Web Analytics that Inform Career Services

John Horn, M.A.Associate Director, Career DevelopmentCareer Services | University of British Columbia

@hornjohnhorn | linkedin.com/in/hornjohnhorn

Today’s Agenda

• Learning Outcomes + Three Things

• It starts with a story…

• Understanding Web Analytics

• Career Services Case Studies

• Next steps

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to…

•List and explain some basic concepts and terminology of web analytics•Identify the value of web analytics and how they inform business (and career services)•Assess how you will apply web analytics to your practice•Begin your brainstorm of a web analytics strategy

Three Things

1. Nerds Are Awesome!

2. Numbers Don’t Lie.

3. Part of Your Business.

Crowdsourcing Activity!

• Who uses web analytics?

• How do you use them?

1. A Three-Part Tale

The Myth

The Reality

Student Leadership

Volunteering

Service Learning

Networking

Post-graduate Job

Mentorship

Academic Courses

Studying Abroad

Part-time Job(s)

John's Plan

John's Reality

Bishop’s Orientation Week

Volunteering

Academic Articles & Conferences

Friends & Colleagues

My career in Student Affairs

Appearance on The Hour

History Degrees

Consulting in Rwanda

Hire a Student Program

Traveling

Passion for Writing & Performing

Capacity for risk-taking

Ridiculous part-time jobs

Happenstance

Once upon a time, during a CERIC conference call…

2. Web Analytics

What are web analytics?

• Collection, analysis and reporting of web usage by customers

• Digital media and marketing:• 24% of overall marketing budgets• 28% of firms switching from

traditional to digital channels• 86% of companies plan to increase

budgets for social and search engine optimization

Research by Econsultancy and ExactTarget, 2011

Go from here.

Courtesy milos_milosevic

“A Target Rich Environment”To here.

Courtesy Bogdun_Sudhitu

What do we use them for?

• Without analytics, it’s subjective• Measurement Optimization• Optimization targets and process:

– Site content and media offerings

– Site navigation and internal search

– The “checkout” process

• Inform strategic goals

Okko_Pyykko from Flickr

Look closer.

Some Amazing Research

• Kimberley Rawes, Erin McInnis, Michelle Sargent• Web Analytics Association:

http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/ • Chris McFadden, White Paper (2005); edited by

Ned Kumar (2010) • “

Top Ten Web Analytics Tools For Tracking Your Online Visitors,” by Rick Tansun (2005)

• www.KISSmetrics.com • “Human dynamics revealed through web

analytics,” by Goncalves and Ramasco (2008)• “A practical evaluation of web analytics,” by

Phippen, Sheppard and Furnell (2004)

Some Terminology

• Pageviews

• (Unique and Returning) Visitors

• Average Time on Page

• Bounce Rate

• Referring Sites

• Entry/Exit

Don’t Panic

What can they tell you?

• How people find you• How long they stay• What they look at• Where they go when they leave

What tools can you use?

• Google Analytics

• StatCounter

• Orbis

• MailChimp

• Hootsuite

• eLogic

• SiteMeter

How do you use them?

• Motivate – communicate organizational objectives in a way that is relevant and actionable to everyone

• Manage – provide strategic context and encourage collaboration on the milestones critical to organizational goals

• Monitor – track progress via Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) explicitly linked to objectives; proactively resolve problems and seize opportunities

• Measure – drill deeper to identify the root of issues and test assumptions in the strategy

“Alignment-Centric Performance Management” (Becker, 2005)

Analysts’ Skill Set?• analytical and detail-oriented• human psychology• marketing and brand building• business• technology• information architecture• HTML and website development• user behaviour and habits

Hurol Inan, Measuring the Success of your Website, 2002.

Know Your Audience

• Career Practitioners• Marketing and Communications

• Front line staff• Managers and Directors• Faculty Members

Courtesy of Schoko-Riegel and Flickr Creative Commons

3. Some Case Studies

281,707

+

23,898

+

Enriched Educational Experiences (E3s)

Jan.1, 2011 – Jan. 1, 2012

• careers.ubc.ca | 281,707 pageviews*

• wcidwmm?** | 23,898 pageviews

*Most web traffic in Vice President Students Portfolio**What Can I Do With My Major?

More than just traffic

• Avg. Time on Page: 00:00:32

• Bounce Rate: 27%

• %Exit: 12.11%

Degree-specific Pageviews

• Psychology (5,600 views)• International Relations (5,100 views)• Economics (3,300 views)• Political Science (2,900 views)• Sociology (2,800 views)• Visual Art (2,500 views)• Asian Languages and Culture (2,500 views)• English (2,400 views)• Anthropology (2,200 views)• Creative Writing (2,100 views)

An idea!

