ANALYTICS: MEASURE, ANALYZE, ACT!Indiana University CommunicationsThom Atkinson • Chris Brown • Bob Molnar • Jenifer Wesner

AGENDA

I. Marketing Campaigns – Measuring Your ROI

II. Measuring Across Diverse Media

III. On the Horizon:Up & Coming Analytics Solutions

IV. Conclusion

“If you're not measuring, you're not marketing.”- Tweet from Michael Regoli (@michaelregoli), of IU Bloomington,

at the 2011 Communications & Marketing Conference

MEASURING YOUR ROI

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Measure

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The Analytics Process

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IIntroduction – What are analytics?

Analytics are the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of audience data.

• Track Performance• Understand Audience• Enhance Content• Improve Usability• Optimize Experience

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IWhy use analytics tools?

Low Barrier

• Inexpensive…even FREE• Non-Disruptive• Robust Data Collection • Complex Analysis and Reporting• Tracking Methods for Most Mediums &

Platforms

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IWhy use analytics tools?

Potential Opportunities

• Discover New Audience Segments• Identify Relative Topics• Target Most Effective Sources and

Channels• Personalize Messaging• Improve Pathways

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Higher Yield

• Increase Reach and Engagement• Maximize Efforts and Resources• Capitalize on Emerging Trends• High-Quality Responses

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ILimitations of analytics

Sampling Errors• Anonymous Users• Technology Blind Spots

Specificity• Behavioral Measurement • Limited Demographics for Public Audiences

Passivity• Informs vs. Affects

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Metrics• Single Snapshot• Current Measurement of a Specific Value• Possibility of Outliers

Trends• Measurement over a Period of Time• Reliability (Lower Margin of Error)• Reactive vs. Responsive

Metrics vs. Trends

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Campaign Variances• Typically Multi-Vehicle• Message Diversity• Defined Call-to-Action(s)• Multiple Touches

Analytics• Media-Specific Tools• Comprehensive Platform

Campaign Performance and ROI

MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA

MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA: SOCIAL MEDIA

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Facebook

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Social Media Metrics - Twitter

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Social Media Metrics – HootSuite (Third Party Application)

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Social Media Metrics – HootSuite (Third Party Application)

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Social Media Metrics – HootSuite (Third Party Application)

MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA: EMAIL MARKETING

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Email Marketing - WhatCounts

• IU-hosted server• Easy to use web interface• Cost between $300 for 100,000 e-mails to

$3,000 for unlimited e-mails and subrealms

• Click through Analytics, and tie in with web site analytics

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Email Marketing - Deliverability

While world wide deliverability continues to decline ( currently 76.5% average ) we are able to maintain > 99.7% deliverability.

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Email Marketing - Analytics

• Bounce Rates• Soft Bounce—an email address is temporarily

unable to receive messages (e.g., mailbox is full).

• Hard Bound—an email address is permanently unable to receive messages (e.g., revoked email accounts).

• Delivery Rate—When a sending server receives an acknowledgement from a receiving server, a message is marked as ‘delivered’ (true even if the message bounces).

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Email Marketing - Analytics

• Unsubscribe Rates—When a reader chooses to no longer receive the specific stream of communication.

• Global Opt-Out—When a reader no longer wishes to receive any further communication from the sender (all communication).

• Complaints—A reader has marked your message as spam.

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Email Marketing - Analytics

• Click-through Rates• Total Click-through Rate—Total number of

link clicks an email receives as a percentage of subscribers. Good measure of how popular the messages content is.

• Unique Click-through Rate—Total number of unique link clicks an email receives as a percentage of subscribers. Tied to individual users (not devices).

• Click to Open Rate—total links clicks as a percentage of opens.

