Web Analytics A Guide for Higher Education Marketers

Web Analytics: A Guide for Higher Education Marketers ©Robert E. Johnson, Ph. D. 2008 Adult Students: You Best Option for Enrollment Growth The Aslanian Group Boston, MA November 29 -30, 2008 Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 1

Two approaches to web analytics… (1) The “beat reporter” approach – Follow everything happening, all the time (2) The “investigative reporter” approach – What’s important to know? Why is that the case? The marketing director assigns the story. – Melissa Burdon, http: //www. grokdotcom. com/2008/04/30/webanalytics-report/ Select “most important” or “need to know” items from everything that’s possible. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 2

Thanks for sharing experiences… Notes and experiences shared by… – Juniata College Gabe Welsch, Assistant Vice President of Marketing Rick Stutz, Coordinator of E-Communications – St. Edward’s University Carmella Manges, Director of E-marketing – University of Missouri Lori Croy, Director of Web Communications – University of Richmond Eric Palmer, Director of Web Services Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 3

Why use Google Analytics? “Google's products are free, well-maintained, have a great support base, and in this case specifically, way more robust and easy to use than the other options out there. ” “Google is easy to implement, easy to understand easy to get others to use because of the name recognition factor. Because the name Google was attached to the analytics, people who received the data also had an immediate ‘trust’ factor that was provided was valid. ” Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 4

Problems with Google Analytics… Concern over Google’s access to your data. “The service could go away at any point. Save your log files for in-house analysis. ” Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 5

Key metrics recommended… Page views – “We buck the myth that page views are a dead metric” for key pages that “feed our conversion funnel. ” Average time on a page – “If you have a 3 minute video on a page, and users are spending only 15 seconds on it, you might consider improving it. ” New visitors vs. repeat visitors Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 6

Google is determining key pages… Graduate Undergraduate Admissions Schools & Colleges Athletics Departments Human Resources Degree Programs Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 7

Track interest in degree programs… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 8

Key metrics recommended… Response to a marketing activity – “An email is sent out to admitted students encouraging them to join a forum to talk to other admitted students. Did it generate sign-ups? If so, what other pages did those users visit? Where did they come from? How long did they spend on the forum, and more importantly, what percentage of them posted? ” Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 9

Key metrics recommended… Browser compatibility every 6 months – “We are starting to notice more mobile browsers (i. Phone, blackberry, etc) so this is a trend to watch. It will require a mobile web strategy eventually. ” Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 10

Major challenge to success… Separating internal web traffic Learning curve to translate stats to practical recommendations for admissions, alumni Getting departments across campus to adopt an analytics program Good working relationship with IT staff Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 11

What does a marketer need to know? Google Analytics has 80+ programmed reports about website data… More data than you need to know Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 12

Do you need to know 47 screen resolutions? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 13

Or 30 browser variations? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 14

Marketing information from this page? http: //www. worldcampus. psu. edu/i. MBA. shtml Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 15

Let’s make a list… Where did visitors come from? How many were new? What did they do? – – Watch the video Print the page Email to someone Follow a link? MBA curriculum Costs FAQs – Take an action? Ask for information Apply for admission Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 16

Check points to start…set goals Your web marketing goals might include… – – – – Watching a video Reading a blog Taking an online campus tour Completing an inquiry form Registering for a campus program Subscribing to a newsletter Applying for admission Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 17

Check point to start… filter out internal use Data on internal use is always there. After you set the filter, you’ll never see it. Essential to get internal use out of your marketing information. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 18

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 19

Percent visits by media type… What’s making people visit your website? – – Organic search? Paid advertising? Email marketing? Print advertising? How does this match with your marketing efforts? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 20

Percent visits by source… Results for “Organic Search” – Google dominates, more than among use in the general population How important are other activities to bring people to your website? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 21

Percent of new vs. returning visitors Are your marketing efforts bringing new visitors to your website? Where did the new visitors live? – Cities? – Regions (states)? – Countries? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 22

Average time on your site… Average time on site is 1. 38 minutes Is this good or bad? – Depends on why they visited – These visits were to see Link of the Week page – Bounce rate: 72. 9% Looked at one page and left Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 23

Average time by segments… By source of the traffic… By search keywords Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 24

Popularity of individual web pages… What pages are visited most often? – How long do people stay on them? – Do they exit from these pages or move to other pages? Identify pages you’d like people to visit that are being ignored Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 25

Entry pages where people start… Bounce rate is a key metric here Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 26

Keyword marketing information… If you advertise online, segment keywords to show the “non-paid” results. Compare these to words you use in advertising. – Decide if you should change your paid search terms Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 27

What happens with your own search? Marketing research – What are people looking for on your site? – What words do they use to find it? – Does your “search” give the right answer? – Are your “Quick Links” accurate? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 28

Advice on starting an analytics program… “Get started - set up a site and start to learn how to read the stats - stats are being wasted for every day you don't try this out. ” Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 29

Getting up to speed and staying there… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 30

A good place to start… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 31

A book and a blog to continue… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 32

Keeping up to date… Click. Z Marketing. Profs Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 33

Glossary for reference… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 34

Thank You! Bob Johnson, Ph. D. President and Senior Consultant Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 226 Chauncey Court Marshall, MI 49068 248. 766. 6425 bob@bobjohnsonconsulting. com Customer Carewords Research for Online Marketing Success: http: //www. bobjohnsonconsulting. com/customercarewords. html Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 35