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Intelligence
Overcoming the Web Stat Woes: How to measure your website’s success

Intelligence

Overcoming the Web Stat Woes: How to measure your website’s success

Oct 05, 2005By Michael Stoner

by Greg Zguta, Global-Image*

As investment in your website grows, no doubt you’re asking (or being asked) what, exactly, is the site doing? Is it getting more prospects to visit campus? Does it facilitate alumni donations? Are alumni who read your new blog more likely to donate than alumni who don’t?

If you’ve just lost the ability to speak in complete sentences, you’re in good company.

It’s not that people aren’t trying to measure how their websites are doing. Many institutions turn to web statistics packages for just this reason. And most begin with web logs counters, “hits,” visits, sessions, referrers, and paths through the website. But what you can glean from these logs is limited.

There are two reasons.

Reason #1: The web log information isn’t always meaningful.

For instance, one statistic commonly generated is “Total time spent on site.” The theory is that if a visitor spends a lot of time on the site, he loves it: there’s a lot of information there to explore and therefore, we’re having “success” with that visitor.

But wait. What if 10 of those minutes spent on the site are spent searching for the “Request Info” link? That’s frustration—not success. Or consider a fundraising campaign that has alums contributing online in droves. That’s success! But, because it takes only a minute to complete the donation form, the web log suggests the site is failing.

You can see the problem: The stats don’t reflect institutional goals. As consultants, our marching orders are related dollar figures to be reached for the annual fund or a better yield rate for admissions. And that’s a good thing!

Reason #2: Web log information is only part of the story.

Frequently web logs don’t capture important activity. For example, is there a relationship between repeated website visits and on-the-ground donations?

Research with nonprofits demonstrates a real connection, but only some of the information necessary to answer this kind of question is available in the web logs. Some data is captured in the prospective student recruiting system, some in a fundraising database, and perhaps some in a custom MS Access databases or in Word documents. Some isn’t captured at all.

Lacking a central storehouse of vital statistics from across campus, it’s no wonder we have limited insight into our website’s efficacy. How do we capture and report comprehensive and actionable information?

Measuring Success

What is needed is an easily repeatable process for setting goals, measuring results against those goals, and using the results to drive the next round of planning.

We call this circular process “Web Intelligence.”

  • The first step: develop real goals with measurable results. If your goal is to increase young alumni giving by 50 percent over three years, the website goal might be to double online giving by young alumni by next year.
  • The second step: build a system that will pull together the kind of information that you need to track institutional goals. This is an automated, central data source that includes web and non-web information. The right software tool can integrate data that was once spread across campus and make it accessible as a source for ongoing analysis.

    Such a system may capture both on-the-ground and online data such as: the number of online applications as well as online applications versus total applications; the number of applications from unknowns (prospects for whom there are no records of visits, calls, or online contact); the patterns of online traffic leading to applying; or the number of web visits per online contribution, and the demographics associated with these contributions.

  • The next step: distribute the reports to stakeholders so that they can use the information to improve execution, shape new goals, and justify budgets. Armed with these reports, stakeholders can now focus efforts on areas where the potential impact is greatest. Data that illustrates trends over time will then help to identify successes, achievements, and failures.

    With a Web Intelligence cycle in place, you’ll be able to answer the question, “What exactly has this website done for us lately?” Even better, you’ll have the information you need to make your website do more, better.

    *Greg Zguta is a senior consultant at Global-Image, mStoner’s sister company, which provides a broad range of strategic technical services.


  • Michael Stoner Co-Founder and Co-Owner Was I born a skeptic or did I become one as I watched the hypestorm gather during the dotcom years, recede, and congeal once more as we come to terms with our online, social, mobile world? Whatever. I'm not much interested in cutting edge but what actually works for real people in the real world. Does that make me a bad person?