Data overload has come to content strategy. With so many things to measure and tools to measure it with, how do you find a way to use analytics without succumbing to analysis paralysis? And without spending all your time on analytics? This session will walk through the creation of a measurement strategy that supports your existing content strategy. Then we’ll look at the ways you can use those analytics to tell the kinds of stories that persuade your peers and superiors to make smarter content decisions. In this session, you will: Learn how to decide what to measure and why Find out how to create an analytics routine that provides actionable insights without taking up all your time Learn to present measurements and analytics in ways that influence and persuade others

1. Number Stories
Mike Powers
Director of Electronic Communications
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Confab Higher Ed 2015
Win friends and influence HiPPOs
with an effective measurement strategy

3. @mjpowers

4. Measurement
Strategy:
Overview

8. Content strategists
are storytellers.

9. Effective measurement
begins and ends in
storytelling.

10. How do numbers
turn into stories?
How do stories
turn into action?

11. Managing effective measurement
1. Plan for measurement
2. Collect data effectively
3. Present persuasively

12. Planning

13. Why measure?
To answer questions
about our content

14. Questions come from
your goals

15. #squadgoals

16. #squadgoals

17. #plutogoals

18. #minigoals
Image by Pascal Pinck

19. Higher Ed Goals

20. Higher Ed Goals
1. Get students

21. Higher Ed Goals
1. Get students
2. Help students, faculty, alumni
succeed

22. Higher Ed Goals
1. Get students
2. Help students, faculty, alumni
succeed
3. Get money to keep doing 1 and 2

23. Creating the Plan
PLANNING

24. What’s the story?
1. What are your goals?
2. What is your content?
3. How will this content achieve those goals?
4. What would success look like?
5. What would failure look like?
6. What measures would show success or failure?
7. What are your targets?

25. Example: Promoting a new
MA in Content Strategy

26. Example: Promoting a new
MA in Content Strategy

27. 1. What are your goals?
1. Bring in enough students over the next four years
to make program viable
2. Acquire a reputation for excellence in CS that
brings in students and helps them find
employment

28. 2. What is your content?
• New microsite about the program
• Press releases about the program, faculty
• Blog posts about CS written by faculty members
• Presentations by faculty and student at CS
conferences
• Online ads

29. 3. How does content achieve your goals?

30. 3. How does content achieve your goals?
Ad
Blog
Earned
Media

31. 3. How does content achieve your goals?
Come to
Microsite
Ad
Blog
Earned
Media

32. 3. How does content achieve your goals?
Come to
Microsite
Learn
More
Ad
Blog
Earned
Media

33. 3. How does content achieve your goals?
Come to
Microsite
Learn
More
Ad
Blog
Earned
Media
Request
Info
Request
Visit
Apply

34. 4. What does success look like?
Image by velkr0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/velkr0/

35. 4. What does success look like?
Image by velkr0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/velkr0/
• Highly qualified
• Diverse
• Likely to succeed

36. 5. What does failure look like?
Image by Andrew Allio https://www.flickr.com/photos/allio/

37. 5. What does failure look like?
Image by velkr0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/velkr0/
• Not qualified
• All the same
• Unable to afford the program

38. 6. What measures would show success
or failure?
Enrollment? Test Scores? Diversity Data?
Image by gozalewis https://www.flickr.com/photos/gozalewis/

39. Interim Goals
A. Do prospects understand content?
B. Does content communicate value
propositions?
C. Does content appeal to/engage prospects?
D. Does content encourage conversions?

40. A. Do prospects
understand
your content?
Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photojonny/2268845904/

41. Readability
scores
Screen capture of HemingwayApp.com
Make sure all
content meets a
set readability
standard.

42. Cloze test
Test sample
content for
readability with
typical users.

43. Inherent Value
Test
User testing
technique to
understand if your
site communicates
your value/values.
Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/l-i-n-k/3654390818/

44. B. Does your content appeal to and
engage your prospects?
Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dm-set/4200811849/

45. Bounce
Rate
Time on
Page
Return
Visits
Social Media
Engagement
New
Users
Pageviews

46. C. Does content encourage
conversions?
• Inquiries
• Visits
• Applications
• Page value

47. Home Page Admissions B.S. in Math
Visit Campus
Visit Sign-Up
Form
Thanks for
Registering

48. Home Page Admissions B.S. in Math
Visit Campus
Visit Sign-Up
Form
Thanks for
Registering
$100

49. Home Page Admissions B.S. in Math
Visit Campus
Visit Sign-Up
Form
Thanks for
Registering
$100$20$20
$20$20$20

52. You can’t
measure everything.
Choose wisely,
using your goals.

53. 7. What are your numeric targets?
• If you want 50 students (donations, etc.)
• How many applications?
• How many inquiries?
• How many web sessions (visits)?

54. 50 Students

55. If 10% of applications
result in
1 matriculated student …

56. ?? apps
× 10% yield
= 50 students

57. ?? apps
× 10% yield
= 50 students
500

58. ???? inquiries
× 20% yield
= 500 applications

59. ???? inquiries
× 20% yield
= 500 applications
2,500

60. ??????? sessions
× 1.2% goal conv. rate
= 2,500 inquiries

61. ??????? sessions
× 1.2% goal conv. rate
= 2,500 inquiries
208,334

62. Or, profile the visits you want
Applicants All Users Goal
Visits to Site 5 2 3
Avg. Session
Length 9:34 2:13 3:21

63. Add those goals to your
plan, and launch

64. Data
Collection

67. 414 Measures

68. You probably have years
of Google Analytics data
at your fingertips.

69. Google Analytics Isn’t Enough
• Data for context
• A place to put it all
• Sustainability

70. Context
DATA COLLECTION

71. Context

72. Context
Football
Game
Football
Game
Football
Game
Football
Game
Foo
Ga

74. ? ? ?

