Usesranging

Usesranging is a term used in digital analytics to describe the systematic assessment of the range of user interactions within a software system. The approach emphasizes the breadth of usage—how many different features are employed, across which paths users navigate, and over what time span—rather than solely counting events or conversions. It is applicable to web apps, mobile apps, and services that collect event-level data.

Methodologically, usesranging relies on constructing a representation of each user's interaction profile. This may involve selecting a set of features, actions, or screens, encoding whether a user engages with each item, and recording timing information. The range is then estimated using metrics such as feature usage range, session-range, and navigation-range, or by projecting profiles into a lower-dimensional space to assess spread. Analysts may apply clustering, diversity indices, or path analysis to identify common ranges and outliers.

Applications include identifying underused features, informing onboarding and UX design, guiding feature prioritization, and benchmarking across cohorts or releases. By focusing on the distribution of uses, organizations can uncover opportunities for simplification, new paths, or targeted experimentation. Usesranging can also support personalized experiences by tailoring interfaces to the observed breadth of individual user behavior.

Limitations include dependence on data quality and event tagging, potential privacy considerations, and the challenge of interpreting a high-dimensional range. The method requires careful normalization across devices and sessions, and results can be sensitive to the chosen feature set and time window.

Related concepts include user analytics, cohort analysis, journey mapping, and feature experimentation.