TrailExplorer
Zeqian Shen | eBay Research Labs |
Neel Sundaresan | eBay Research Labs |
Published: October, 2010
Full article |
Summary of the Tool
Trail Explorer is a visual analytics tool for better understanding of real user experience by enabling exploration and discovery of web session data. We focused on understanding temporal behavior patterns. An intuitive visual representation was designed to achieve this goal. In order to handle large-scale session data, we implemented an effective clustering of sessions and used level-of-detail visualization techniques.
Summary of its Impact
TrailExplorer was successfully applied to several eBay flows, e.g., the registration flow, in a pilot project launched. It has proven useful for understanding user experience in these structured web flows. The insights gained have been used in making data-driven decisions and brought positive business impact. For example, the checkout team discovered the strong correlation between the time that users spend in checkout and the success rate using the tool. The registration team was able to identify the friction points in the registration flow as well. The improvements based on the insights have greatly improved the success rate of registration. Because of these successes, the production development department has initiated a project to productionize Trail Explorer and cover all the critical flows. Currently, Trail Explorer is actively used by various teams at eBay to understand and monitor how users interact with their products.
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