed Career Guide. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/guide-to-unique-visitors#:~:text=Unique%20visitors%20are%20a%20key,returns%20after%20too%20many%20exposures. 


Parsons, N., Michael, J., Morgaine, B., &  Banks, K. (2021, June 1). The 6 most important web metrics to track for your business website. Bplans Blog. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://articles.bplans.com/the-6-most-important-web-metrics-to-track-for-your-business-website/ 

Schneider, D. (2022, January 3). Unique visitors - targeting competitors' audience. Similarweb. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://www.similarweb.com/corp/blog/research/market-research/unique-visitors/ 


What is unique visitor - definition by insider. Insider. (2021, February 23). Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://useinsider.com/glossary/unique-visitor/#:~:text=A%20unique%20visitor%20is%20a,called%20a%20%E2%80%9CUnique%20User%E2%80%9D. 

Comments

  1. Mich MichaudJanuary 27, 2022 at 12:14 PM

    Chamarya, I too think unique visitors is very interesting in that it's not just how many people are coming and going and with the advent of "opting out" of cookies, it's harder than ever to associate a visitor ID with the same person visiting on their other devices. I'm curious, as a marketer, do you care if companies track you on various devices? I'm personally conflicted about this practice as I see it both ways as a consumer and as a marketer. Can't wait to hear what you have to say. :)

    ReplyDelete

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