get better content with analytics and user testing

Get Better Content withAnalytics and User Testing

Mike PowersDirector of Electronic Communications

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

About Me

About Me• Director of Electronic Communications at

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

About Me• Director of Electronic Communications at

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

About Me• Director of Electronic Communications at

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

About Me• Director of Electronic Communications at

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts

About Me• Director of Electronic Communications at

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts

• Ph.D. in English

About Me• Director of Electronic Communications at

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Taught web writing at Higher Ed Experts

• Ph.D. in English

• @mjpowers

It’s almost over

What happens to the excitement back at the office?

How do your co-workers feel about content strategy?

Big DataHTML5

Digital Natives

Mobil

eSocial Media

User Experience

ROI Best Practices

Infor

mat

ion A

rchit

ectu

re

Content Management System

Branding Analytics

Enterprise

The Cloud

Big DataHTML5

Digital Natives

Mobil

eSocial Media

User Experience

ROI Best Practices

Infor

mat

ion A

rchit

ectu

re

Content Management System

Branding Analytics

Enterprise

The CloudContent Strategy

How does your boss feel about content strategy?

Higher Ed is becominga data-driven world

You need to goquantitative

quantitative(ish)You need to go

quantitative

Analytics and user testing are for

everyone.

“a data-driven life is “the sexiest digital “life you can imagine.”

—Avinash Kaushik

You’re doing it wrong.

Pageviews aren’t the goal.Your goal is the goal.

Higher Ed Goals

Higher Ed Goals

1. Get students

Higher Ed Goals

1. Get students

2. Help students, faculty, alumni succeed

Higher Ed Goals

1. Get students

2. Help students, faculty, alumni succeed

3. Get money to keep doing 1 and 2

In content terms...

Content...

Get students

Help students, faculty, alumni succeedGet money

• Appeals to H.S. students• Provides correct, useful information• Persuasive

• Helps students register, add/drop, etc.• Continues to market school• Gets audience’s attention

• Shows value of school• Gets donors through donation

process

Once you know your goals, you can measure them

Before you start, turn your goals into questions

Image by Cyberslayer http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberslayer/

Without goal-related questions, you won’t find

the answers you need

Image by Cyberslayer http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberslayer/

Some Questions• Can readers understand my content?

• Does this page encourage donations?

• Does this page encourage applications?

• What should this section of the site be named?

• What kinds of social content are most effective?

• What content on this page is getting the most attention?

Sampling of Measures and Methods• User Test• Survey• Card Sort• Navigation Test• Heat Maps• A/B Test

• Readability Score• Sharing Metrics• Social Media Engagement• Pageviews• Bounce Rate• Avg. Time on Page• Page Value

Sampling of Measures and Methods• User Test• Survey• Card Sort• Navigation Test• Heat Maps• A/B Test

• Readability Score• Sharing Metrics• Social Media Engagement• Pageviews• Bounce Rate• Avg. Time on Page• Page Value

Five questions.Five ways to answer them.

For answering and generating questions:

Usability Test

For answering and generating questions:

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/l-i-n-k/3654390818/

Do a User Test First

• See people experiencing your content.

• Experience their pain and joy.

• Find some blindingly obvious stuff that you wish you had seen earlier.

Advice for First-Timers• Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com

to convince colleagues)

• Write tasks that center on your goals.

• Who you get to do the test matters less than you think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help colleagues accept your results.

Advice for First-Timers• Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com

to convince colleagues)

• Write tasks that center on your goals.

• Who you get to do the test matters less than you think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help colleagues accept your results.

Advice for First-Timers• Just do three tests. (Use Jacob Nielsen’s useit.com

to convince colleagues)

• Write tasks that center on your goals.

• Who you get to do the test matters less than you think. But—choose a reasonable audience to help colleagues accept your results.

Can readers understand my content?

Readability

Can readers understand my content?

Readability scores measure how easy to read a text is.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

4 sentences72 words90 syllables

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Flesch Kincaid Grade Level Formula

0.39 × (words ÷ sentences)

+ 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words)

− 15.59

read-able.com

read-able.com

read-able.com

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 6.2

Our undergraduate and graduate classes are designed to offer future journalists—and private and public sector leaders who will interact with them—a thorough understanding of the role of the press in the policy making process. Through instruction and internships, students learn about the principles and the practice of journalism, while mastering the broader background of studies in public policy, politics, economics, history and other liberal arts.

