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Measure Your Success on the Web

A Discussion About Analytics

Ryan Dellolio

The George Washington University

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Analytics Marketshare

Tool edu Marketshare

Google Analytics 96.60%

Omniture 2.40%

Quantcast 1.40%

Urchin 1.30%

HubSpot 1.20%

Webtrends 1.20%

StatCounter 1.00%

96% of the .edu web presence has

Google Analytics installed

Source: Q-Success/W3Techs

Outline

• Basic tracking methodology

• 3 common pitfalls

• Key new features

• Other tools

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Pageview

Visit

1 - You‟re only as good as

what you track

• Are your pageviews

comprehensive?

• Are your bounces genuine?

• Is your „time on site‟ skewed?

Certain pages may not be tracked.

Encourage IT to audit and correct.

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2 – Traffic sources can often

miss crucial trends

• Traffic sources are a best-faith effort

• Consider the following scenario

– User finds page through Google, and browses

the site.

– They return later.

– These are 2 visits, only one is considered

“Google referred” traffic.

Take this into consideration. Use

campaigns and goals where possible.

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Web traffic

due to

E-Newsletter

No campaigns

Using campaigns

Goals

Missing the cookie?

• How it is interpreted

– This is first time you‟ve been here

– This is a new visit

• How might you lose the cookie?

– Browser cleared

– New browser

– Different computer

– Desktop-to-mobile, mobile-to-desktop

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3 – Metrics aren‟t always

indicators

• Measures vs. metrics vs. indicators

• Don‟t always tell whole story

• Use to inform decisions

• Sampling

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Key new features

• “Multi-Channel Funnels” with

goals

– Towards solving the cookie problem

• Real time

– Watch stories trend live and react

– Gauge interest instantly

• Social Engagement

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4 tools to watch

• NewsBeat, for better social media

integration

• Wistia, for video analytics

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4 tools to watch

• Quantcast,

for demographics

• Localytics, for

app analytics

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Contact

Ryan Dellolio

Director of Web Services

The George Washington University

Columbian College of Arts and Sciences

ryan@gwu.edu

202-994-5497

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