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Email Marketing - Analytics

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Email Marketing - Analytics

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Email Marketing – Best Practices

• Keep “Calls to Action” at the top 300 pixels:https://www.indiana.edu/~iuwebdev/projects/e-vites-templates/other/iuk/index.html

• Have an equal mix of image and text: https://www.indiana.edu/~iuwebdev/projects/e-vites-templates/customizable/football-opener/index.html

• For Deliverability, add a physical address: http://www.iu.edu/~iuwebdev/projects/ceremonies/html-emails/john-ryan-memorial-evite/production/index.shtml

• Try to remember all while creating your perfect email:http://www.iu.edu/~iuwebdev/projects/113-days-of-art/2012-07-11/production/

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Email Marketing – Best Practices

• Design in a grid• Use the old HTML 4 & inline styles• Keep “Call to Actions” in the top 300 pixels • Include a properly formatted physical

address• Throttle large distributions• Limit width to 600 pixels• Test in major e-mail clients• More IU Communications best practices at:

go.iu.edu/5Kh

MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA: WEB & CAMPAIGNS

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How Google Analytics Works, Part 1

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How Google Analytics Works, Part 2

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Google Analytics Blind Spots

Disabled Javascript

BlockedCookies

Removed Cookies

Private Browsing

Multiple Devices

or Browsers

VPNConnections

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Google Analytics Profiles

Google Analytics excels at segmentation reporting. You can configure multiple account profiles to measure segments. TIP: Always define an unfiltered profile!

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Google Analytics Filters

• Help define segments

• Can apply to multiple profiles

• Cannot process legacy data

• Types:• Pre-defined• Custom

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A goal is a website page that serves as conversion for your site – i.e. completion of call to action.• Form confirmation• Downloads• Purchase• Time on site• Negative goals (e.g.,

less than X minutes in a site visit)

A funnel represents the path that you expect visitors to take on their way to converting to the goal.• Conversion rate• Visitor goal

abandonment• Bottlenecks

Goals and Funnels

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Goal Funnel

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Goal Visualization

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How can I better understand my audience?

Two Chief Questions Google Analytics Can Answer

How can I better understand my site content?

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It’s all about …

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Source

• Source is the origin of a website visit• Types of sources:

• Direct – typing a URL, or from a bookmark, or from a browser’s history, etc.

• Referral – from an external (non-search engine) site

• Campaigns – links associated with periodic or ongoing marketing campaigns

• Organic – from a search engine

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Organic Sources

• Largest segment and single-most important type of source

• Google is the biggest player• You can improve SEO by researching the

organic segment• Segment further by looking at non-

branded keywords

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Visits/Session

• Visit/Session is the period of time a user interacts with your website

• Begins when a user interacts with a page on your site

• Ends one of two ways:• User goes to another site and does not

return within 30 minutes• User is inactive on a site for at least 30

minutes

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Time on Page and Time on Site

What happened to the Time on Page for page 3? Since Google Analytics cannot detect the start stamp for page 4, an external page, it cannot calculate page 3’s Time on Page!

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Direct Visits

• Direct visits occur in a number of ways:• Typing the URL• Clicking a link in an email• Bookmarks or browser history

• Could be a good indicator of visitor loyalty (not by itself, but when measured with other stats like return visitors)

• Good resource on direct visits:“Analytics Direct Traffic is NOT What You Think It Is” (http://bit.ly/direct-visits)

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Exits

• An exit happens when …• … someone clicks on an external link and does

not return to your site within 30 minutes.• … someone leaves your site for another and

does not return within 30 minutes• … someone records at least 30 minutes of

inactivity on your site• Exit rate is a page-specific metric that shows

the % of overall visits that exit from a particular page. Good for examining the health of content.

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Pageview

• Pageviews measure each time a user visits a page within a site

• Do not confuse with “hits”• Good measurement for traditional

webpages with static content

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Percentage of New Visitors

• Percentage of new visitors represents visits from users whose browsers do not have a stored GA cookie.• Actual new visitors• Users who cleared their cookies• Users who visited in a private session

previously• Users who are visiting again using a new device

or browser• Always study in the context of segmentation

and with other metrics (e.g., Direct Traffic vs. Organic Traffic)

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Bounce Rate

• Bounce rate is one of the most important metrics in analytics

• Measures the rate of one-page visits• Good indicator that you need further study• High bounce rates can indicate …

• … stale content• … problems with navigation• … high number of external links

• Always make decisions only after further study!