The Myth

The Reality

Student Leadership

Volunteering

Service Learning

Networking

Post-graduate Job

Mentorship

Academic Courses

Studying Abroad

Working on Campus

Our Pitch!

The Case for Action

• Second-most traffic on careers.ubc.ca

• Gap-analysis:• What is presented online?

• How does it reflect academic learning?

• How do we advise and teach?

• How do we connect campus partners?

Courtesy spettacolopuro

Big Splash!

Current Status. Next Steps.

Moving forward…

• Executing a project plan

• Meaningful feedback loop

• Integrating Academic Learning & Enriched Educational Experiences

More Online Business

• Newsletters• Social Media Channels• Resume Resource Library

• 13,624 unique visitors• Avg. time on site: 00:04:14

• Other units’ pages

But we're just one career centre…

Memorial University

Jennifer BrowneDirector, Career Development and Experiential Learning

•By reviewing Google Analytics and getting student feedback we redesigned the landing page of our website•Use Orbis data to cross reference with Banner to determine who is using our services, which ones and who is not •Since moving more services under Orbis we are getting greater uptake from students and accurate stats

CERIC

Norman ValdezIT and Media Specialist

•Identifying what areas of our site receive the most traffic – which allows us to dedicate resources accordingly and better understand our audience and their needs. •We also use the analytics as a measurement of our promotional efforts.•Tracking social media analytics allows us to know how resonant our messages are, what gets the community talking, what gets shared, etc.

4. Next Steps

Courtesy leeroy09481

Focus Your Targets

John’s Recommendations

• Inventory of your web analytics

• Nerds are awesome! Find one!

• StatsCounter is easier than Google

• Know what you want to capture

• Give meaning to what you find

• Use it!

Next Steps.

• Take a deep breath!• Resource this presentation• CERIC’s Networks• Know what to measure• Find a nerd

5. Wrap It Up

Three Things

1. __________________

2. __________________

3. __________________

More ResourcesAdditional Reference or ReadingsBallardvale Research (2004) Market View – Emetrics Conference: Santa Barbara, 2004http://www.ballardvale.com/pdf/MV%20-%20Emetrics%202004.pdf Ballardvale Research (2004a) Market Trends – Web analytics: History and Futurehttp://www.ballardvale.com/free/WAHistory.htm Becker, Jonathan (2005) Why Metrics-Centric Performance Management Solutions Fall Shorthttp://www.information-management.com/issues/20050301/1021509-1.html Burby, Jason (2004) Three Reasons Why Analytics Fail Companieshttp://www.clickz.com/3307121 Eisenberg, Bryan (2004) Web analytics for Retailershttp://www.clickz.com/3396361 GrokDotCom (2005) Help Yourself to a KPI!http://www.grokdotcom.com/topics/helpyourselftoakpi.htm Harris Interactive, et al (2005) eSpending Report: 2004http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=878 Keller, David and James, Josh (2003) The Power of Where in Web Analyticshttp://www.information-management.com/infodirect/20030919/7382-1.html Lenzen, Roman (2004) Customer Analytics: It’s About Behaviorhttp://www.crm2day.com/content/t6_librarynews_1.php?id=EpAVkVpFyZoxUYKRLg Maguire, James (2004) Web analytics, Who’s Mining the Storehttp://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/design/article.php/3440351 McGann, Rob (2005) Study: Consumers Delete Cookies at Surprising Ratehttp://www.clickz.com/3489636 Millward Brown (2004) Marketing & Media Snapshot: 2004http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/4247.asp Obrey, Thomas (2004) You Have Web Site Traffic, Now What?http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/articles/2004/033104pm.htm Peterson, Eric (2004) Web Analytics Demystifiedhttp://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com/about_wad.asp Sapir, Daniel (2004) Online Analytics and Business Performance Managementhttp://www.information-management.com/specialreports/20040824/1008820-1.html Sterne, Jim (2002) Web Metrics – Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Successhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471220728/102-6649907-4508967?v=glance Sterne, Jim (2009) E-Metrics.org: Web analytics Conference agendahttp://www.emetrics.org Sterne, Jim (2004a) Web Channel Performance Management: Aligning web site vision and strategy with goals and tacticshttp://www.performance-measurement.net/news-detail.asp?nID=214(Note: this may take awhile to download) Sterne, Jim (2004b) 10 Steps to Measuring Web Site Successhttps://www.marketingprofs.com/login/join.asp?adref=rdblk&source=/4/sterne13.asp

Content originally contributed by Chris McFadden, White Paper, April 2005. Edited by Ned Kumar (2010). Content © 2010 Web Analytics Association

Ask. Questions. Frequently.

Thanks!Let’s chat.

careers.ubc.ca

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