75. Things happen that are not online
• Mailing arrived in mailboxes?
• Day off in high school?
• Alumni returned for homecoming?

76. Keep a journal of
on- and off-line events
• Annotation in Google Analytics
• Running list in Evernote or other
software

77. Keep a journal of
on- and off-line events
• Annotation in Google Analytics
• Running list in Evernote or other
software

78. Keep a journal of
on- and off-line events
• Annotation in Google Analytics
• Running list in Evernote or other
software

79. Keep a journal of
on- and off-line events
• Annotation in Google Analytics
• Running list in Evernote or other
software

80. Daily Screen Caps
(with Dates)

81. A Place to Put It All
DATA COLLECTION

82. A place to put it all

83. Why?!

84. Context often means non-analytics
data
• How many applications?
• How many showed up for an event?
• How many students haven’t yet registered for
spring?
• How much did we spend on advertising/promotion?

85. A master spreadsheet gathers
• non-sampled data and
• non-analytics data
in the same place.

86. Sampling

87. Sampling

88. Sampling

89. Sampling

90. A place to put it all

91. A place to put it all

92. A place to put it all

93. A place to put it all

94. A place to put it all

95. A place to put it all

96. A Note on Correlation
Football
Game
Football
Game
Football
Game
Football
Game
Foo
Ga

97. IE Market Share vs. US Murders
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
12,000
13,000
14,000
15,000
16,000
17,000
18,000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Internet Explorer Market Share Murders
Data from FBI: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/,
W3Schools: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

98. Correlation is not
causality

99. Correlation is not the
absence of causality

100. Correlation is not the
absence of causality
Football
Game
Football
Game
Football
Game
Football
Game
Foo
Ga

101. Link tagging can help you
move beyond correlation
in some instances

102. Google URL Builder
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en

103. Google URL Builder
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en

104. http://confabevents.com/events/
higher-ed?utm_source=twitter&
utm_medium=social-
media&utm_content=test&
utm_campaign=number-stories

105. Next Stop: bit.ly

106. http://bit.ly/
1hmQBim

107. Use this technique for
• E-mail (no need to shorten)
• Social media
• Text messages
• Print ads
• QR codes (!)

108. Then look for the traffic
in Google Analytics

109. Sustainability
DATA COLLECTION

110. Sustainability
If you can’t sustain data collection,
you won’t answer your questions.

111. 10 minutes for analytics
Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/58827557@N06/15479719427/

112. Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/editor/1252393940/
Use student workers

113. Automate with Google Sheets & GA Add-on

114. Or with Google Sheets &
Super Metrics Add-on

115. Take a one-month sample
Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dafnecholet/5374200948/`

116. Look at less
Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matley0/2694746491/

117. Reporting

121. Reporting on Analytics
• Focus
• Tell a story with data

122. Focus
REPORTING

123. 0
400
800
1,200
1,600
1/16/2011 1/23/11 1/30/2011 2/6/2011 2/13/2011
Web Sessions Campus Tours

124. 0
400
800
1,200
1,600
1/16/2011 1/23/11 1/30/2011 2/6/2011 2/13/2011
Web Sessions Campus Tours
• Focus on just a few measures
• Use them in comparison

125. Design effective charts

127. Edward Tufte

129. Maximize “Data Ink”

131. Use length, not angles to
represent values

133. Minimize “Chart Junk”

135. Show Data in Comparison

139. Story
REPORTING

140. Our number stories
are stories about our
content and
how people use it.

141. Source: http://mayaeilam.com/2012/01/01/the-shapes-of-stories-a-kurt-vonnegut-infographic/

142. Source: http://mayaeilam.com/2012/01/01/the-shapes-of-stories-a-kurt-vonnegut-infographic/

143. Source: http://mayaeilam.com/2012/01/01/the-shapes-of-stories-a-kurt-vonnegut-infographic/

144. Source: http://mayaeilam.com/2012/01/01/the-shapes-of-stories-a-kurt-vonnegut-infographic/

145. The structure of the stories we’ll tell
1. Here’s where we were
2. Then we changed x
3. Here’s what happened
4. Here’s what we need to do next

146. Example
• 40% of new students didn’t bring the right materials
to orientation, even though it was on the website
• We rewrote that content and provided a checklist
• This fall, only 20% of students didn’t bring the right
materials to orientation
• Next, we’ll look at the way this content is labeled

147. Example
• We’ve had an increase in students who start an
application but don’t complete it.
• We increased the number of reminder e-mails we
send them.
• But—traffic from e-mail actually dropped afterward.
• Next, we’ll cut back on the number of e-mails and
make the ones we do send more personalized.

148. Wrap Up

149. 1. Plan for measurement
• Understand your goals
• Understand how your content gets you there
• Use that analysis to find a small number of
appropriate measures
• Set numeric targets

150. 2. Collect data effectively
• Collect contextual data
• Organize your measurements centrally
• Have a plan to sustain data collection

151. 3. Present persuasively
• Focus
• Tell a Story

152. Questions?