Patterns of eHealth Website User Engagement Based on Cross-site Clickstream Data: Correlational Study.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• User Engagement Analytics

Background:

• User engagement is crucial for eHealth website success, yet studies often lack objective, cross-site data.
• Existing research primarily relies on single-website analyses or subjective survey data.
• A holistic view of user engagement across multiple eHealth platforms using objective metrics is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe user engagement patterns on various eHealth websites.
• To investigate the influence of platform, channel, sex, and income on eHealth user engagement.
• To provide objective insights into eHealth user behavior using clickstream data.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 8-month clickstream data from 1095 mobile users in Shanghai, China.
• Utilized descriptive statistics, two-tailed t tests, and analysis of variance for data analysis.
• Examined engagement across different eHealth categories (medical, lifestyle, e-pharmacy).

Main Results:

• Medical websites dominated eHealth visits (72.51%), followed by lifestyle (25.36%).
• User engagement exhibited power-law distribution, concentrated visits, higher weekday engagement, and a daily peak around noon.
• Android users, app users, and males showed higher engagement; low-income Android users were most engaged, while low-income iOS users were least engaged.

Conclusions:

• Cross-site clickstream data offers an objective, accurate method for understanding eHealth user engagement patterns.
• Identified significant influences of platform, channel, sex, and income on engagement, providing novel insights.
• Findings highlight the potential for eHealth platforms to leverage cross-site traffic and tailor engagement strategies based on user demographics and platform preferences.