Measuring the Online Impact of Your Information Project

Knight Community Information Challenge Boot Camp - October 2010

Dana Chinn

• What is web analytics?• Tracking overall site traffic• Mapping metrics to goals• Setting up a site for the right metrics• Using data for decisions

Slides: www.slideshare.net/danachinnTwitter: @danachinn

“Measuring the Online Impact of Your Information Project: A Primer for Practitioners and Funders” can be downloaded from the Knight Foundation Community Information Challenge site at http://www.infoneeds.org

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Our site has 5,000 monthly unique visitors….

It was a big news week last week. Our site got up to 20,000 page views….

We like our site. I think we’re doing well.

So what.

So what.

So what!

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Where’s the insight in all of this data?

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Carol

Nancy

Christina

Clare

John

Tracy

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Tell a story with metrics mapped to your goals

There are 10,000 adult residents who live in Cyberton. We decided to first focus on East Cyberton because….

Tell people what your site does have, and how this compares to your goals.

If there’s a problem, use data to help hypothesize why.

Revise your goals, develop an action plan. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In the three months since we launched, about 500 have registered. Most are from NW Cyberton. Only about 50 are from East Cyberton! This is only 5 percent of EC - our goal was 10 percent. We think it’s because we have fewer stories about EC than the other areas.

So we’re going to shift some reporting resources, do a town hall event in East Cyberton and use about a third of our house ads asking them to register.

Educate your staff, board, Knight, sponsors, etc. on what your market is, and your priorities.

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Evaluating a site’s impact starts with setting program goals

Start here

not here

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What people say they did

what they thinkand

why

as captured by surveys, focus groups, social media, usability studies

Two types of web analytics data

Behavioral research

What people did when they came to your site,as captured by an action taken on a keyboard or mouse

Attitudinal research

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Key Performance Indicator #1: Visits

A visit is counted

-- Unique visitors

-- Page views

every time someone comes to a site

An increase in visits? Always good.A decrease in visits? Always bad.

These metrics are usefulwhen put in ratios with visits, other metrics

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A unique visitor is really a unique computer. Unique visitors are either over-counted…

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…or under-counted.You don’t know when or by how much.*

* It doesn’t matter anyway….better to measure outcomes (did people do what you wanted?) than the number of people who came to your site.

library

?

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An increase in page views can be good - or bad.*

* It doesn’t matter anyway….better to measure outcomes (did people do what you wanted?) than the number of pages people went to when they came to your site.

Bad design, navigation, site architecture? Lots of page views, annoyed users

A redesign improved usability? Fewer page views, happier users

Content that should be there but isn’t? Lots of page views, annoyed users

Dynamic content? Fewer page views, happier users (probably)

?

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MEASURE OUTCOMES

Use strong, dependable metrics that

Outcomes are…The short and/or long term changes, results, and impacts from implementing a project, program, or initiative

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Generally, is your site engaging visitors?

Page views per visit

Visits per unique visitorKey Performance Indicator #2

Key Performance Indicator #3

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Are you attracting new audiences?

Visits from new visitors

Visits from returning visitors

Key Performance Indicator #4

vs.

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When audiences - new and returning - come, are they staying?

A bounce: a visit with only one page view

Bounce rate percentof the page wheremost visits start

Key Performance Indicator #5

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William Penn Foundation: TheNotebook.orgKCIC Cohort 1

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Community news sites need to go beyond overall site trends to assess whether they’re reaching their goals

1. Reach Is your site reaching the audiences you want? How do your stakeholders group themselves?

2. PenetrationHow much of your audience are you reaching?

3. EngagementAre your targeted audiences coming back repeatedly?

Are they interacting with you?

How much?

Is it due to your actions or inactions?

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Overall site data consists of traffic from everyone

Northwest Cyberton

Southern Cyberton

Eastern Cyberton

Non-stakeholders

A name that stakeholders identify with

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How much site traffic is from Cyberton?

