Connecting the Metrics to Web Strategy & Design

Today I sat among an intimate group of web managers in Washington D.C. to discuss web analytics and their impact on strategy and design. I recently wrote about where to start building your website, but what next? Once we have an understanding of our audience’s expectations and desires, we need to start watching their behavior and adjusting accordingly – the job of strategy and design is never done!

The summary of the presentation read as follows:

Managing your web presence can seem like a three ring circus when you’re faced with how to maximize profitability, minimize costs and how to expand your visitor base. In one ring we have web analytics. In the next ring, we have usability testing, and finally we have the data collected through surveys, interviews and focus groups. All these methods are known to provide us valuable insights for creating web strategy, content, and eCommerce.

The group, lead by an elite panelist of some of DC’s finest, sought to answer three more very crucial questions:

1. How do you make the results from metrics and testing work together?
2. How do you coordinate the disciplines to better plan a project from the start?
3. How do you apply the results to site strategy, design & info. architecture?

Let’s first acknowledge that there are two types of information from which we develop an analysis: quantitative and qualitative. A qualitative analysis will involve more face-to-face research such as focus groups, surveys and usability testing. A quantitative analysis will typically involve something along the lines of web analytics data. All of the information gathered must strive to work together to try and conclude who your user is and what your user is doing – mostly in an effort to ultimately determine what your user will or will want to do.

Your web analytics are going to be your fastest input vehicle into the world of your audience. You will be able to determine what content is being read the most, what links are getting clicked the most and conclude what areas of the site are not working, not getting the right exposure or simply not relevant to the audience.

How do you do this? You test. Every project starts with data points of some sort; based on your best educated assumptions you must make decisions. Once the project has launched, you can now test to determine whether or not your assumptions were correct for the most part. Utilizing your metrics you determine how the users are interacting with the site. Only with more assumptions can you determine if changes could enhance the experience – try, test and repeat.

The panelist included:

• Enrique Gonzalez, User Experience Analyst, NPR
• Richard Huffine, Web Analytics Manager for FirstGov, FirstGov
• Mark Holmes, Sr. Creative Director, The Ocean Conservancy
• Daniel Irwin, Web Manager, Corporate Mkg. & Comm., Freddie Mac
• Jodi McDermott, Director, Web Analytics, InPhonic
• Phil Kemelor, author of The Executive`s Guide for Web Site Measurement and Testing