Charities not advanced enough to use web analytic tools, says Jason Potts
Howard Lake | 15 December 2006 | News
Charity sector new media expert Jason Potts told a meeting of charity data analysts recently that charities are not yet sufficiently advanced in the use of web analytics to make use of the current generation of sophisticated web analytic tools.
Presenting on web analytics to the Institute of Fundraising’s Analysis in Fundraising Special Interest Group, Potts said most charities could not make use of tools such as Red Eye and Intellitracker.
“Almost all the charities that have gone for these big tools have found they are barrier to web analytics rather than facilitating it because they provide way too much information – more than the charities know what to do with,” said Potts, director of digital activities at THINK Consulting Solutions.
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“They just don’t know where to start in incorporating it into their online strategies. Charities first need to do much more work about understanding what their sites are for and what it is they want them to do.”
Potts told delegates that many charities were not conducting even basic analytics, such as finding out who their unique visitors are, who signs up to the e-newsletter, or who visits the donations page.
“Web analytics and use of e-metrics is at a very early stage in the not-for-profit sector, which, as a sector, is not using it to encourage navigation around a site or analyse data of those who are visiting,” he added.
Potts said that, as a start, charities should make more use of cookies and registered user data, “but using cookies alone, or even IP addresses can provide an idea of what’s going on; key metrics such as how monthly donor sign-ups are varying year on year.
“And one of the most basic things they don’t often do is to ask people through relatively simple pop-up survey forms. You can find out everything you need to know about the usability of your site from just 15 people. It may be great to have Red Eye, but the starting point is to ask people, in English, why they came to your site and what they think of it.
“Charities will in time need to invest in these sophisticated tools, but they will have to invest more time and money in measuring some basic e-metrics first.”
Potts compared charities’ sophistication with testing direct mail fundraising with their levels of skill in testing online fundraising. “I am surprised why people don’t spend the same attention to online donations forms and spend the same amount of time testing variations of the forms as they do for printed direct marketing materials.
“I used to pore over mail packs trying to work out how to get a 0.1 per cent increase in the response rate.
“But the website is the perfect medium to test this variability. It is pretty easy to configure a website so that every third visitor to a donation page is presented with a different version.”
The Analysis in Fundraising SIG meeting was attended by more than 40 people at Cancer Research UK’s headquarters in central London. Potts also took part in a panel discussion with Bertie Bosredon, head of new media at Breast Cancer Care, and Matt Trimmer, principal consultant and managing director of ivantage Limited and a consultant to Google.
The Analysis in Fundraising Special Interest Group aims to support, share knowledge and experience, and form an open learning circle with individuals who analyse and interpret data for fundraising. It meets every three months, and aims to move the profile of data analysis up the fundraising agenda.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.