All examples for Trend Detector - Statistical Significance Analyzer

Website Traffic Growth Plateau Analysis

Analyzing 36 months of website sessions to detect change points, separate seasonality from underlying trends, and diagnose a recent growth slowdown.

Input

What you provide to the skill

36 months of monthly website sessions show strong growth then slowdown. Detect change points and seasonality patterns

Output

What the skill generates for you

TREND ANALYSIS REPORT

Time Period: 36 months (January 2022 - December 2024)
Metric: Website Sessions
Data Quality: Excellent (complete monthly data, no gaps)

OVERALL TREND: Statistically Significant Upward Trend ✅
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• Growth Rate: +14.7% per year (+2,340 sessions/month average)
• Statistical Significance: p < 0.001 (99.9% confident this is real)
• Trend Strength: Strong (R² = 0.84 - trend explains 84% of variation)

CHANGE POINTS DETECTED: 2 Major Shifts
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1️⃣ April 2023 (Month 16): STRONG ACCELERATION 📈
Before (Jan 2022 - Mar 2023): +9.2% growth/year
After (Apr 2023 - Aug 2024): +22.1% growth/year
Confidence: 99%

This was a significant inflection point where growth more
than doubled. What happened in early 2023?

2️⃣ September 2024 (Month 33): GROWTH PLATEAU ⚠️
Recent period (Sep - Dec 2024): +1.8% growth/year
Confidence: 96%

Growth has essentially stalled in the last 4 months.
This is NOT normal variation - it’s a statistically
significant deceleration.

SEASONALITY: Moderate Seasonal Pattern
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• Q1 (Jan-Mar): -8% below annual average (post-holiday dip)
• Q2 (Apr-Jun): +3% above average (spring uptick)
• Q3 (Jul-Sep): -2% below average (summer slowdown)
• Q4 (Oct-Dec): +12% above average (holiday season)

Seasonal strength: 18% variation peak-to-trough

Current Performance vs. Seasonal Expectations:
• Q4 2024 is running 9% BELOW the expected seasonal boost
• Even accounting for typical Q4 uplift, traffic is underperforming
• This confirms the plateau is real, not just seasonal timing

INTERPRETATION & INSIGHTS
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Your website traffic tells a clear three-phase story:

Phase 1 (Jan 2022 - Mar 2023): Solid baseline growth of +9.2%/year.
Healthy and sustainable, but nothing exceptional.

Phase 2 (Apr 2023 - Aug 2024): Explosive acceleration to +22.1%/year.
Growth more than doubled following some event or initiative in
early 2023. This 17-month period drove the majority of your gains.

Phase 3 (Sep 2024 - Present): Near-total plateau at +1.8%/year.
Growth has essentially stopped in the last 4 months. This is
statistically significant (96% confidence) and concerning.

The seasonal analysis confirms this isn’t just a Q4 timing issue.
Your typical holiday boost isn’t materializing, suggesting the
plateau reflects real underlying problems, not calendar effects.

Key Concern: Whatever drove Phase 2’s success has stopped working.
You’re not just returning to Phase 1 levels - growth is nearly flat.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
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URGENT - Diagnose the Plateau (Last 4 Months):

  1. Audit all changes since August 2024:

    • Marketing budget changes or channel shifts
    • Website updates or redesigns
    • SEO ranking changes (check Google Search Console)
    • Ad platform policy changes or account issues
    • Competitive landscape shifts
  2. Deep-dive traffic source analysis:

    • Which channels declined? (organic, paid, referral, direct)
    • Which pages lost traffic?
    • Mobile vs. desktop trends
    • Geographic distribution changes
  3. Technical health check:

    • Page speed regression (Core Web Vitals)
    • Mobile usability issues
    • Crawl errors or indexing problems
    • Broken internal/external links

Learn from Phase 2 Success (Apr 2023):

  1. Document what changed in Q2 2023:

    • New marketing initiatives launched then
    • Content strategy changes
    • Product launches or feature releases
    • Partnership or PR wins
  2. Assess whether Phase 2 strategies are still active:

    • Did you stop tactics that were working?
    • Did channels mature/saturate?
    • Can you double down on what worked?

Strategic Planning:

  1. Set monitoring thresholds:

    • Establish weekly traffic alerts
    • Track leading indicators (new users, bounce rate, engagement)
    • Monitor Q1 2025 closely - seasonal dip could compound plateau
  2. Forecast scenarios:

    • If plateau continues: 145K sessions by Dec 2025
    • If Phase 1 resumes: 162K sessions by Dec 2025
    • If Phase 2 resumes: 189K sessions by Dec 2025
    • Current trajectory needs correction to hit growth targets

Bottom Line: You had lightning in a bottle from Apr 2023 - Aug 2024.
Figure out what created that success and what killed it recently.
The plateau is real and demands immediate investigation.

Visualization saved to /tmp/traffic_trend.png