2 sentences67 words113 syllables

Our undergraduate and graduate classes are designed to offer future journalists—and private and public sector leaders who will interact with them—a thorough understanding of the role of the press in the policy making process. Through instruction and internships, students learn about the principles and the practice of journalism, while mastering the broader background of studies in public policy, politics, economics, history and other liberal arts.

2 sentences67 words113 syllables

Grade Level: 17.4

Our undergraduate and graduate classes are designed to offer future journalists—and private and public sector leaders who will interact with them—a thorough understanding of the role of the press in the policy making process. Through instruction and internships, students learn about the principles and the practice of journalism, while mastering the broader background of studies in public policy, politics, economics, history and other liberal arts.

2 sentences67 words113 syllables

Grade Level: 17.4

Our undergraduate and graduate classes are designed to offer future journalists—and private and public sector leaders who will interact with them—a thorough understanding of the role of the press in the policy making process. Through instruction and internships, students learn about the principles and the practice of journalism, while mastering the broader background of studies in public policy, politics, economics, history and other liberal arts.

2 sentences67 words113 syllables

Grade Level: 17.4

We don’t need elevators.We’re only going to put athletes in this dorm.

• Makes web reading easier, even for highly skilled readers

• Readers read more, understand more

• Readable content gets shared more often

Why care about readability?

Solutions for poor readability

• Shorter words

• Shorter sentences

• Less passive voice

• Less jargon

A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER.

A shining indication of yellow consists in there having been more of the same color than could have been expected when all four were bought. This was the hope which made the six and seven have no use for any more places and this necessarily spread into nothing. Spread into nothing.

A LITTLE BIT OF A TUMBLER.

A shining indication of yellow consists in there having been more of the same color than could have been expected when all four were bought. This was the hope which made the six and seven have no use for any more places and this necessarily spread into nothing. Spread into nothing.

“Data is your eyes, “not your brain.”

—Colleen Jones

Does this page encourage donations?

Bounce Rate

Does this page encourage donations?

A bounce is a one-page visit.

The bounce rate is the % of visits to that page

that bounce.

36 entrances ÷ 23 bounces =63.89% bounce rate

What does it mean?

“I came,“I saw,“I puked.”

So a lower bounce rate is better

So a lower bounce rate is better

Except when it’s not

So a lower bounce rate is better

Except when it’s not

Solutions for a high bounce rate• Is there an audience that hits this page

with the wrong expectations?

• Are there useful links on the page? Anyplace to go?

• Does the content actually interest people?

Solutions for a high bounce rate• Is there an audience that hits this page

with the wrong expectations?

• Are there useful links on the page? Anyplace to go?

• Does the content actually interest people?

Solutions for a high bounce rate• Is there an audience that hits this page

with the wrong expectations?

• Are there useful links on the page? Anyplace to go?

• Does the content actually interest people?

Solutions for a high bounce rate• Is there an audience that hits this page

with the wrong expectations?

• Are there useful links on the page? Anyplace to go?

• Does the content actually interest people?

Solutions for a high bounce rate• Make it shorter

• Improve readability

• Make it more useful

Analytics Tip #1:For content strategists,

pageviews do and don’t matter

Pageviews: how many times a page has been loaded into a browser.

Why not hits?

• A hit is the download of a single file

• 1 page = 10, 20, 30 or more files

One thing about pageviews...

One thing about pageviews...

$50 Million

Average Net Worth in This Elevator

If pageviews are low, other scores may not mean much

Does this page encourage applications?

Page Value

Does this page encourage applications?

To use page value, first set up monetary goals in Google Analytics

Higher ed goals1. Get students

2. Help students, faculty, and alumni succeed

3. Get donations to keep doing 1. and 2.

Higher ed goals1. Get students

2. Help students, faculty, and alumni succeed

3. Get donations to keep doing 1. and 2.$

GA allows these as goals

• Getting to a page

• Clicking on something

• Seeing a certain number of pages

• Staying a certain number of minutes

Set up goals in Google Analytics

Donation [donation value]

Application $???

Visit registration $???

