METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING PAGE LOAD ABANDONS IN CLICK STREAM DATA

The invention is a method and apparatus for detecting page load abandons in real time. Particularly, a page includes code that generates a unique record correlation ID that identifies the particular page that is being loaded and the particular instance of its loading and embeds that ID in two special tags in that page. The first tag is at the top of the page and the second tag is at the bottom of the page. The first tag causes the client to send a request to a Usage Analyzer server including the unique record correlation ID. The Usage Analyzer server receives this request and creates a log entry bearing the ID and sets a page load abandon flag for that log entry. If the page finishes loading, the client machine encounters the second tag. That tag causes the client to send another request to the Usage Analyzer server with the same ID. When the Usage Analyzer server receives this request, it resets the page load abandon flag.