Analytics in Action - UPCEA Central

Analytics in Action! Data-Driven Marketing

How to Create a Website Analytics Plan and Start Making

Data-Driven Marketing Decisions

Welcome!

• Teach Web Analytics and Social Media • Marketing & Communications at DU • UPCEA MEMS Planning Committee

victoria.harben@du.edu @victoriaharben

continuingedmarketing.com

Expectations

• Essential components of an analytics plan • Tactics for presenting data to leadership • Strategies for creating a culture of metrics • Action steps, tools, and resources

WEB ANALYTICS

Pop Quiz!

For a continuing education website… • Average bounce rate? • Average time on site? • Average number of visitors/month? • Day of the week with highest visitors?

45% 3:12

28,000 Tuesday

Do you know your metrics?

Source: JMH Consulting

DEFINITIONS PURPOSE

TERMS

Overview

What is web analytics?

Web Analytics

Data-driven decision-making!

The combination of marketing research and data to help meet

business objectives, improve user experience, and increase ROI.

It’s Not…

http://youtu.be/haoqBKEwg1A

Questions

Who is coming to my website?

What do I want them to do?

What are they actually doing?

Audience

Prospective

• Marketing and promotional

• Process to attend, cost, deadlines

Current

• Resources

• Schedules, registration, resources

Both

• Can your website appeal to both current and prospective students? And alumni?

Outcomes

• Every website should have the same three outcomes: • Increase Revenue • Reduce Cost • Improve User Satisfaction/Loyalty

Key Terms

• Metric • Key Performance Indicator (KPI) • News Visitors vs. Returning Visitors • Referrer • Conversion • Exit Page • Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

<- Retail -> <- Service-> <- Content>

• Single page view visits divided by entry pages. • You want a LOW bounce rate. • Typical bounce rates:

Retail sites: 20-40% bounce Service sites: 10-30% bounce Content websites: 40-60% bounce

OBJECTIVES/GOALS DATA COLLECTION

TESTING COMPETITION

REPORTING

The Process

Objectives/Goals

Consider organization objectives: • Doable • Understandable • Manageable • Beneficial

Consider goals (marketing & website): • Specific • Measurable • Actionable • Realistic • Time-Bound

Data

Quantitative Data (Clickstream) • Bounce rates, time on site, depth of visit, exit rates, conversions, etc. Qualitative Data • Usability tests, surveys, A/B split tests, multivariate testing.

A/B Testing

• Start with a hypothesis (i.e., a testimonial on a landing page will increase applications) • Change at least one variable • Determine how you’ll measure success • Test on a similar volume and timeframe

A/B Testing

Goal of the Page: Click on the Pricing Plan

A

A/B Testing

Goal of the Page: Click on the Pricing Plan

B

A/B Testing

• Version A - 25.3% Conversion Rate Businesses grow faster online! (original)

• Version B - 47.8% Conversion Rate Create a webpage for your business.

A/B Testing

Goal of the Page: Add Product to Cart

A

A/B Testing

Goal of the Page: Add Product to Cart

B

A/B Testing

• Version A - 12.5% Conversion Rate Simple product page with a discounted price

• Version B - 31.0% Conversion Rate Two different elements:

A big red sticker Product name/title leading with the discount

MVT

• Identify the challenge and create a hypothesis

• Add variations to page • Determine how you’ll measure success

Competition

• “Also Visited” data • Referrals and destinations • Long-term traffic trends/historical data • SEO and keyword research • Industry benchmarks • Tools • Alexa, Compete, Hitwise, Comscore • Google Insights, Trends, AdWords • UserTesting.com, OpenSiteExplorer

Action Dashboard

Best KPIs to track for university website: • Average time on site • New vs. returning visitors • Conversions • Applying/registering for a class • Downloading a brochure • Using contact form/sending email • Spending a certain amount of time

Create an action dashboard that focuses on performance, insights, and actions.

Action Dashboard

The Metric Key Trends

Action Steps Organizational Impact

CULTURE OF METRICS ANALYTICS OWNERSHIP

Gaining Buy-In

Who is tracking their own website analytics?

Gaining Buy-In

Fight the resistance! • Discover why your organization has been reluctant to track

analytics. Resources? Cost? Lack of understanding?