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Campaigns

• Campaigns are a way to segment audiences by a particular group of communication media (what types of media are driving traffic?)• Newspaper ads• Targeted emails• Postcards• Billboard

• Uses custom URLs via Link Tagging

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• Campaign Name: Summer Arts Fest 2012

• Campaign Medium: Newspaper Ads

• Campaign Source:Nuvo Indy

• GA Campaign URL:http://artsfest.indiana.edu/?utm_source=nuvo-indy&utm_medium=newspaper-ads&utm_campaign=summer-arts-fest-2012

• Advertised URL:http://artsfest.indiana.edu/nuvo

Campaign Example

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Campaign Report

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Events

• GA, by default, can only report on activity on internal site pages.

• Using event tagging, we can learn more about a variety of user actions:• Clicks to external pages• Plays, fast-forwards, & pauses of a video• Interactions with dynamic content

(e.g., slideshows)

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• Event Category: Homepage Slideshow• Event Action: Click• Event Label: 3 – Student Generosity

Event Example

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Event Report

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Best Practices for Website Measurement

• Establish site goals (macro and micro)• Define the audience(s) and metrics for

each goal• Update site privacy policy• Create a Google Account• Create a RAW DATA profile• Create filters for isolating and analyzing

audience segments• Map goal funnels• Use campaigns

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Best Practices for Website Measurement

• Establish a scheduled review period for each goal.

• Review metrics defined for each goal.• Raw Data• Filters• Advanced Segmentations

• Determine trends, performance bottlenecks, and new growth opportunities.

• Identify actionable insights.

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Best Practices for Website

• Make it a priority!• Dedicate resources for action.• Implement site changes to better align

with goal objectives reflective of analytics findings:• Content• SEO• Site/Page Usability• Process/Workflow• Design Elements

ON THE HORIZON:UP & COMING ANALYTICS SOLUTIONS

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

ADDITION

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RCESFor More Information …

Social Media:• Social Media Monitoring & Metrics

(Paper.li):http://paper.li/cecipf/1303584942

• Social Media In Higher Education Today:http://paper.li/cksyme/1313334057

ADDITION

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RCESFor More Information …

Email Marketing:• WhatCounts Resources Guide:

http://www.whatcounts.com/resources/• WhatCounts Email Metrics 101

• http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/email-marketing-metrics-101-deliverability/

• http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/email-marketing-metrics-101-conversion-rate/

• http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/email-marketing-metrics-101-clickthrough-rate/

• http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/email-marketing-metrics-101-open-rate/

• The Email Marketing Monitor (Paper.li):http://paper.li/indiescott/1321543556

ADDITION

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Web Analytics & Campaign Analytics:• Occam’s Razor—Digital Marketing & Analytics (by

Avinash Kaushik):http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/

• How to measure success with Google Analytics campaignshttp://blogs.missouristate.edu/web/2012/04/20/google-analytics-campaigns/

• Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder:http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1033867

• Go IU URL shortener:http://go.iu.edu/

• Bit.ly URL shorener:https://bit.ly/

ADDITION

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Web Analytics & Campaign Analytics:• Advanced Web Metrics with Google

Analytics by Brian Clifton:http://amzn.to/PynuZS

• Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik:http://amzn.to/WqZbRI

• Web #Analytics Daily (Paper.li):http://paper.li/trust_no_1/1321294095

ADDITION

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You can find these slides and more information by visiting the IU Metrics website:

http://www.iu.edu/~metrics/

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Thom AtkinsSenior Social Media Specialisttgatkins@indiana.edu

Chris BrownAssistant Director of Informational and Emerging Technologieschrmbrow@iu.edu

Bob MolnarWeb Production Managerrmolnar@iu.edu

Jennifer WesnerData Analystjswesner@indiana.edu

Contact Us

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