Better understand your users to improve their retention

Introduction

Each person who arrives on the platform has their own expectations, needs, and behaviors. By taking the time to analyze these profiles, we can not only anticipate their needs, but also tailor the experience to maximize engagement and conversion.

Retaining all visitors is a costly illusion. The temptation is great to want to optimize for "everyone." But the reality is that the majority of a site's users are neither profitable, nor interested, nor likely to return. However, a small portion of them—sometimes 10 to 20%—generate the bulk of the value. These are the profiles that must be identified and understood.

And to do that, we start by listening for the right signals. Why? Because we don't retain everyone: we retain the right people.

Google Analytics & Hotjar: Your allies for reading between the clicks

Before changing a button, adding a feature, or redesigning your menu, you still need to know who interacts with your site, how, from where, and most importantly, why they return or not. This is where tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Hotjar become your best partners. Together, they allow you to cross-reference intent with behavior, raw data with real perception.

Google Analytics: Beyond Traffic, a View of Your True Audience

GA4 allows you to detect strong signals about your most relevant visitors. Turning data into actionable decisions isn't enough to look at traffic volumes. You need to focus on the signals that reveal visitor interest and potential value. Here are the metrics to prioritize, and what they help you understand:

Origin and acquisition channel

Which channels attract people who return and convert, rather than those who leave immediately?
👉 This allows you to invest in qualitative sources (e.g., newsletters, direct traffic, organic social media) and reallocate marketing efforts to what really works in the long term.

Recurring behaviors

Who comes back regularly? Which pages are systematically consulted?
👉 These elements help identify strategic entry points or content that deserves to be highlighted, as they attract the most engaged profiles.

Session duration and navigation depth

How much time do people spend on the site, and with what intensity?
👉 A long session may reveal hesitation or friction, while a short but focused session may indicate clear intent. This cross-reference helps us better understand the true intent.

Key events

At what point in the purchasing journey do they stop? Which clicks, cart additions, or product views lead to a conversion, or not?
👉 It is these micro-interactions that allow us to create useful behavioral segments (e.g., active visitors without purchases), to whom we can address targeted actions.

Average value per session (or per profile)

Who really brings value to the site?
👉 This metric helps align UX and marketing efforts with the profiles that matter most to your business strategy — rather than aiming broadly and ineffectively.

Retention cohorts

Who comes back after 7, 14 or 30 days?
👉 Identifying content, offers, or moments that generate a spontaneous recall effect is key to boosting loyalty — whether through a newsletter, a promotion, or a well-timed message.

Hotjar: The visual that shows you what the numbers don't say

Where GA4 gives you a quantitative reading, Hotjar allows you to dive deeper into the user experience. It reveals misunderstandings, hesitations, and abandonments invisible in traditional dashboards. In short: it shows the how and why. Here's what you can observe, and more importantly, what you can deduce from it:

Heatmaps

👉 Visualize where people click, scroll, or stop on a page.

➡ Example: An ignored “Add to Cart” button may indicate that it is too low, not very visible, poorly worded, or simply poorly positioned.

📌 Why it's useful: It helps quickly detect cold or dead spots, and reposition essential elements where attention is greatest.

Recordings (recorded session walkthrough)

👉 Recording real sessions allows you to see what you don't capture in the numbers: hesitations, back-and-forths, repeated clicks, sudden abandonments.

➡ Example: an interrupted form or an incomprehensible filter can explain a drop in conversion on mobile.

📌 Why it's useful: These recordings reveal invisible frictions that directly impact the interaction experienced.

Feedback surveys or pop-ups

👉 Inserting simple contextual questions like “Did you find what you were looking for?” allows you to capture feedback at the right time, without detours.

➡ Example: a comment on a choice of words or a missing element can lead to immediate optimization.

📌 Why it's useful: These micro-insights are valuable because they're rooted in real, spontaneous experience. They give voice to what data alone can't reveal.

Visual conversion funnel

👉 Hotjar shows you exactly when someone leaves the purchasing journey.

➡ Example: If many people leave right after the address step, perhaps the form is too long or the delivery costs are incorrectly advertised.

📌 Why it's useful: You can isolate dropout points, formulate hypotheses, and test very targeted adjustments.

To go further: better understand users through emotional attributes

At Maze, we believe that emotional design is a fundamental lever for building more engaging, fair, and sustainable interfaces. That's why we've developed eight emotional attributes that allow us to better understand users' real sensitivities, motivations, and expectations, beyond demographic or transactional statistics.

These attributes don't just help you understand: they guide decisions. They become benchmarks for making choices about words, structure, visual elements, or navigation—not based on trends, but on what your visitors truly expect, often implicitly.