Be an advocate and identify stakeholders • Find support, solve a problem for them

Form relationship with IT • Have open communication and process

Gaining Buy-In

Learn the university’s pain points • Enrollment? Retention? Donations? Alumni engagement?

Build credibility by presenting relevant data • Show how the data impacts the organization

Why is analytics necessary? • Show, don’t tell, how analytics can help the organization

Ownership

• Who makes decisions? • Who makes changes to the web? • Who interprets the data? • Who has control over the budget?

Marketing

Leadership IT

Analytics Manager

Characteristics: • Passionate advocate • Flexibility • Questions data • Interested in innovation and trends • People-person/relationship-builder • Business savvy

Analytics Manager

Questions to ask: • What resources/websites/blogs do you read to stay informed? • What is something coming up in the next six months that will change the world of web analytics?

Vendors

Consider: • Benefits (Not Just Features) • Costs • Contractual Obligations • How Data is Exported • One-on-One Resources Available • Admin Access to Tool

Vendors

Questions to ask: • Difference between yours and free tools? • Type of offered support: 24/7, account rep? • What are you planning for the next 6 months to a year to stay ahead of competition?

Resources

• Google Analytics • Yahoo Web Analytics • Crazy Egg ($9-$99/month) • TeaLeaf • Omniture (avg. $5k/month) • Clicktale (free-$99/month) • Sitemeter (free-$59/year) • VisiStat (starting at $50/month)

Resources

• Digital Analytics Association http://www.digitalanalyticsassociation.org • Avinash Kaushik’s Blog http://www.kaushik.net/avinash • KISS Metrics http://blog.kissmetrics.com/topics/analytics • Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/analytics • Mashable http://www.mashable.com

Resources

Resources

Predictive

Analytics Big Data

Big Analytics Web Analytics

Action Hero

DEFINE GOALS/SUCCESS ESTABLISH RESOURCES

TAG LINKS CREATE AN AD FOLLOW USERS

REPORT AND DELIVER

In Action

Define Purpose

Primary Goals • Get 25 people to sign up for campus info session • 5% of website traffic coming from ad • Receive 10% more donations/gifts within a month

Secondary Goals • Promote program awareness • Promote brand awareness

Define Success

Define the KPI’s you’ll track Define the metric attached to that KPI Assign a number to define success • 5 conversions? 3 minutes average time on site? Define success based on: • Internal goals • Historical benchmarks (internal and external) • Competition

Establish Resources

Budget or Media Buyer • Establish campaign budget Marketing • Write and place the ad IT • Tag and track the ad

Tag the Link

Use Google URL Builder • URL • Campaign Source (Facebook) • Campaign Medium (CPC) • Campaign Term and Content • Campaign Name

http://universitycollege.du.edu/bachelors/degree/bachelors/environmental-studies/degreeid/465?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fb-

bacp&utm_term=-&utm_content=FY14%20BACP%20Environmental%20CO

Create the Ad

Follow Users

On Facebook

On Google Analytics

Numbers will be different!

Acquisition > Campaigns > Search by “Ad Content” > Find Tagged Ad

Report

Goal Conversion Rate

• Users primarily converted the week before the event.

• Users visited an average of 2.36 pages prior to conversion.

10 conversions through use of Facebook ads at minimal cost

($0.81 average price).

Next campaign, run multiple ads starting one week prior to

event.

Conversions

Ke

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pac

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etri

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ction

Step

s

Deliver

Marketing Director

IT Lead Media Buyer

Academic Director

Dean

START TRACKING DATA ASAP DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE

DETERMINE YOUR RESOURCES GET LEADERSHIP ON BOARD

DIVE IN!

Your Action Steps

Tracking Data

Do you have Google Analytics or another vendor

implemented on your website?

Define Purpose

Who does your website target? What are your objectives and

goals?

Define Resources

Who owns web analytics—marketing, IT, web team, leadership? What’s your

process?

Leadership

Does leadership believe in the value of tracking analytics?

Have you identified the benefits?

Dive In!

Are you testing? Do you know your competition? Have you

defined your key performance indicators? Do you have a

process for reporting?

Questions?

victoria.harben@du.edu @victoriaharben