Scroll behavior is an indicator of how users behave in different parts of a page.
Tracking scroll behavior allows website owners to identify the most viewed parts and see how far readers go on website pages.
Defining behavior patterns is a way to adjust article layouts and improve user experience.
Tools for measuring scroll behavior
Heat maps usually help website owners track scroll behavior.
Scroll depth maps, in turn, are related more to content rather than a page. A scroll depth map usually looks like a funnel displaying the percentage of readers at each point of an article. In other words, it shows a scroll depth.
Readability score is tracked along to define how many users make it to the end of an article. While a scroll depth map tells how many readers remained in different parts of content, readability defines the percentage of readers who scrolled to the end.
How to apply scroll behavior on a website
A scroll depth map usually comes as one of the features in web analytics/content analytics tools.
Publishers use visualizations to understand how to correct a content strategy and article layouts. For example, a significant drop-off at the beginning weighed out across the majority of pageviews tells you should touch on main points a bit earlier. Abandoning articles in the middle suggests a wrapping up must come a bit earlier as well.
Publishers keep in mind insights from a scroll depth map to lay out articles according to the previous reader scroll behavior.
Any heavy-content website can harness data from scroll depth maps to:
- Know where to fix UX issues
- Find out patterns in reader scroll behavior to understand audiences better
- Adjust content strategy
- Distribute elements and buttons (like CTAs or pop-ups) on pages more efficiently
- Track where readers get distracted by ad banners and move them
When to track scroll behavior
Increasing bounce rate is the first hint for a website owner to figure out what part of content doesn’t work. Clearing out behavior patterns points to areas for improvement.
Heat maps vs scroll depth maps
A heat map is more of an umbrella term for different kinds of behavior maps that analyze different aspects of website performance.
Move maps, for instance, provide a more detailed reader behavior visualization: they literally picture a reader way across a web page, highlighting ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ parts.
What scroll depth is good?
For articles of 500 words per page, a scroll depth of 68% is considered optimal. Longer articles (up to 1000 words) should have a scroll depth of at least 52%.