At a recent strategy review, the marketing team walked through engagement data highlighting increased time-on-site and a rise in click activity as clear wins. The implication: people are spending more time with us, so we must be doing something right.
Maybe. But with my UX hat on, I can't help wondering if we're misreading what the data is actually telling us.
Let me start with a caveat — this may be my naiveté in marketing showing. But I've spent my career thinking about what friction feels like to a user, and what signals confusion versus clarity. When I hear "more scrolling," "more time on page," or "more clicks per session," my first instinct isn't necessarily to cheer.
In an ideal UX scenario, users find what they need quickly, confidently, and without hesitation. They don't scroll endlessly to absorb the essentials. They don't click through a maze of content to understand what sets us apart. They shouldn't have to work hard to figure out what to do next.
If scroll-depth tracking shows users reading rich, purposeful content from top to bottom — great. If click activity shows users exploring thoughtfully crafted workflows — also great. But if users are clicking around aimlessly or lingering on pages because they can't find what they're looking for, that's a red flag, not a success story.
Our website isn't designed to be an immersive content destination. It's a resource — meant to guide, inform, and reassure. If people are staying longer than expected, it might not be because they're engaged. It might be because they're lost, uncertain, or searching for clarity that's buried too deep.
Put more bluntly: we may be closing deals despite these metrics, not because of them.
Good UX isn't about encouraging more clicks. It's about earning trust quickly and making the path to action feel obvious. If engagement numbers are rising but conversion paths remain unclear, we have to ask whether we're optimizing for curiosity or just making people work harder to understand us.
Metrics without context are misleading. And the best experience might just be the one that gets out of the way.
All thoughts are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer — though if the marketing team is reading this, I promise I come in peace.