Commune Media | Measurably Effective Digital Marketing™

Five ways school boards can benefit from Google Analytics

Posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 5:23 PM by Sara Chappel  |  Comments (0)

Over the past few months, we’ve been doing Google Analytics installation, configuration and strategy work for sites connected with school boards in Ontario—including several connected to the public French school board for Ontario.

The projects have been—ahem—educational.

For one thing, we’ve all mastered a whole lot more French vocab than any of us learned in high school. “Accueil,” for example, means “Home” (in a website context, that is). And “homepage” is “page d’accueil.” Now we know.

We’ve also discovered that most school boards in Ontario—English and French, public and Catholic—have websites. But their ability to track visitor behavior and online marketing ROI varies wildly, from sophisticated analytics configurations to no apparent tracking ability at all.

But we’ve come to another, more far-reaching realization as well.

It isn’t only businesses that benefit from tracking website performance and keeping tabs on online marketing ROI. Public organizations—even ones, like school boards, that might not appear to emphasize marketing and sales—need accurate, customizable, comprehensive reporting tools.

And although this post has “school boards” in the title, the benefits of analytics tracking applies to any organization that wants to improve its marketing effectiveness and maximize its online ROI.

So, with that in mind, here are the top five ways school boards (read: any public organization) can benefit from Google Analytics.

1. Justify online marketing expenditure to trustees and other stakeholders

By capturing more robust return-on-investment data—which promotional campaigns are working to drive qualified traffic to the site, for example—trustees and other decision-makers can make informed decisions about prioritizing marketing budgets.

2. Determine whether the website is communicating effectively with parents, students and staff

Analytics data can tell you whether you’re effectively communicating key messages. For example, checking pageviews and bounce rates for a page about school closures will help determine whether the page is being used to its maximum effectiveness, and provide some context for improvement.

3. Gain understanding of qualified traffic sources

One school board discovered that, although government sites weren’t sending large amounts of traffic, they were referring highly qualified visitors, indicating that further partnerships with government sites would be in the board’s best interests. Analytics information helps you avoid unfruitful partnerships and see exactly where your ROI is coming from.

4. Tracking key activities that have direct impact on ROI (like downloading registration forms)

By tracking registration form downloads (something that hadn’t been previously done), one school board was able to gather data that will ultimately inform navigation, design and site architecture optimization to encourage more conversions. Websites are living entities—by keeping tabs on how your visitors use your site, you can encourage them to take significant actions.

5. Determining areas for potential expansion

Using Analytics’ map overlay tool allowed one school board to determine that they had a small contingent of foreign visitors to the site—providing key information for promoting the board’s offering to a small but significant secondary market. You may have interested prospects in places you never would have predicted—and analytics data can help you pinpoint where they are.

What’s your experience using Google Analytics for public organizations or non-profits? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: google analytics, nonprofits, school boards, web analytics