google analytics automated dashboard and case studies
DESCRIPTION
Short presentation introducing an automated Google Analytics dashboard that provides robust data segmentation for a variety of important web metrics. Also included are Smithsonian Institution case studies showing how the resulting data and analysis were used to support and confirm progress toward institutional goals. From Museums and the Web 2013, Portland, OR.TRANSCRIPT
Click Here For Customized DataGoogle Analytics Automated Dashboard
and Case Studies
MW 20134/20/2013
Brian AlpertWeb Analytics and SEM Analyst
Office of the CIO
Smithsonian Institution
Effie KapsalisHead of Web & New Media
Smithsonian Archives
Smithsonian Institution
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Topics• Web Analytics Process• GA Data Grabber• Data Grabber Dashboard• Case Studies• Dashboard copying for attendees
Web analytics step-by-step process
Articulate your program’s goals Decide strategies to achieve those goals Decide tactics to pursue the strategies Decide what and how to measure Benchmark to get a sense of what’s
normal
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GA Data Grabber (GADG) Extracts data from the Google Analytics
API Easy-to-use and customize Exceptional charting capabilities Commercial product
14 days free $300 per year
Limited documentation and support Excel for Windows
2003/2007/2010/2011 There are other GA automation tools GADG was chosen for its ease of use
and charting http://www.google.com/analytics/apps/result
s?category=Reporting%20Tools
http://gadatagrabbertool.com
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Data Grabber Dashboard ‘Engagement’ metrics
Visit Frequency Visit Length Visit Depth New vs. Returning Visits Bounce Rate Conversion Rate Search Engines
A foundation to make data actionable “Key Trends and Insights” “Impact on Site/Museum” “Steps Being Taken” The easily updated, trended data
makes the dashboard a powerful tool.
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Case Studies
Smithsonian Archives Smithsonian-History Goal
One of SIA’s goals: “become the definitive source on the Smithsonian’s history”
History content was segmented Compared visit-depth for ALL web
visitors to HISTORY visitors Data for high-visit-depth segment
was remarkable Percentage of HISTORY visits
was 94% higher than ALL visits 1.21% average for ALL visits 2.35% average for HISTORY visits
History-content visits
All visits
Smithsonian Archives Women’s History Month Campaign
Month-long, image-focused, crowdsourcing/outreach campaign
Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr
Goal: attract / engage audiences with “women in science” collections
Compared all visits vs. “WHM social” visits for moderate / high visit frequency segments
Social media website visits are "streaky" – they reflect daily activity
WHM segment exhibited higher percentages of moderate (2-9) and high (10+) visit frequency
Peaks as much as 2-4X higher
Referral traffic from the targeted social media sites increased by 52%
WHM ‘social’ visits
All visits
WHM ‘social’ visits
All visits
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Archives of American Art / Wikipedia Collaboration
AAA wanted to make their content more accessible to younger students
They worked with Wikipedia to expand their offerings
We compared segments of Wikipedia visitors to other visitors
Wiki-referred visitors were increasingly less likely to (need to) visit the AAA site many times
This contrasts with the stable trend of all visits
All visits, high frequency
Wikipedia visits, high frequency
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Archives of American Art Wikipedia Case Study
Wikipedia-referred visitors were less likely to ask Smithsonian staff for help via “contact us”
Reduces the burden on Smithsonian staffers
The same datapoint for two other segments is shown Returning visitors Visitors from search engines
Returning visitors
Wikipedia visitors
Visitors from search engines
Backup
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Is the trend statistically significant?
• Control Limits Definition• Avinash’s blog post• ‘Instant Cognition
’ (Clint Ivy) blog post
Four of thirteen datapoints are outside of the upper and lower control limit ranges, 30% of the data. Is that enough to say yes, that’s a statistically significant trend? The answer is subjective, but arguably so.
All Visits data tells a nice story...
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Minimal loyalty group (purple) downward trend indicates improving content engagement
High loyalty group (blue) upward trend indicates same
This Impact of this Data on the Site or Program• This good-looking chart may indicate high content engagement and/or perceived value • This data may correlate to increasing conversion behaviors
Acting on this Data• Identify moderate and high loyalty pages as a means of duplicating, or improving others • Examining conversion behaviors of these segments may yield add'l insights • Correlating high bounce rate pages to one-time visits may yield add'l insights• Test different content types in an attempt to move 'minimal' visitors into 'moderate' group
Key Trends and Insights
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This Impact of this Data on the Site or Program• Organic search listings are driving poorly-targeted traffic• Will result in decreased organic search performance over time
Acting on this Data• Refocus title tags, meta-description tags and page content for important pages• Perform link analysis to see where other SEO improvements can be made
Minimal frequency group upward trend indicates organic listings are not appropriately targeted
Moderate frequency group downward trend indicates same
High frequency group trending slightly downward, in contrast to previous chart’s upward slope
Key Trends and Insights
…But applying segmentation tells a different story