ANALYTICS: MEASURE, ANALYZE, ACT!
Indiana University Communications
Thom 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
MEASURING YOUR ROI
The Analytics Process
Measure
Act
Analyze
Analytics are the measurement, collection,
analysis and reporting of audience data.
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Track Performance
Understand Audience
Enhance Content
Improve Usability
Optimize Experience
MEASURING YOUR ROI
Introduction – What are analytics?
Low Barrier
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Inexpensive…even FREE
Non-Disruptive
Robust Data Collection
Complex Analysis and Reporting
Tracking Methods for Most Mediums &
Platforms
MEASURING YOUR ROI
Why use analytics tools?
Potential Opportunities
• Discover New Audience Segments
• Identify Relative Topics
• Target Most Effective Sources and
Channels
• Personalize Messaging
• Improve Pathways
MEASURING YOUR ROI
Why use analytics tools?
Higher Yield
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Increase Reach and Engagement
Maximize Efforts and Resources
Capitalize on Emerging Trends
High-Quality Responses
MEASURING YOUR ROI
Why use analytics tools?
Sampling Errors
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Anonymous Users
Technology Blind Spots
Specificity
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Behavioral Measurement
Limited Demographics for Public Audiences
Passivity
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Informs vs. Affects
MEASURING YOUR ROI
Limitations of analytics
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
MEASURING YOUR ROI
Metrics vs. Trends
Campaign Variances
• Typically Multi-Vehicle
• Message Diversity
• Defined Call-to-Action(s)
• Multiple Touches
Analytics
• Media-Specific Tools
• Comprehensive Platform
MEASURING YOUR ROI
Campaign Performance and ROI
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA: SOCIAL MEDIA
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Facebook
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics - Twitter
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics – HootSuite (Third Party Application)
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics – HootSuite (Third Party Application)
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Social Media Metrics – HootSuite (Third Party Application)
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA: EMAIL MARKETING
• 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
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Email Marketing - WhatCounts
While world wide deliverability
continues to decline ( currently
76.5% average ) we are able to
maintain > 99.7% deliverability.
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Email Marketing - Deliverability
• 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).
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
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.
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
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.
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Email Marketing - Analytics
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Email Marketing - Analytics
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Email Marketing - Analytics
• Keep “Calls to Action” at the top 300
pixels:
https://www.indiana.edu/~iuwebdev/projects/e-vitestemplates/other/iuk/index.html
• Have an equal mix of image and text:
https://www.indiana.edu/~iuwebdev/projects/e-vitestemplates/customizable/football-opener/index.html
• For Deliverability, add a physical address:
http://www.iu.edu/~iuwebdev/projects/ceremonies/html-emails/john-ryan-memorialevite/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/
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Email Marketing – Best Practices
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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
Email Marketing – Best Practices
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA: WEB & CAMPAIGNS
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
How Google Analytics Works, Part 1
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
How Google Analytics Works, Part 2
Blocked
Cookies
VPN
Connections
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Google Analytics Blind Spots
Google Analytics excels at segmentation
reporting. You can configure multiple
account profiles to measure segments.
TIP: Always define an unfiltered profile!
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Google Analytics Profiles
• Help define
segments
• Can apply to
multiple
profiles
• Cannot process
legacy data
• Types:
• Pre-defined
• Custom
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Google Analytics Filters
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
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Goals and Funnels
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Goal Funnel
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Goal Visualization
How can I better
understand my
audience?
How can I better
understand my
site content?
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Two Chief Questions Google Analytics Can Answer
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
It’s all about …
• 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
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Source
• 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 nonbranded keywords
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Organic Sources
• 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
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Visits/Session
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!
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Time on Page and Time on Site
• 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)
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Direct Visits
• 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.
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Exits
• 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
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Pageview
• Percentage of new visitors represents visits
from users whose browsers do not have a
stored GA cookie.
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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)
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Percentage of New Visitors
• 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!
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Bounce Rate
• Campaigns are a way to segment
audiences by a particular group of
communication media (what types of
media are driving traffic?)
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Newspaper ads
Targeted emails
Postcards
Billboard
• Uses custom URLs via Link Tagging
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Campaigns
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Campaign Name:
Summer Arts Fest 2012
Campaign Medium:
Newspaper Ads
Campaign Source:
Nuvo Indy
GA Campaign URL:
http://artsfest.indiana.e
du/?utm_source=nuvoindy&utm_medium=
newspaper-ads&
utm_campaign=
summer-arts-fest-2012
Advertised URL:
http://artsfest.indiana.
edu/nuvo
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Campaign Example
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Campaign Report
• 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)
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Events
• Event Category: Homepage Slideshow
• Event Action: Click
• Event Label: 3 – Student Generosity
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Event Example
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Event Report
• 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
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
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.
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Best Practices for Website Measurement
• Make it a priority!
• Dedicate resources for action.
• Implement site changes to better align
with goal objectives reflective of
analytics findings:
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Content
SEO
Site/Page Usability
Process/Workflow
Design Elements
MEASURING ACROSS DIVERSE MEDIA
Best Practices for Website
ON THE HORIZON:
UP & COMING ANALYTICS SOLUTIONS
ON THE HORIZON
Cascade WCMS Google Analytics Connector
ON THE HORIZON
Spectate
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Social Media:
• Social Media Monitoring & Metrics
(Paper.li):
http://paper.li/cecipf/1303584942
• Social Media In Higher Education Today:
http://paper.li/cksyme/1313334057
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For More Information …
Email Marketing:
• WhatCounts Resources Guide:
http://www.whatcounts.com/resources/
• WhatCounts Email Metrics 101
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http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/emailmarketing-metrics-101-deliverability/
http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/emailmarketing-metrics-101-conversion-rate/
http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/emailmarketing-metrics-101-clickthrough-rate/
http://www.whatcounts.com/2012/05/emailmarketing-metrics-101-open-rate/
• The Email Marketing Monitor (Paper.li):
http://paper.li/indiescott/1321543556
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For More Information …
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
campaigns
http://blogs.missouristate.edu/web/2012/04/20/go
ogle-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/
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For More Information …
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
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For More Information …
You can find these slides and more information
by visiting the IU Metrics website:
http://www.iu.edu/~metrics/
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For More Information …
Thom Atkins
Senior Social Media Specialist
tgatkins@indiana.edu
Chris Brown
Assistant Director of Informational and Emerging
Technologies
chrmbrow@iu.edu
Bob Molnar
Web Production Manager
rmolnar@iu.edu
Jennifer Wesner
Data Analyst
jswesner@indiana.edu
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Contact Us
WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE FOR US?
WEB ANALYTICS: MEASURING ENGAGEMENT
Thank You!