There is an incredible irony online. It is the channel that can provide the most donor-behavior data of any channel YET nonprofit organizations are usually data-poor when it comes to their online campaigns and online fundraising. Why is that? This hands-on session will outline the BEST way to apply proven business rules, technology, and analytics to know how online visitors are behaving; how they are giving online – and ways that any organization can improve the performance of their web sites or giving forms – or any part of their web site where actions are important. This session will show how world class organization’s like the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America; Canadian Red Cross and Greenpeace are using proven, rigorous analytics and usability systems for their online activities. Learn from these leading-edge organizations and apply what they have learned to your online and integrated activities.

1. Session 4: 11:30 – 12:15 Usability And Analytics: The Two Hidden Gems To Unleash Your Website's ROI

2. TP2010 Tweeting today? @hjcnewmedia Follow us as... Your presenters... Erik.Rubadeau@hjcnewmedia.com Senior Consultant – Technology and Fundraising Innovation, HJC Matt.Barr@hjcnewmedia.com Fundraising and Innovation Consultant, HJC Frances Hall Senior Director of Development, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America

3. Why usability and analytics? “Until recently, most of the decisions we were called on to make were based on hunches, insight and a little bit of data... What are you going to do when your hunches don't match the data that's now pouring in?” – Seth Godin, 2009 4/14/2010 3

4. What is usability Making products and systems easier to use, and matching them more closely to user needs and requirements Usability is about: Effectiveness - can users do what they set out to do? Efficiency - how much effort do users require to do this? Satisfaction – what do users think about the website’s ease of use? 4/14/2010 4 No.

5. Why does usability matter? With some help from Nielsen Norman and adapted by us for charities and non-profits, we have identified 4 key reasons: 4/14/2010 5 If your website is difficult to use, people will leave If users get lost on your website, they leave If your website's information is hard to read or does not answer key questions sought by users, they leave If users cannot find how to donate in the way they want to donate, they don’t donate

8. Traffic/visitor count increase on average by 96%4/14/2010 8 “On a site with low usability, people buy only the stuff they need. On a site with high usability, users feel more welcome and are motivated to return for repeat purchases.” – Nielsen Norman Group, 2010

10. What are you looking to find out? Have a clear set of objectives based on finding out: What your users doing, how they are behaving, what they want to do/find out, what barriers exist in making a donation or influence the visitor on making donation Data benchmarks for future designs Know what works well and what doesn’t work so well Know the ROI Influence your design process To base architecture and design on what your constituents do and want 4/14/2010 10

11. And how can you find this out? Record user data using online tools Use a focus group, online or offline No need for more than 5-10 non-expert users Listen to your users Use surveys, record conversations in focus groups, provide usability or design related feedback opportunities 4/14/2010 11

12. Tools? What tools? 4/14/2010 12

13. Analytics Let your data do the talking

14. Web Analytics Defined (wikipedia) Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. Web analytics is not just a tool for measuring website traffic but can be used as a tool for business research and market research. Web analytics applications can also help companies measure the results of traditional print advertising campaigns. It helps one to estimate how the traffic to the website changed after the launch of a new advertising campaign. Web analytics provides data on the number of visitors, page views etc to gauge the popularity of the sites which will help to do the market research. 4/14/2010 14

15. Web Analytics is… NOT a hit counter for your website 4/14/2010 15

16. Web Analytics is… 4/14/2010 16 A powerful set of business intelligence tools that can measure and provide insight into the ROI and ROE of all your integrated initiatives Web Analytics Tool Your Data Your Answers

17. Analytics Answers your Burning Questions How long does it take for a Twitter follower to make a donation? Do they ever donate? How many people see our mission statement before donating? Does it have an effect on avg gift size? What part of our website leads to the most tribute gifts? Did the redesign of our newsletter signup form lead to more subscribers? Do people who watch our videos on YouTube signup for our eNewsletter? How many people call our 1-800 # from our donation forms? Do we get more volunteers from facebook or from twitter? What is our most popular campaign? Does popular equal profitable? Are paid search donors worth more than organic search donors? 4/14/2010 17

18. What you need to get started Web analytics tool Strategy Comprehensive Setup Time Patience 4/14/2010 18

19. Web Analytics Tools Free vs. Paid Choose a single solution and stick with it Remember 90/10 Rule 4/14/2010 19

20. Strategy Before All Else Strategic Points to Consider Define what kinds of questions you want to answer Define what the metrics are that answer that question Define how you will capture these metrics Define who (internally) will champion your metrics 4/14/2010 20

21. (V=?) Define and Assign Value Everything you decide to track should have a value assigned to it. If it doesn’t have value why are you tracking it? Value is often monetary $ Value is defined by the user 4/14/2010 21

22. Analytics Setup Customize your tracking setup to properly measure all of your goals Goals Events eCommerce Campaign Tagging Test your setup (all of it) Benchmark Your Data 4/14/2010 22

23. Wise Words from Chuck I've always found that anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way and you've got to have that drive and determination to overcome those obstacles on route to whatever it is that you want to accomplish. -Chuck Norris 4/14/2010 23

24. Top 3 Priorities to measure Donations (Single and Monthly) Newsletter Signups Social Media 4/14/2010 24

26. Why : It provides you with snapshot financial data (on the fly) but also let’s you segment actual income by source and effort. (Email vs. Website vs. Twitter vs. Google)

27. How:

28. Add eCommerce Tracking

29. Add Campaign Tagging to everything you do

31. Tracking Social Media 4/14/2010 27 What: Track your Social Media Efforts Why : Establish an ROE for the amount of time you are spending on Social Media and measure the success/level of your engagement How: Add Campaign Tagging to your SM links (Survives tiny-ing) Drive SM traffic to action that you can measure Benchmark your # of fans and followers

32. 5 Filters to Make your Life Easier 4/14/2010 28 Filter out your organizations IP Address Filter your consultant/vendor IP address Add Full Referral URL Filter Filter all URI data to lowercase Remove URL Root Filter

33. Now you have all this data... What to do with it? Frances Hall, Senior Director of Development, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, will explain... 4/14/2010 29

34. Gain organizational consensus as to the goals of the website Commit to follow through with all outcomes – begin with tests Prioritize activity based on your organization’s goals Assign timelines, responsibilities to staff Review test outcomes and make changes to site according to results, refine test, and modify 4/14/2010 30 Next steps post-web usability analysis

35. Next steps post-web usability analysis Gain organizational support along the way Commit to ongoing testing with appropriate staff teams Be sure to refresh site “maintenance” and explore “what’s new” Continue to use analytics to track your outcomes Create an organizational report that defines key metrics and benchmarks your data…monthly or quarterly 4/14/2010 31

36. Thanks! 4/14/2010 32