How to get started
Dashboards should be customized to present information that is relevant to who is viewing them. Day-to-day operators require different data points than executive management, and dashboards can and should reflect this. Once a multi-level team is created internally, analytics professionals can get input around which data points different team members need, and create KPIs around these metrics to provide meaningful insights for the entire team. Do not be alarmed if you have upwards of 20 KPIs in this initial phase, but it is important to eventually prioritize metrics and create a list of 5-10 that will be a part of daily or weekly dashboards. Additional data points can certainly be tracked and reported on a less regular basis, so they need not be a part of every report.
Once these KPIs are established, create tailored dashboards that cater to everyone's function and responsibilities. This way everyone will have the information they need to be empowered to make decisions and enhance the reach and impact a client's online presence. Especially if KPIs are closely aligned with business objectives, analytics dashboards can play a key role in the success of their online marketing campaigns.
Once dashboards are established, it is important to continue to work with internal team members to make certain insights are incorporated into campaign planning. Going back to creating usable data points, agencies and clients need to collaborate about what results mean, and -- most importantly -- how to continually improve online efforts.
Conclusions
Web analytics is the backbone of most of our client engagements, and as accountability becomes evermore important, I expect web analytics departments to continue evolving and growing with the online space. Right now the profession, as a whole, is in a stage of catching up with emerging trends like social networks, widgets and mobile applications. Significant strides are being made, but there is still some inconsistency about what constitutes a successful engagement. Standardization is needed so that campaigns might be compared against one another; but in most cases, each client, brand and campaign is different enough that comparing apples and apples is never truly possible. Until standardization is agreed upon, client-specific metrics will be more than enough to present at least a partial picture of how well a campaign is doing.
Benchmarks are one way to side-step the lack of consistency within the industry. Depending on established goals and particular client needs, benchmarks like actions taken, brand exposure and engagement or reach can all be measured to create some metric to track the effects of a campaign. It is critical that clients have the ability to compare their metrics against established goals. Of course it would be nice to have some kind of competitive gauge, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that objectives are met and conversions are made.
One other notable aspect of analytics dashboards is that they should be fluid and adapt to changing client needs and the evolving nature of the digital space. There is no need to feel chained to metrics if they no longer provide any value or insight. As clients expand their reach onto new platforms, dashboards and metrics should be retooled to offer a complete perspective. I definitely think that KPIs should be reevaluated and adjusted on a somewhat regular basis to ensure that they are working for clients and marketers alike.
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Andreas Roell is chairman and CEO of Geary Interactive.
