PRI.

org

Recommenda/on for Increasing Sessions from Returning Users

Jianyu Zhao
JOUR 477 Spring 2015

Summary
1. Overall, PRI.org is relying on returning users from the U.S. to bring visits.
The websites total sessions has slightly grown in the given /me period. The peak
of the total sessions (450,888) comes from the week of March 29.
Among all the session, users from the U.S. take up more than 80 percent on
average. Of all sessions from the U.S., returning users take up more than 90
percent on average, which may indicate that users from the U.S. are very
interested in the website.
According to the frequency chart, 54 percent of the returning users visit the
website 2 to 4 /mes. However, 80 percent of the returning users only see one
page.
2. ATrac/ng returning users: redesign the home page and customize the home page
for each user, basing on the visi/ng history.
In the given /me period, 44 percent of the sessions come from social, which is
lower than that of the returning users session (48 percent).
65.74 percent of the sessions come from branded keywords, and the bounce rate
for branded keywords is 61 percent. The bounce rate for unbranded keywords is
71.12 percent, higher than that of branded keywords. It may indicate that
returning users are familiar with the website.

 The top landing page is the home page of the website, with the bounce
rate of 37.28 percent, and 2.75 of the pages per session. It is perhaps
due to its organiza/on, puYng important stories at the top with the
appealing pictures.
3. Retaining returning users: redesign the home page and modify the
interests tag when purchasing Facebook adds.

Allen lives in Downtown L.A. and is looking
for an interna/onal volunteer organiza/on
in Europe where he can gain volunteer
experience before applying for college.

 I suggest the website redesign the home page. They may put the search bar at a more
visible place.
PRI.org may also want to add the three interests, including teenagers, volunteer
programs and European public aairs, when purchasing Facebook ads. If so, teenagers
who care about interna/onal aairs,especially things that happen in the European
countries. Furthermore, they have the desire to make a dierence in those aairs. So
PRI.org has more opportuni/es to appeal this type of person.

From Jan.11 to Apr.18, 2015, total sessions have grown slightly. The peak of the total sessions is 450,888, which
happened in the week of March 29. Its probably because of the story this picture will break your heart that has
been shared six thousand /mes via social media.
PRI.org Visits by Week
Jan. 11,2015 through Apr.18, 2015
500,000
450,888

450,000
400,000

Sessions Visits

350,000

Median: 355,715

300,000

New

250,000
200,000
150,000

Returning

100,000
50,000

Week of

Jan.11,2015

Mar.29,2015

Apr.18,2015

Total sessions vs. sessions in the U.S

According to the chart below, it demonstrates that PRI.orgs most visits come from
users in the U.S.
500,000

450,000

450,888

400,000

401,074

Total sessions

350,000

Sessions from
the U.S.

300,000

250,000

236,736
203,288

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

Week of

Jan.11,2015

Apr.18,2015

Sessions from users in the U.S. vs. sessions from RETURNING users in the U.S.
Among all the sessions from users in the U.S., sessions from returning users take up the
most part.
450,000

401,074

400,000

381,981

Sessions from users

in the U.S.

350,000

300,000

Sessions from
returning users in
the U.S.

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

Week of

Jan.11,2015

Apr.18,2015

More than a half of the returning users to PRI.org during Jan.11,2015 to Apr.18,2015 came to the site two to four
/mes. However, 80 percent of the returning users to PRI.org only saw one page, and bounced. 17 percent saw two to
ve pages.
The data may indicate that PRI.orgs returning users do not have deep loyalty. They may regard the site as a simple
source of news, and check it from /me to /me. The returning users mostly do not have constant passions to visit the
site.

PRI.org
Frequency of visits from returning users
Jan. 11, 2015 through Apr. 18, 2015
Total visits from returning users: 1,229,438

2-4 visits

54% (662,631)

PRI.org
Visits from returning users by page depth
Jan. 11, 2015 through Apr. 18, 2015
Total visits from returning users: 1,229,438

2 - 5

8-25 visits

8-25 visits

26-201+ visits

80% (988,473)

1 page

17% (212,020)

10% (125,863)

17% (203,918)

6 - 10

3% (20,476)

11 - 15

0% (5,116)

16 - 19

0% (1,199)

20+

0% (1,817)

19% (237,026)

PRI.org got about 44 percent of its sessions from social between Feb.1, 2015 to Feb.7, 2015. However, social has the highest
bounce rate, 85 percent, and the lowest average pages per session, 1.13.
We should inves/gate the content of our social media, guring out the reason of the high bounce rate. Organic search
accounted for almost a quarter of sessions, but its bounce rate was 77 percent, and the average pages per session was 1.42.
PRI.org
Sessions by Trac Source
Feb.1, 2015 through Feb.7, 2015

% New

100% (350,433)

1% (2,106)
9% (32,655)

Paid Search
Referral

22% (77,005)

Direct

24% (85,315)

Organic Search

44% (153,059)

Social

Channel
Bounce rate

Pages/ session By
Channel

84%

73%

1.61

81%

77%

1.41

66%

66%

1.24

83%

77%

1.42

72%

85%

1.13