Website-Visitor Session

A Website-Visitor Session is a service session composed of pageview events connected by clickthrough events for a single web browser visitor.

AKA: Web Visit, Browser Session.
Context:
- Session Input: HTTP Requests, Cookie Data, Browser Identifiers
  - Optional Input: User Authentication Data, Previous Session History, Referral Source
- Session Output: Session Analytics Data, User Behavior Metrics, Navigation Path
- Session Performance Measures: Session Duration, Page Depth, Conversion Rate
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- It can (typically) create a Website Navigation Path through sequential page access.
- It can (typically) have a Session Start Time marked by initial page load.
- It can (typically) have a Session End Time determined by session timeout or explicit exit.
- It can (typically) maintain Session State through browser cookies and local storage.
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- It can (often) track User Interactions such as scroll depths, click events, and form submissions.
- It can (often) collect Performance Data such as page load times and resource usage.
- It can (often) generate Analytics Events for user behavior analysis.
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- It can range from being a Bounce Session to being a Non-Bounce Session, depending on interaction depth.
- It can range from being an Anonymous Session to being an Authenticated Session, depending on user identification.
- It can range from being a Short Duration Session to being a Long Duration Session, depending on engagement time.
- It can range from being a Low Value Session to being a High Value Session, depending on conversion achievement.
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Examples:
- E-commerce Session Types:
  - Product Browsing Sessions:
    - Category Navigation Session for product discovery.
    - Search Results Session for product finding.
    - Product Detail Session for item investigation.
  - Shopping Cart Sessions:
    - Cart Building Session for item collection.
    - Checkout Session for purchase completion.
    - Order Review Session for transaction verification.
- Content Consumption Sessions:
  - Article Reading Sessions:
    - Blog Post Session for content reading.
    - News Article Session for information gathering.
    - Documentation Session for reference consultation.
  - Media Viewing Sessions:
    - Video Watching Session for media consumption.
    - Image Gallery Session for visual browsing.
    - Audio Content Session for sound consumption.
- User Account Sessions:
  - Profile Management Sessions:
  - Authentication Sessions:
    - Login Session for access verification.
    - Registration Session for account creation.
    - Password Reset Session for credential recovery.
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Counter-Examples:
- Console-based Gamer Sessions, which operate in gaming environments.
- Mobile App Usage Sessions, which run in native applications.
- Desktop Program Usage Sessions, which execute on local systems.
- API Sessions, which lack visual interfaces.
- Background Service Sessions, which run without user interactions.
See: Server Session, Web-based Application, Web Analytics, User-Chatbot Session, Session Tracking, Visitor Analysis.

References

2020

(Wikipedia, 2020) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_(web_analytics) Retrieved:2020-12-9.
- In web analytics, a session, or visit is a unit of measurement of a user's actions taken within a period of time or with regard to completion of a task. Sessions are also used in operational analytics and provision of user-specific recommendations. There are two primary methods used to define a session: time-oriented approaches based on continuity in user activity and navigation-based approaches based on continuity in a chain of requested pages.

2020

(Wikipedia, 2020) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_(web_analytics)#Definition Retrieved:2020-12-9.
- The definition of "session" varies, particularly when applied to search engines. Generally, a session is understood to consist of "a sequence of requests made by a single end-user during a visit to a particular site".In the context of search engines, "sessions" and "query sessions" have at least two definitions.A session or query session may be all queries made by a user in a particular time periodor it may also be a series of queries or navigations with a consistent underlying user need.

2003

(Eirinaki & Vazirgiannis, 2003) ⇒ Magdalini Eirinaki, and Michalis Vazirgiannis. (2003). “Web Mining for Web Personalization.” In: ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT), 3(1). doi:10.1145/643477.643478
- QUOTE: ... A user session is defined as a delimited set of user clicks across one or more Web servers. A server session is defined as a collection of user clicks to a single Web server during a user session. It is also called a visit. ...