Set up goals in Google Analytics

Donation [donation value]

Application $200

Visit registration $100

Set up goals in Google Analytics

Donation [donation value]

Application $2,000

Visit registration $1,000

Page value is...

Value of any “transactions” that happen

after a visit to this page

÷

Number of unique

pageviews for this page

Home Page Admissions B.S. in Math

Visit CampusVisit Sign-Up

FormThanks for Registering

Home Page Admissions B.S. in Math

Visit CampusVisit Sign-Up

FormThanks for Registering

$100

Home Page Admissions B.S. in Math

Visit CampusVisit Sign-Up

FormThanks for Registering

$100$20$20

$20$20$20

Solutions for low page value

• Is this page related to a goal?

• Shorter, more readable, include calls to action

• Usability test

• Content experiment (A/B test)

Analytics Tip #2:What’s a good score? It depends.

Grade me! Look at me! Evaluate and rank me!

I’m good, good, good and oh so smart! GRADE ME!

Problems with analytics

• Sites are different

• Google Analytics installs can be different

• Goals are different

• Analytics isn’t always accurate...

40?

40?

40?

40?

40?40?

Use analytics data in comparison• With last week, last month, last year

• With similar pages on your website

• Dept. vs. dept.

• Major page vs. major page

Analytics Tip #3:Use segments

Bounce Rate: 95%

How did they get to the site?Segment by Source

How did they get to the site?Segment by Source

How did they get to the site?Segment by Source

Are they new to the site?Segment by Visitor Type

Are they new to the site?Segment by Visitor Type

Are they new to the site?Segment by Visitor Type

Where are they?Segment by Metro

Where are they?Segment by Metro

Where are they?Segment by Metro

Were they on mobile?

Were they on mobile?

Were they on mobile?

What should this section of the site be named?

Card Sort

What should this section of the site be named?

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/3343501403/

Open• Users stack cards then

• Give each pile a name

• Give users header cards

• They assign cards to the header cards

Closed

What should our top-level portal pages be called?

What kinds of social content are most effective?

Engagement

What kinds of social content are most effective?

Followers

Engagement

Shares/Actions

From follower to “customer”

Followers

Engagement

Shares/Actions

From follower to “customer”

Social media engagement measures show how many of your followers interact with

your content.

Most go something like this:

clicks ÷ posts ÷ followers

This gives you the percentage of followers who engage with each post.

What’s a click?

Facebook Twitter

Like Mention

Comment Retweet

Share Link click

So the formula forFacebook would be:

(likes + comments + shares) ÷ posts ÷ followers

(30,286 likes +703 comments + 7,170 shares) ÷

1 post ÷ 4,165,311 fans =

(30,286 likes +703 comments + 7,170 shares) ÷

1 post ÷ 4,165,311 fans =

0.92% engagement

“0.92%? That’s tiny. “George Takei is “bad at social “media.”

(101,010 likes +2,266 comments +

9,144 shares) ÷ 2 posts ÷

4,165,311 fans =1.35% engagement

But isn’t a share or a comment worth more than a like?

The Varsity Outreach Formula

The Varsity Outreach Formula

The Varsity Outreach Formula

(30,286 likes +703 comments + 7,170 shares) ÷

1 post ÷ 4,165,311 fans =

0.92% engagement

(30,286 likes × 2 +703 comments × 2 +

7,170 shares) ÷ 1 post ÷

4,165,311 fans =1.66% engagement

(30,286 likes × 2 +703 comments × 2 +

7,170 shares) ÷ 1 post ÷

4,165,311 fans × 1,000 =

1,660 engagement

Choose a formula that works for you and stick with it.

Presenting Analyticsand User Research

Content analytics spreadsheet

Content analytics spreadsheet

Content analytics spreadsheet

0

375

750

1,125

1,500

1/16/2011 1/23/11 1/30/2011 2/6/2011 2/13/2011

Visits Campus Tours

Some Questions• Can readers understand my content?

• Does this page encourage donations?

• Does this page encourage applications?

• What should this section of the site be named?

• What kinds of social content are most effective?

• What content on this page is getting the most attention?

Some Questions• Can readers understand my content?

• Does this page encourage donations?

• Does this page encourage applications?

• What should this section of the site be named?

• What kinds of social content are most effective?

• What content on this page is getting the most attention?

Most important: Answer the questions and show how content

strategy makes things better

Questions?