Turn analytics into actionable insights By Susan Fariss

Keeping it Simple: Complex Data to Actionable Change

Susan Fariss

Web Analytics Manager

American Chemical Society

Presented at: J Boye Philadelphia 2014

May 7, 2014

1American Chemical Society

Approach Data Collection Strategically


American Chemical Society 3

The Collect It All Method


The Controlled Data Collection Method

What To Collect


What To Collect


Data Must Be


What business question will this data answer?

Sources of Questions

•Company strategy•Spoken management priorities•What’s being talked about around the meeting table•Information about where your bread is buttered

Collect Only What You Need


Can There Be Too Much DataAka Collecting Condiment Cups for the Apocalypse

In other words, do not collect data, just in case.


Each Piece of Data is Part of a Bigger Picture

• Web analytics data• Traffic• Keywords from web & onsite• Conversion

• Offline Campaigns

• Online surveys• Satisfaction• Intent

• Heat maps

• A/B Testing

• Focus Groups

• Usability Studies


• Integrate data where you can and where it makes sense

• Use a unique key to bring it all together

• For example, once a user logs in, use login id to pull data in from offline database such as membership status, job role, etc. into web analytics

Integrate That Data


Site Searches by Members and Non Members

Telling the Story



First Question


Unheralded Moments in Data Visualization History

Responses: 339 246 171 93 76 53 238 1,21628% 20% 14% 8% 6% 4% 20%

Content 82 84 75 85 79 79 81

Look and Feel 81 80 75 80 78 77 79

Navigation 74 75 65 76 73 61 73

Online Transparency 79 74 68 78 78 65 75

Search 76 75 68 76 74 64 74

Site Performance 82 79 76 83 79 75 80Satisfaction 78 78 65 79 74 63 75

Become a Member 65 71 75 67 76 63 73

Recommend 83 86 74 81 82 66 80

Return 86 89 85 86 88 82 86

Please select which of the following best describes the information you are looking for today:January 15, 2010 - March 15, 2010

28%

20%

14%

8%

6%

4%

20%

0% 10% 20% 30%

Educational programs and resources

Publication or journal

Meeting or event information

General chemical subjects

Career or Employment

Other:

All Other Responses Aggregated

Brought You to the SiteAggregate

57% of visitors come to the site to find information, and of the visitors seeking information, educational programs and resources was the biggest draw.

Some Like Your Basic Chart


Some Like Data and More Data


Some Like a Good Infographic


Tell story in a way that audience will connect


The Point? Better User Experience Leading to Higher Conversion

Data integrated•A/B Testing Tool•Web analytics•Heat map


We Recommend

Search on Web Site: Low Match Searches

• 10% of searches on site were for Grants & Loan topics even though this topic not covered on site

Easy to Follow Recommendation

Low-Match Searches

Issue Solution

Search

• Grants & LoansTen percent of all searches are on Grants and Loans, and 10% of users expressed desire to find this content via ACSI open-ended questions. However, Business.gov does not currently have this content.

Interim Fix

•Content Page: Added a Grants and Loans page to the site.•Search: Created a featured resource in search for “grants”.


Track Results of Actions

Number of Searches

After Re-launch

After Interim Fixes

Grants & Loans 10% 3%

Track Results of Actions

Take Aways

25

• Track to answer a question

• Track like you’re hiking into the wilderness – i.e. sparingly

• Integrate data where you can

• Tell the story in a way that speaks to your audience

• Make recommendations for action easy to follow

• Track the results

Questions?

26

Susan FarissWeb Analytics Manager

American Chemical [email protected]

202-872-4393

Presentations & Public Speaking

Turn analytics into actionable insights By Susan Fariss