DEMYSTIFYING USER ENGAGEMENT: AUTHENTIC VS. FAKE

1. Demystifying User Engagement:
Authentic vs. Fake
Ohad Tzur, VP Global Business

2. My Journey:
Jumping off Airplanes
Startup Scene
M.I.T
Google
Ezoic

3. ● Artificial Intelligence testing platform for
publishers
● Over 3,500 publishers actively using Ezoic
today — and growing
● Google Certified Publishing Partner and
winner of the Google Business Innovation
Award (2016)
● Venture-backed (Balderton Capital) and
founded in 2011
● Designed for publishers of all shapes and
sizes
A bit about Ezoic..

4. User engagement is correlated with user value
While session duration,
pageviews per visit and
bounce rate provide
guidance towards positive
user experiences, do we
have enough information
to understand the full
picture?

5. Understanding
“Fake UX”
Understanding
“Fake UX”

6. Real Life Example: Mobile Layouts and Fake UX
Publisher redesigned
mobile site to enhance
the ‘look and feel’ of
navigation
This introduced what we
refer to as “Fake-UX”

7. More Pageviews…. Fantastic!
Carousel Navigation Menu
+
Swipe Functionality
=
Publisher
Increase in Pageviews
...Fantastic!

8. Visitor
Tried to look for Sports
section

9. More Pageviews…. frustrated users!
and landed on...Obama?
WTF?!
Nope, I’m heading back!

10. Navigation Bounce
More Pageviews…. But not aligned with user intent

11. Case Study: Impact of
Fake UX

12. Sudden Decrease in Average Time on Page?
We noticed that Average Time on Page decreased significantly
when “Fake UX” was introduced

13. Further deep dive into the user flow uncovered a 74% Navigation
Bounce Rate on top landing pages
Previous Page
Navigation Bounces: 74% of visitors…

14. 25% increase in pageviews per visit...
14% drop in earnings23% drop in organic traffic 33% keyword loss
BUT
Navigation Bounces: 23% organic traffic drop for website

15. Poor User Experience = Your site isn’t attractive!
Low engagement may lead to site
blacklisting
Low Value Impressions
Lower CTR
Decrease in Advertiser campaign
performance
Your AD?

16. How to Measure
Authentic UX?

17. What is it?
Engaged Time represents the actual real
time users spend on your site based on
various signals including clicks, slow scrolls,
and keyboard entries
What can you do with this data?
- Monitor changes to content, layout or
user path on site.
- Use data for advertisers who bid for
engaged audiences
Engaged Time on Site

18. Engaged Pageviews Per Visit
What is it?
Engaged Pageviews per visit reports the
average of engaged pages during each visit
(users spend at least 10 seconds engaged to
a page)
What can you do with this data?
- Monitor this metric to protect your site from
artificially inflated pageviews.

19. Navigation Bounces Per Visit
What is it?
The average number of navigation
bounces (users reaching unintended
pages) during a visit
What can you do with this data?
- Ensure user intent is reflected in your
sites user experience
- Monitor changes to content, layout or
user path

20. Takeaways
Common UX metrics (PVs/visit, session duration and bounce rate) are
directionally aligned with user experience but do not provide granular
info
Navigation Bounces reflect poor user experience and degrade the value
of your site overtime (Don’t find yourself on the blacklist!)
Measure Authentic User Intent Metrics (e.g. Engaged Time on Site,
Engaged PVs/visit) to ensure you’re delighting your visitors
1
2
3

21. Engagement Analytics
Authentic UX Reporting Powered by
Artificial Intelligence
Interested? ohad@ezoic.com