NW Cyberton 50

E. Cyberton 25

S. Cyberton 25

Non-stakeholders 5

Success is defined by goals, priorities – not totals

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NW Cyberton

E. Cyberton

S. Cyberton

Total Site

Universe

50

25 25

100

67%

200

50

325

Penetration

75

13%

50%

31%

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The Notebook’s audiences, universes

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What info do you need from site registration, donation forms, offline events?

-- Name-- E-mail-- Zip code-- Stakeholder type as granular, specific as needed based on your priorities

Example: Not just “Parent” but also year-of-birth of children enrolled in Philadelphia public schools

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Social media metrics – focus on influencers

Do you know who they are? Are they following you? Are they interacting with you?

Not you

Content that caters, can be measured

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• Content• Design/Usability• Navigation• URL

Audience-focused

Setting priorities leads to efficient, easier resource allocation decisions

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High priority, highest traffic – grow

High priority, medium traffic – grow A LOT

Medium priority, very low traffic - ?Low priority, low traffic - hold

What content will grow traffic in your highest priority segments?

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Do you have it?

How much do you have?

Is it helping you reach your goals?

Why is/isn’t it working?

Is your site set up…

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….so you can track traffic by topic throughout your site?

….with navigation that uses terms that appeal to your audience, improve usability?

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Using data for decision-making

You had to cut one reporter. How should the others re-arrange their time?

Will partnering with a journalism school give you the quantity, quality you need?

You got new funding! What should be covered – something new or something more?

Will you lose audiences in the summer?

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How – and how much – will your site contribute to sustainability,

on and off-line?

…sign up - you capture their info

Stakeholders are lured to your site, become engaged….

…responding to online, offline campaigns, they donate and/or buy event tickets

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Set up your site for advertising

Advertise your content Help out your navigation

Ask users to comment Other calls to action

Let potential sponsors know they could have a place on your site

Sell on reach, penetration, engagement – not totals

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NW Cyberton

E. Cyberton

S. Cyberton

Total Site

Universe

50

25 25

100

67%

200

50

325

Penetration

75

13%

50%

31%

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Know what your site can – and can’t do

Selling high-ticket sponsorship packages requires in-person contact

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So, what’s your story? What are your goals? Which metrics map to them?

In the ????? months since ?????, about ????? have ?????. Most are from ?????. Only about ????? are from ?????! This is only ????? percent of ????? - our goal was ?????. We think it’s because ?????.

There are ??,??? adult residents who live in ?????. We decided to first focus on ????? because….

Educate your staff, board, Knight, sponsors, etc. on what your market is, and your priorities.

Tell people what your site does have, and how this compares to your goals.

If there’s a problem, use data to determine why.

Revise your goals, develop an action plan. Lather, rinse, repeat. So we’re going to ?????, ??????, and ?????.

Will you help us?

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Your web analytics responsibilitiesas a decision-maker

1. AUDIENCES / SOCIAL MEDIA Define Size Prioritize Set goals

2. CONTENT Assess audience needs, wants Define your unique value, competitive advantage

Prioritize based on the resources you have

3. SUSTAINABILITY Define all revenue sources, current and

potential, small and largeDetermine what your site can doSet goals – on-and offline

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Your web analytics responsibilitiesfor implementation

1. Know what you need to measure What are the Key Performance Indicators that will give you the right data?

2. Communicate what you need to your team To ensure your site architecture supports your metrics

So everyone understands how data was used to make decisions

3. Know enough about Google Analytics to direct someone to fish out the data

that you need – no more, no less OR

Do it yourself

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Dana ChinnLecturerUSC Annenberg School for Communications & Journalism

213-821-6259chinn@usc.edu

http://www.newsnumbers.comhttp://www.delicious.com/danachinnhttp://www.slideshare.net/danachinn

Twitter: @danachinn

“Measuring the Online Impact of Your Information Project: A Primer for Practitioners and Funders” can be downloaded from the Knight Foundation Community Information Challenge site at http://www.infoneeds.org