eHealth Articles & White Papers

What's In a Number?

Linda Barnes - Vice President of Business Development 

Everyone knows that data is good, right? The more numbers you have, the better. When it comes to websites, it's common practice to install some sort of analytical tool to track what's happening.

But the truth is, not all data is equally valuable. And it's not about choosing Google Analytics versus Web Trends. The really critical piece is doing something to turn the data you collect — from whatever tool you choose — into usable information.

Sorting through it to find the meaningful nuggets, seeing a trend and understanding why it's important, evaluating the numbers to determine how they align with the organization's goals, and translating your insights into relevant changes or new tactics that need to be implemented on the site - that's where the real value lies.

So if turning data into something actionable is critical, why isn't everyone doing it? The truth is, it can be a challenge. Success requires time, a deep knowledge of the site, an understanding of the organization's goals and key stakeholders, and of course, experience.

Getting it done

The first challenge is setting aside adequate time to thoroughly review, analyze, evaluate and compare your data. In a marketer's busy world, finding that time can be difficult. So it's easy to fall into the trap of looking only at the very high level numbers - measuring traffic in terms of unique visits or reporting an increase in time spent on the home page.

But those numbers aren't going to help you make decisions that will add strategic value to your site. Real Web strategy forces you to answer tough questions and make changes based on your answers:

• Why do you want to increase traffic?
• What does a "successful" visit look like, besides just showing up?
• What does the bounce rate tell us? Are site visitors coming from a search engine, or does home page real estate matter for this message?
• Regardless of how they're coming to your site, are they finding the pages you want them to see?
• And most importantly, what value is your website really providing in terms of helping meet your organizational goals?

Typically, you'll want to carve out a few hours each month to collect and review your data. Or, you may want to find a willing analyst to help out regularly. Another alternative is engaging your Web vendor to provide analytic support, a valuable service that top level partners such as Geonetric routinely provide to clients.

Telling your story

Once you have data that clearly demonstrates success, you'll want to share it with your key stakeholders. Being able to routinely demonstrate strategic alignment of your Web initiatives and communicate your successes will help you gain buy-in for future activities.

Sharing the information isn't as easy as it sounds, though. You have a lot of stakeholders — and the information you share with the service line manager, the foundation manager, and your boss aren't necessarily the same.

As with any marketing communications, when you're assembling your data into sharable information, it's imperative to tailor the communication to your audience. Think about your stakeholders in terms of what type of information they need and provide the data that's important to them ... in a way that resonates with them.

There are typically three kinds of listeners in your audience. And by creating messages that appeal to each specific type of listener, you can ensure your information is heard. Make sure to present your data appropriately for:

• Story listeners. Story listeners respond to anecdotes. They like stories about real people because individuals make more sense to them than statistics. This type of listener is common within sales and marketing teams, which means, as marketers, we tend to use stories frequently to illustrate a point. That's all good, as long as we don't neglect the other two.
• Data listeners. Data listeners prefer statistics over anecdotes. They want to know the percentage change, if it's a statistically valid sample, and over what period of time you see the trend. Data listeners tend to ask detailed questions, which can come across as confrontational, when in fact, it's how they understand and process information. This type of listener is common within engineering and I.T. teams.
• Formula listeners. Formula listeners are all about the process. How did you reach that conclusion? Who did you talk to along the way? Did you consider the impact of that other campaign you're running? If they buy the process, then they buy the conclusion. This type of listener is common in finance and strategic planning, where the big picture derives from a multitude of inputs.

Are you up for the challenge?

Developing an effective process for measuring, evaluating and communicating the success of your website is every bit as challenging as it sounds. But doing so will allow you to assess your online activities and make necessary changes, demonstrate the value of your online activities to the organization, and share your message with all of your internal stakeholders. In turn, that will help you operate more effectively within your organization, and prove your website's value over the long term.